Photos: Lack of Small Trucks at GMC Dealership a Good Sign, or Intentional?

[Ming]

Originally Posted by paul8488

I also like the idea of a smaller, simple, cheap pickup, along the lines of an 80's S10 or Ranger. Seems like many people here are saying that... I wonder how many of us would really buy one though! I have a small sailboat to yank around, and like the idea of a bed in back to haul stuff around.

I would, but then I'm one of those guys who bucked the trend a year ago before gas rose another buck by buying a 4-cylinder station wagon that "nobody wants" (oh, and noone markets or sells anymore - even Ford killed their Focus wagon in this environment of $4.00 gas) according to Detroit.

Too much cargo room (no it's not a "5-door" or a Vibe), too good fuel economy (considering the cargo room), too small a profit margin for GM (or most Automakers for that matter) to offer real station wagons, not hatchbacks with puny cargo room, on their lots. They might pull customers away from the thristier, more profitable SUVs filling up the lots.

So I think the Compact truck conspiracy theories some have proposed above are applicable to the lack of any real station wagons of yore (even small ones like the dead Focus Wagon) and the overflowing lots of poor MPG but higher profit SUVs.

HHR? PT Cruiser? Make the few available wagons into novelty cars with retro styling that puts off many buyers -- not something practical and styled neutrally with attractive, modern touches.

Originally Posted by vam29

Yes, buyers are gravitating toward small trucks: They're called "Sedans!"

Make sure that all driveways have a purpose-built fuel efficient sedan on one side that can't carry much cargo, and that guarantees the owners will need to come back later for...you guessed it, an SUV! And never the twain shall meet! --- (and if they do, they will be butt-ugly and won't get any marketing dollars - see Malibu Maxx).

If I say this with irrational zeal, then it's because I'm a wagon fan, and I'm tired of seeing the disappearance of truly practical 4-cyl. FWD compact wagons with ample cargo space disappear from the market.

[paul8488]

The more I see pictures like that Mexican Opel the more I wonder why GM can't be gutsy and introduce quirky vehicles like that into the US market. GM should offer the most vehicle options available, as they have the most brands and the most market coverage. I don't even care anymore about market perception or what a 'true' Pontiac or Buick or Saturn is... just get as much different product out there, especially in the small end of things. The Beat, the Corsa, that Corsa-based baby pickup thingy, the Chevrolet Niva from Russia, the Pontiac G8 Ute, the Captiva, a midsize unibody trucklet... throw it all at the US market and see what sticks.

[camaro75]

I'll never understand the strong hatred for the the GMT355's that I've seen on this site. At 65k mi. my '04 has on had one problem with the blower resistor which kept the a/c only blowing 4. That is more I can say for the '03 Silverado that I had, which was in the shop quite a few times for the intermediate steering shaft and the instrument cluster. My dad has an '06 colorado that has 23k mi. and no problems to speek of. That too is more than he can say about his Silverado. And I can tell you from experience, my sis has a '98 s-10 and I can tell you there are a lot of improvements made in the Colorado. Although her truck has ran awesome for her all these years. I'm not sure what you people are looking for, it is an entry level into the truck segment and it never has been a big selling segment for GM like ther fullsize trucks. That's why GM puts so much into there fullsizers because that's what they sell more of. I won't say there's not needed improvements in the 355's, but I am happy with mine. I guess that makes me "half-baked".

[b4z]

It's time for another unit body small pickup.
No reason why it couldn't get 30mpg hwy.

[mikmak]

Originally Posted by Ming

I would, but then I'm one of those guys who bucked the trend a year ago before gas rose another buck by buying a 4-cylinder station wagon that "nobody wants" (oh, and noone markets or sells anymore - even Ford killed their Focus wagon in this environment of $4.00 gas) according to Detroit.

Too much cargo room (no it's not a "5-door" or a Vibe), too good fuel economy (considering the cargo room), too small a profit margin for GM (or most Automakers for that matter) to offer real station wagons, not hatchbacks with puny cargo room, on their lots. They might pull customers away from the thristier, more profitable SUVs filling up the lots.

So I think the Compact truck conspiracy theories some have proposed above are applicable to the lack of any real station wagons of yore (even small ones like the dead Focus Wagon) and the overflowing lots of poor MPG but higher profit SUVs.

HHR? PT Cruiser? Make the few available wagons into novelty cars with retro styling that puts off many buyers -- not something practical and styled neutrally with attractive, modern touches.



Make sure that all driveways have a purpose-built fuel efficient sedan on one side that can't carry much cargo, and that guarantees the owners will need to come back later for...you guessed it, an SUV! And never the twain shall meet! --- (and if they do, they will be butt-ugly and won't get any marketing dollars - see Malibu Maxx).

If I say this with irrational zeal, then it's because I'm a wagon fan, and I'm tired of seeing the disappearance of truly practical 4-cyl. FWD compact wagons with ample cargo space disappear from the market.

Yeah! +1 etc.

Seriously though, it is a dangerous strategy to play unless the rest of the competition sticks to the same plan, which they aren't.

Big SUVs have a lot of room to move on price. Mark em down, ship them out and get in something that doesn't make the owners resent it everytime they turn the key.

[KingElvis]

Originally Posted by t-rex

I'm aghast that an urban/suburban (well it's Houston, the whole city is one big suburb) would have a gravel lot. How trashy-looking...

Maybe there are no Canyons because suddenly everyone wants one and they've all sold out?

I thought Houston was notorious for it's lack of zoning. A fraternity buddy once told me that when you get off the elevated highways, you are as likely to end up on a gravel road as an asphalt street.

[rsnumber2]

Pretty simple in our case. They don't sell.

When they first came out people liked them, but about a year afterward, we couldn't give them away. We have a few on our lot, prominently displayed, but very few takers. The truth is, they are over priced, with no margin, and no rebates. So when you mark one down `$1000 and say it is on sale, people **** their head and say "huh?" they expect us to come off $5000 like the full size trucks, and it's just not possible.

Good (but old) trucks, poor marketing, and little incentive to buy.

[KingElvis]

Originally Posted by TimR

Not really...a 5.3 with afm would be perfect. Bigger engines barely working get the same mileage as smaller engines working hard. I know several guys who swapped out 5.3s for 6.0's over the years (naturally for performance) but when they were just driving around like normal mileage never changed enough to be noticed.

That's not true my friend.

The whole idea of MDS is that when you cut half the cylinder's out during shutdown, the remaining cylinders are "working harder" i.e. that cylinder pressure in the remaining cylinders roughly doubles.

Think about it: It takes the same amount of raw power to move the vehicle, its just that only four cylinder's are providing that power by 'working harder' than when eight cylinders provide that same amount of power.

[KingElvis]

Originally Posted by rsnumber2

Pretty simple in our case. They don't sell.

When they first came out people liked them, but about a year afterward, we couldn't give them away. We have a few on our lot, prominently displayed, but very few takers. The truth is, they are over priced, with no margin, and no rebates. So when you mark one down `$1000 and say it is on sale, people **** their head and say "huh?" they expect us to come off $5000 like the full size trucks, and it's just not possible.

Good (but old) trucks, poor marketing, and little incentive to buy.

I think this pretty much is the answer.

Also consider that because GM has class leading full size economy, the gulf is not great between the full size and colorado.

Actually, GM's get better mileage than the 'COMPACT' Ford Ranger. Go look at the Ford website, it's unbelievable how terrible Ranger mileage is.

[Ming]

As a side note, a couple of days ago I noticed that they started lining up H3 and H2 HUMMERs in front of this BPG dealership, and have a HUMMER sign sitting out beside their lot, ready to install.

Wonder if they got the memo from GM about them dropping the HUMMER brand...?

Can count on this dealership to pursue the biggest, most profitable SUVs and trucks until the bitter end, I guess...

[Ming]

Originally Posted by rsnumber2

So when you mark one down `$1000 and say it is on sale, people **** their head and say "huh?" they expect us to come off $5000 like the full size trucks, and it's just not possible.

Good (but old) trucks, poor marketing, and little incentive to buy.

That would seem to mean that GM never really took it's "Value Pricing" strategy of lowering MSRP's very seriously for its big trucks - and tried to keep the $10,000 profit margin or something where they still have room to haggle a few thousand on the hood of the full-sizers.

Canyon/Colorado, meanwhile, are stuck sometimes with ZERO incentives on the hood, when I've checked.

Heck, even the Impala sedan has better incentives than the Colorado/Canyon when GM is apparently selling them left and right - so you're right.

[Timekeeper]

My dealer in St. Louis never really carried many Colorados despite selling tons of Silverados. They just never seemed to be too popular and I've got to admit, I bought a used Ranger instead of newer Colorado cause I don't like the looks of the colorado.

[GMinTheDriveway]

I have an '05 Canyon crew with the 3.5. It's a nice little truck that can haul 6 people when you need it to and non-professional-grade Home Depot trips as well. Where I see the real weakness is towing capacity. At 4000 lbs, you can't tow ANY RV-type trailer except for the teardrops (see http://www.tada-rv.com for the type of thing you can tow with one) as the lightest of "lightweight" toy haulers are 4500lbs dry and suitable for 1/2-ton pickups or more.
It gets a solid 18mpg driven by my wife 95% in town. Up the tow-cap to 5000 and they'd be a little more useful, but as GM said when they brought out the GMT355s "people who buy small trucks have no need to tow"
DUH! Thats what trucks are supposed to do!

[M_RABID]

Originally Posted by Snafu_SS

My local dealership is the same way...there are 4 Colorado's (none with 4wd like I want and need) and the GMC dealership hasn't had any.

Also, the Ford dealership had ONE Ranger. I think it might have been used.

But then there are Tacoma's EVERYWHERE!!

The real issue with the Colorado/Canyon is that GM doesn't incentivize them like they do the full size trucks. When the out-the-door price of a Canyon is within a couple hundred dollars of a similarly equipped Sierra, the full-size is simply the better deal. The lease on the Sierra is LESS than the Canyon. If GM won't incentivize the Canyon, it won't (and is not) sell. That is why we only stock them in onsey-tueseys. They sit on the lot forever, while people opt for more truck for the same money in a full-size. When the sonoma was available and heavily incentivized, we sold (and stocked) a ton of them. Demand controls supply. Incentives contol how good the deal is. The deals control demand. Crappy deal=no demand.

[kyvrwc]

It seems to me that GM dealers have never stocked very many compact pickups on their lots compared to the full- size Silverados or Sierras. In 2002, when I was looking to downsize a Sierra to a Sonoma or S-10 (a move that seems incredibly prescient today) I spent three weeks going to Chevrolet and GMC dealers all over Central KY looking for a mid-level 4X4 Crewcab. IF dealers had an S-10, they had one or two and they were either stripped out 2WD 4- cylinder regular cabs or they were fully loaded models with the stupid graphics, integrated step- bumpers, and a bunch of other stuff I didn't want to pay for. I finally found a blue S-10 that was exactly the model and trim level I was looking for, although not my first choice in color. It was the only S-10 on the lot and the first one that I had found that was optioned the way I wanted, so I bought it anyway and didn't look back.

Hopefully, GM and the other manufacturers will finally get it and start building decent small trucks. Maybe in a couple of years you'll have to hunt the back of the lot to find big trucks tucked in behind rows and rows of Colorados and Malabus.