GMC's high-end Denali and AT4 lines are outselling General Motors' traditional luxury brand in the U.S. this year, according to figures from GM and the Automotive News Data Center. The automaker is building on Denali's ability to command luxury prices by expanding the AT4 off-road subbrand and planning a pair of high-performance electric vehicles that will revive the Hummer name.
"People are coming in writing $80,000 to $90,000 checks for these trucks," said Inder Dosanjh, dealer principal at Dublin Buick-GMC and Fremont Buick-GMC in the San Francisco Bay area. "There's so much demand out there."
In a year when U.S. auto sales are down 18 percent, most Denalis and AT4s arrive at Dosanjh's dealerships already sold, and customers are willing to open their wallets during a recession to load them up with extra features.
"We can't get enough of them," said Will Churchill, dealer principal at Frank Kent Country in Corsicana, Texas.
GMC, whose vehicles were often criticized in the era of Old GM as being just dressed-up Chevrolets, has grown in recent years into a "stealth luxury brand" that appeals to a wider swath of the market than the legacy competitors in that space, said Jeff Schuster, president of the Americas operation and global vehicle forecasting at LMC Automotive.
"Having the luxury features and content in a brand that isn't necessarily thought of as luxury is appealing to some buyers," Schuster said. "It's addressing part of the market that wasn't getting fully addressed previously. Consumers are gravitating toward these subbrands."
GMC will complete its rollout of AT4 in 2021 by offering it on the Terrain compact crossover. AT4, which was introduced in 2018 on the Sierra full-size pickup and added to everything else except the Terrain this year, has become the brand's fastest-turning trim.
Customers are so enthused about Denalis and AT4s that they'll pay sticker price, Churchill said. The trouble is overcoming inventory shortages created by last year's UAW strike and two months of production lost to the pandemic in the spring.
"It's not even a question," he said of buyers' willingness to pay what GM is asking. "It's a matter of who has them."
The last time I heard something like that was 1979. Gas had just reached $1.00 per gallon, and the Toyota Corolla was the vehicle to get...at any price.
Yes indeed, GMC is the new Cadillac. Well done GM!
Automotive News is a publication that writes about the automobile industry. As such, it knows why vehicles like the GMC Sierra Denali 3500 HD are selling so well. This reports comes off as click-bait rather than the in-depth information that one expects of a respected trade publication. My salesman explained it to me four years ago. When rich people write a check, they are not spending money. They are investing money. Light trucks like the Denali HD bring with them tremendous tax breaks.
My information is from four years ago and was probably changed by the tax bill of 2017. By changed, I mean that there is probably an even better tax break for buying vehicles like these. There are now rumors of Cadillac getting into the pickup truck business. If the rumors are true, then you know why.
GM needs to step up those interior materials to Cadillac and Mercedes levels then, they better not screw this up, especially with HUMMER coming online. This is their opportunity to push Cadillac higher without alienating their current Cadillac customers.
wonder if CHEVY and FORD are seeing the same things in the "LUXURY" truck segment as the "KING RANCH" is the "gold standard" for LUX TRUCK for a LOT of people
OR is GMC actually getting something "unique" out of this market
GMC is unique because the Denali line up covers their entire product offering and the AT4 is completing that same breadth of product options. There is also no mistaking Denali for anything else than a Denali.. Fershur... you know its a Denali when you see it...
There is only a few high country models and only a few king ranch trims.
GMC is around $47K vs Cadillac's $60K. That's a huge difference. GMC is actually closer to Ford's ATP ($43K) and lower than RAM ($49K). This really isn't in the luxury ballpark.
So indeed, cheaper vehicles tend to outsell luxury brands like Cadillac.
I do think GMC will grow their ATPs significantly with the new Yukon and growing Denali/AT4 sales, but we're still far off from Caddy regardless.
While GMC does command higher prices at the top of the range mostly all of those sales are at the top of the Sierra and Yukon products...their bottom end is well rather bland and downmarket:
so...on the whole, no it isn't Cadillac, its just those big ticket items that is propping up the ATPs that the rest of the range rides the coattails of.
Depends who the customers are. Though I'm certain it still attracts a lot of old people because Buick is what they buy, but I feel like I'm seeing younger people in Buicks (something I never saw 10 or 20 years ago). So if younger people are becoming interested perhaps the brand can grow as those young people gain more wealth. Though totally unscientific, my sample of "what I see" is not a good sample.
Lots of people I know buy Yukon Denalis because they are nice enough, but they don't mind if the kids beat the crap out of the back seats. But they don't see them at the same level as a luxury brand. Its basically replaced what Buicks used to be. Of course, now some of those sales go to PU's.......
Selling frame-based rear wheel drive (in some cases even solid rear axle) V8 powered huge monsters of vehicles that are essentially gussied up Chevys...
Cadillac is trying to shake itself off of that image...
I don't think Ford has done a good job distinguishing the F-150 upper-trim level and making them distinctive and memorable like Denali. For example it's not even clear how Platinum and Limited rank at first glance and visually the differences aren't that obvious. Ford may have a bunch of grilles, but they don't really communicate anything about the level the truck is at. And "Limited" and "Platinum" are generic trim level names which means nothing unless you're inside the F-150 club already paying close attention. Furthermore those names have been used on other Ford trim levels, but the logic doesn't carry over to the F-150 which places Limited ahead of Platinum.
I'm very unhappy with the way Ford handled the F-150 update, they didn't improve this situation at all IMO. But I'm not going to claim I know better than they do since they are successful anyway. It's just something that continues to bug me with Denali further enhancing its importance.
It gets confusing to say the least. Especially when other models like the Explorer get reversed, Platinum being the Topo Tier Model with the Biggest Engine.
They also keep things like Co Pilot 360 TM, which adds Adaptive Cruise Control to even Base Lariat Trim. Not available on Denali.
I've never liked the word "lariat", feels 1970's dated. I was curious if it is a made up marketing word or a real word, apparently it's a real word "a rope used as a lasso or for tethering".
Who uses "Limited" on lower trims? Hyundai and Chrysler are the only 2 that I know of that uses Limited as a dedicated trim and both are applied to their highest trim.
I do agree with most here tho...ford's trim structure on the trucks is confusing as all hell... TBH I don't even think there's a true hierarchy to how it's all setup because IMO it's all overlap from king ranch to platinum to limited...they all just have different design themes if you ask me.
Saying a Ghost is nothing more than a reskinned 7 series is a bit disingenuous, don't you think? Me thinks someone is either trolling or has no earthly idea of what the term reskinned means...thats like saying a CT5 is nothing but a reskinned Camaro.
^^^who gives a good googly moogly about what he thinks a platform is...you obviously think that a platform is what it isn't with all of the constant harping about platforms. Fact of the matter is that it was claimed that the RR was a reskinned 7 series...it's obvious you don't know what reskinned means.
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