GMI Exclusive: Some GMC Product Programs Bite the Dust

[Hitman1970]

Originally Posted by AndrewGS

Great news since my grandparents love their Acadia so much. Now they'll have to buy something else when the time comes to replace it. I'm guessing many other happy Acadia owners will also be disappointed to find there's no new Acadia. I wonder what they might buy? Hmmm... there's always the Toyota Highlander.

I would say "Oh, please.", but how many Intrigue owners jumped into a Regal GS again?

"Zero.", you say?

[oldsfiesta1958]

I know that this seems like doom and gloom, but could it be that GMC is going to get zeta based crossovers while Buick gets the fwd biased crossovers?

No matter what way I look at this, I can not come up with a reason for GMC to still get the theta instead of Buick.

[ChevroletRevived]

Originally Posted by Ming

Easy, bring Saturn in to the BPG channel just as GMC and/or Pontiac head out the door.

Buick will have a car that will be very similar to the Aura since the Aura is hardly some kind of European sports sedan.

No reason for product overlap if the Aura is under the same roof as Buick.

Saturn = Small cars like Astra, Corsa, Meriva, Zafira.
Buick = Mid-size and entry lux crossovers

Pontiac could still have a place with bigger car performance, if gas prices don't shoot up much higher.

Otherwise, Opel has plenty of "hot hatch" type small cars for Saturn.

It's possible we'll see something like that happen (Saturn being folded into BPG). Everything is up in the air right now as they try to sort everything out. As to the topic, I really look forward to seeing how the Traverse sells. I think it will do very, very well.

[FierySolstice]

GMC should of never got in the SUV business. They should of stayed with the Sierra, the small pickup and maybe a cargo van. They are the professional grade afterall. I do prefer the GMC style over the Chevy style very much, except for the Chevy SUV's, but they really shouldn't of gotten a crossover. I also think that Pontiac should keep the Torrant and make it a sort of X6-like vehicle. Thus further making the brand different from the others. The Outlook needs to become the Opel Zafira minivan. I think that would fit in with Saturn's new European image.

BTW, does anyone else hate the Traverse's rear end? The lights are sooo VW and way too small in proportion with the rest of the vehicle.

[megeebee]

Wouldn't dumping GMC effectively close the BPG sales channel? Can all those dealers survive on Pontiac and Buick alone? GMC still outsells both those brands.

"Rethinking" a brand and its products is not the same as closing it.

Maybe GMC can be a smaller line of vehicles? The Canyon could go. Some of the lower price trucks could go, leaving that market exclusively to Chevrolet. For all the hub-ub around Acadia, it sells very well. In fact until recently it was the best seller among the Lamda vehicles.

For perspective, here are sales totals for calendar 2008 through May 31st: (Automotive News Data Center)

GMC: 150,315

Buick: 61,532

Pontiac: 124,352

This doesn't show fleet sales percentages, but I think Pontiac has one of the highest of any brand.

[AndrewGS]

Originally Posted by Hitman1970

I would say "Oh, please.", but how many Intrigue owners jumped into a Regal GS again?

"Zero.", you say?

How many Regal GS owners jumped into a LaCrosse?

Originally Posted by FierySolstice

GMC should of never got in the SUV business.

Well, you'd have to go back to 1937 when GMC started selling a rebadge of the Chevrolet Suburban.

[HotCarNut]

Originally Posted by FierySolstice

I think its a major mistake to cut the Acadia. The Outlook should be cut or maybe turned into the Opel minivan-like vehicle. Why can't GM doe what Ford might be doing with thier trucks? Why do they need the SUT's? That doesn't make sense. Ford is going to put out an entire new Ranger and a smaller pickup, maybe called the F-100, to slot in below the F-150. They should do the same between the Sierra and Canyon or just make the Canyon a tad bigger and more about the sport that the truck.

The Outlook IS being cut. When it all shakes out there will only be 3 Lambda crossovers: The Chevy Traverse, Buick Enclave, and a new Cadillac model.

Ford does have SUTs....or are you forgetting the Explorer SportTrac?

Why add anything to the GMC lineup given that GMC is just a re-badge of Chevy on the truck side? I'm a GMC owner, and I hate the Chevy products in comparison, but as a business guy I have to say that killing GMC makes a ton of sense. NONE of the products are truly unique, and you could keep the brand alive for the commercial business taking it back to truly being "commercial grade". GM would save a fortune in advertising/marketing costs as well as design and engineering time to do the re-badges.

That being said, I think that the GMC designs are better all around and should become the new Chevy designs.

[HotCarNut]

Originally Posted by FierySolstice

BTW, does anyone else hate the Traverse's rear end? The lights are sooo VW and way too small in proportion with the rest of the vehicle.

ABSOLUTELY!!! I own an Acadia and I would NEVER buy the Traverse. My wife even commented on how ugly it was at the Chicago auto show.

[A.J.]

Here's my $.02 on a potential lineup for GMC -

-Compact Pickup Truck (only for GMC)
-Compact People-Mover (also badged as a Saturn)
-Compact CUV (also badged as a Chevrolet)
-Large CUV (also badged as a Cadillac)
-Large Cargo Van (only for GMC)

Trim Lines: XE, XT

Denali goes away to get luxury CUV buyers to go to Cadillac.
Compact Pickup Truck and Compact CUV on Theta.
Compact People-mover on same platform as Zafira.
Large CUV and Large Cargo Van on Lambda.
Chevrolet keeps the Silverado so GM has a larger truck.
No V8s. AT ALL.

[psece]

Originally Posted by HotCarNut

ABSOLUTELY!!! I own an Acadia and I would NEVER buy the Traverse. My wife even commented on how ugly it was at the Chicago auto show.

How about the Enclave?

[HotCarNut]

Originally Posted by AndrewGS

Great news since my grandparents love their Acadia so much. Now they'll have to buy something else when the time comes to replace it. I'm guessing many other happy Acadia owners will also be disappointed to find there's no new Acadia. I wonder what they might buy? Hmmm... there's always the Toyota Highlander.

Mad props for this post!


I own an Acadia and I can promise you that I wouldn't buy the Caddy version (will be overpriced and I hate the dealers in my area) and the Chevy version is ugly with a CHEAP interior compared to my Acadia. The Saturn interior was bad enough, I can't imagine what they downgraded further to get the base price to 28k for Chevy.

[A.J.]

Originally Posted by HotCarNut

I own an Acadia and I can promise you that I wouldn't buy the Caddy version (will be overpriced and I hate the dealers in my area) and the Chevy version is ugly with a CHEAP interior compared to my Acadia. The Saturn interior was bad enough, I can't imagine what they downgraded further to get the base price to 28k for Chevy.

Heck, if I had my choice, I'd buy an Outlook.

[HotCarNut]

Originally Posted by psece

How about the Enclave?

We love them and would have bought one rather than our Acadia. Unfortunately, last November it was impossible to find any on a dealer lot to even drive let alone purchase. I'd consider one of those, but only if they drop the new 3.6 in it.

[HotCarNut]

Originally Posted by A.J.

Heck, if I had my choice, I'd buy an Outlook.

To each their own

[nadepalma]

There was a rumor on another thread that the GM/Navistar deal was possibly being killed off.

In light of the rumors of GM "killing another division", what if GM killed the Navistar deal in order to hold onto the medium/heavy duty segment in order to have an "outlet" for GMC?

Consider that LaNeve has stated time and again that outside of Hummer, no other divisions will be cut. But is he being truthful? GM may have learned from the fiasco surrounding Hummer - All GM did when they announced it was under review was harm Hummer's image and piss off dealers. Could LaNeve be putting on a front solely to avert attention from further divisional cuts?

CAFE standards and high gas prices are sinking SUV/Truck sales; slowly erroding GM's marketshare and hurting CAFE standings. As those sales sink, GMC (as an all SUV/truck brand) will see its sales slide further and further. This shift could spell huge problems for BPG stores that survived on GMC sales. Clearly it will become less of the "anchor" at BPG stores as GM had imagined (the initial idea being that GMC would be a core brand, and Buick and Pontiac would evetually become satellite brands with no more than 4 products a piece).

Those dealers will now be clamouring for GM to give Pontiac and Buick more products as GMC's volume falls. Already we've seen that Buick is slated to possibly get more products than originally thought (the Skylark/Excelle, a luxury coupe or convertible, and a smaller-than-Enclave SUV are all possibilities) and Pontiac will follow (a new version of the G5 based on DeltaII is almost certain, a "G3" based Aveo is coming, and the very fact that a 2nd generation of the Vibe is here means Pontiac's focus will be more mainstream than sporty cars as Lutz had intended before CAFE standards set in).

So what of GMC? What if GM were to eliminate GMC as a "divisional" brand and just refocus them on MD/HD/Commerical products? If that were the case, then no division would be cut (as LaNeve has pointed out) and GM would further consolidate its mainstream retail pickup/truck/SUV line to Chevrolet -- which will allow them to save millions in advertising, design, etc.

Could this be a possibility? Would GMC truly become "Professional Grade" and limit itself to heavier, commercial products?

In light of the Navistar deal falling through, I think it's a plausible strategy.