Plans to make Sierra more upscale, and expensive, than Silverado

[TheTrueMoron]

fyi...............................................

 

Its ironic that so many want GM to kill its most profitable division. LOL

 

Over the course of the last year the GMC brand has been a quiet one at the new General Motors. While Buick, Cadillac and Chevrolet all debut a near endless barrage of new product, GMC has been in the background continuing on their successful Professional Grade formula. While GMI hears the GMC brand is about to start its own onslaught of new product, until then the GMC name prepares to celebrate 100 years.

 

In 2012 the GMC brand will turn the big 100, only the second GM North America brand to do so, behind Cadillac. As a prelude to their centennial GMC has released a list of ten little known facts about the brand. Some you probably already knew since you're a GMI member, but some you may not have. Hit up the list below.

 

 

1.The GMC name turns 100 years old in 2012. In 1912, Rapid Motor Vehicle Company was merged with two others – Reliance and Randolph – to become GMC.

 

2.On August 1, 1909, a Rapid F-406-B – a GMC predecessor – was the first truck to reach the 14,110-foot summit of Pikes Peak.

 

3.If GMC was a standalone manufacturer, it would be the tenth-largest automaker in the United States in terms of total vehicle sales from January to November of 2011.

 

4.GMC built some of the world’s earliest electric vehicles from 1912-1917. These trucks had single-digit model names, each denoting load capacity, from one-half-ton to 12 tons.

 

5.GMC’s luxury-focused Denali trim level currently outsells the entire product lines of some premium automakers, including Land Rover, Jaguar, and Porsche.

 

6.GMC was tasked with engineering and production of the 1936 Parade of Progress vans and the 1941 Futurliners, which toured the country carrying mobile road shows.

 

7.Today, GMC and the Denali trim level are among the fastest-growing nameplates in the U.S. with respective sales increases of 22 percent and 91 percent year over year.

 

8.During World War II, GMC manufactured approximately 584,000 military vehicles, including the CCKW-353 “Deuce-and-a-Half” and the amphibious “Duck.”

 

9.The GMC Sierra – the brand’s top selling model – outsold the Toyota Tundra and Nissan Titan combined, with 40,000 sales to spare, through the first 11 months of 2011.

 

10.From 1973-1978, GMC produced motorhomes in 23- and 26-foot lengths. They appeared in Bill Murray’s 1981 movie, Stripes and the 1996 blockbuster, Twister.

 

 

Most on that list shows a time when GMC was an innovator. Like I said before, I have a GMC, and I love my GMC, and I personally don't wanna see GMC go. But when you have absolutely ZERO unique product that isn't just badge engineered, what innovating are you doing?

 

(Especially when coupled with my previous comment about Pontiac, who did have unique product not found anywhere else in the GM USA line, such as the G8, GTO, the G8ST (that would have come had the brand not been shuttered), Solstice (after Saturn kicked the bucket, Pontiac had the only model), Vibe (I know this was a Toyota built product, but I'd rather someone buy it from GM and keep just that little bit more cash stateside than Toyota, plus you could use GM incentives and corporate pricing on it), etc)

 

I'm not bashing GMC, just trying to understand the logic behind everything.

 

 

Corporate logic=money. If they can save money on R&D and design one truck with two different brand badges, then they stand to make more money (profit). I'm sure they already spend a lot of money on market research to determine if it's worth making two largely different trucks.

[Quint]

From elcamino's pasted quote: "In 2012 the GMC brand will turn the big 100, only the second GM North America brand to do so, behind Cadillac. As a prelude to their centennial GMC has released a list of ten little known facts about the brand."

 

Does nobody remember that Chevrolet had their centennial in 2011?

 

_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_

 

I still hold the notion that GMC should design, produce, and sell medium- and heavy-duty trucks and follow the marketing strategy I laid out in earlier postings. They would have the chance to innovate with new designs, as well as create an angle to market themselves as a strong standalone division instead of relying on dressed-up Chevrolet Silverado copies to pad their sales numbers.

 

That Denali name would look just as good on a two-ton work beast of a truck unique to GMC as it does on a high-end faux Silverado.

[a42887]

I still hold the notion that GMC should design, produce, and sell medium- and heavy-duty trucks and follow the marketing strategy I laid out in earlier postings. They would have the chance to innovate with new designs, as well as create an angle to market themselves as a strong standalone division instead of relying on dressed-up Chevrolet Silverado copies to pad their sales numbers.

 

That Denali name would look just as good on a two-ton work beast of a truck unique to GMC as it does on a high-end faux Silverado.

 

 

Exactly. The flip side to my comments is if GMC were to differentiate itself [especially by way of introduction of vehicles in a new segment, not just an unique model], their worth would be so easily quantifiable. Medium Duty trucks were HUGE for them at least in numbers, I wonder why they weren't profitable enough to continue with. Especially since the chassis and drivetrain were about the only things unique given that the sheet-metal was primarily reused, and even the engines were usually already in production or outsourced for the larger motors. Class 8 could really be appealing too, apparently enough that Cat is even entering the market of Class 8 Severe Service.

[SouthCo]

GMC is already the upscale of the 2 offerings.

[oldschool327]

GMC, Professional Grade, enough said!

 

Chevrolet celebrating 100 years, yes, but not the Chevy truck, it is still a young buck in comparison to the mighty GMC!!

 

All of us remeber this conversation when your young children put your old but out to pasture with not respect to their elders.....

 

I am sure niether brand will be going anywhere anytime soon so it is all hogwash.

[therapy]

I think they should do it the other way around -

 

1. GMC should be the work trucks with the high-end being more utilitarian and ruggedized. Options for stuff like factory Line-X/Rhino-type lining, an "Off-Road" model that offers true benefits (not just Z71), and all vehicles should have knobs, dials, buttons (even the nav) that you can operate while wearing work gloves, and fabrics, leathers, vinyls that are easily cleaned.

 

2. Chevrolet should be the "civilian" vehicles, with the equivalent of the Denali at the top end and the more upscale interiors. Base models would be nearly identical to GMC, but would fork off at the 2nd tier (SL / SLE) and go from there.

 

3. Pontiac shouldn't have been killed - they should have been GM's "Performance" vehicles. They should have killed Buick in the US (but kept it alive in China where it sells like crazy). I may just be thinking this because I really want a 2014 Trans-Am.

[speeddemon_383]

I never did understand the pontiac thing. In my area they sold the crap out of all pontiacs...You still cant hardly drive more than two blocks in nearby towns and cities without seeing one.

[Morgan1986]

I think they should do it the other way around -

 

1. GMC should be the work trucks with the high-end being more utilitarian and ruggedized. Options for stuff like factory Line-X/Rhino-type lining, an "Off-Road" model that offers true benefits (not just Z71), and all vehicles should have knobs, dials, buttons (even the nav) that you can operate while wearing work gloves, and fabrics, leathers, vinyls that are easily cleaned.

 

2. Chevrolet should be the "civilian" vehicles, with the equivalent of the Denali at the top end and the more upscale interiors. Base models would be nearly identical to GMC, but would fork off at the 2nd tier (SL / SLE) and go from there.

 

3. Pontiac shouldn't have been killed - they should have been GM's "Performance" vehicles. They should have killed Buick in the US (but kept it alive in China where it sells like crazy). I may just be thinking this because I really want a 2014 Trans-Am.

 

the word "civilian" seems kinda funny we are all civilians in less your owned by the goverment and then your called military. Think a better term would be white collor vs blue collor . or pratical vs impractical . I love knobs and buttons for trucks I hate touch screens .

[NoMoreGM4Me]

I never did understand the pontiac thing. In my area they sold the crap out of all pontiacs...You still cant hardly drive more than two blocks in nearby towns and cities without seeing one.

 

 

Yep, and every one of them lost money for GM.

[cobrajet84]

I too wanted them to save pontiac, but the direction they wanted to take pontiac was mostly performance based models and mostly rwd with many of the platforms being unshared. So they would have been largely low volume niche vehicles, that cost them alot of money. It sucks that it happened but in the end they probably did what would make them profiatble the fastest.