Fizzboy7

I see what you are saying, but there is more to it. (And I am speaking for conditions in big cities, not out in the Heartland of America). When a Chevy finally makes it down to the dealer, and that dealer needs to start selling cars to meet quotas, he/she has to pit that vehicle against all it's peers and all other dealers in that area. Competition is fierce in this industry, and there are many choices people have. That is why "just needs to be mainstream" no longer cuts it today. A car/truck needs to stand out from the others, win awards, and highly achieve in most areas for it to greatly excel. There are too many other choices (in this case, GM's very own GMC) for people to walk next door over to and purchase. Also, the bling factor now has to be there, since purchasers of trucks now expect such things for upscale, trendy, nightlife living. Again, this is more of a metropolitan thing where competition and sales numbers can be huge. GMC gets this, but Chevy cannot. Just how many sales did Chevy miss because the competing GMC was decked out nicer?

As far as Cadillac vs. other GM brands, not quite the same comparison. It's only Chevy and GMC who share body panels (or trim pieces) and dashboards. The other GM brands are separate enough to not have that spill-over. I believe that is why the OP originally chose these two makes for the thread.

TangoRed

1. When I said mainstream, I was referring to the segment. GMC has mainstream offerings and also premium via Denali. In this case "just needs to be mainstream" does indeed cut it, because that's what Chevrolet's entire purpose is.
2. The way your wording your post makes it sound like the GMC offerings are soundly outselling the Chevrolet models, which isn't anywhere near the case. Also absolutely none of Chevy's SUV's and pickups are severely lagging behind in sales compared to most of the competition.
3. I think Chevrolet gets the bling factor just fine. I'm not sure where you'd put more chrome on the front end of your average Silverado. But yes there is indeed a demand for fancier pickups from the lifestyle crowd, which is why I mentioned the High Country model. Regardless it's not like that's ever going to make up the bulk of sales for the pickups. This brings me to my original point- yes the Denali line gives the market something Chevy largely cannot, but Chevy's isn't supposed to be premium. It's right in the heart of the average person's purchasing power along with the mainstream, non-Denali GMC models. And Toyota, for that matter.

pbm317

This is the large reason for the existence of GMC. To allow a "full model line" to be offered through the GMC/Buick franchise locations. Buick models and volumes in itself would be hard to support the fixed operations of a dealership, same with just GMC. Both GMC and Buick have the same premium mainstream positioning. Yes, there is some overlap between the GMC and Buick lines, but they're doing more to differentiate those as well. Acadia became a half size smaller, but kept a passable 3rd row, while the Enclave is expected to remain a larger 3-row crossover.

mmarshall

That's something else that didn't quite make sense to me....having the large, Chevy Traverse crossover SUV and two upmarket versions of it...the GMC Acadia and Buick Enclave, though the Enclave really has a super-bling trim level on it, inside and out, even more so than the Acadia. I understand, BTW, that a new, downsized version of the Traverse and Acadia is coming.

TangoRed

Acadia is actually already here and is indeed Grand Cherokee size now. The Traverse is staying large and will have 8-passenger seating available.

mmarshall

And that won't impact on Terrain sales?......though, admittedly, the Terrain is probably closer in size to the Cherokee than to the Grand Cherokee.

TangoRed

The Terrain aligns with the Cherokee, but I suppose you may see some people pay more for an Acadia. As a whole GMC will start debuting more rugged designs as they prepare an assault on Jeep.

pbm317

Terrain and the Equinox were a bit large compared to most of the other Compact Utilities (CR-V, RAV4, etc), had some comparative fuel economy penalties as a result. The new Equinox (and upcoming Terrain) have been right-sized to be more directly in line with the rest of segment.

mmarshall

It will be interesting to see if the other GM divisions get a version of the Chinese-built mid-size Buick Envision. The downsizing of the Terrain and Equinox, however, to (possibly) make room for them might be a clue:

TangoRed

There's been rumors swirling of an SUV going in between the Traverse and Equinox for a couple of years, but all indicators point to it being built off a shortened version of the platform under the Acadia.