GMC's new sport truck: Sierra Elevation Edition

Doug_Scott · September 24, 2014

I think the misconception here is that there are "lots" of sales being lost. If that were truly the case, would sales not be down instead of up? Looking at this in a fish bowl will give a distorted view. I agree that there are customers that wish they could get their vehicle their way, every brand has that. I have wanted the manual trans in a full size pickup since the day they dropped it. Did not wish to spend 10k on the diesel in the Dodge just to get a standard(even though dodge did the diesel the best way of all manufactures). The main reason I bought my truck? Paid 28k out the door for a brand new truck. It cost less than the G5 GT coming off lease cost. Value is what majority of customers want, and majority tends to rule.

If you want one issue manufactures have to deal with, research CAFE ratings and penalties.

BIGDOGx · September 25, 2014

I think the misconception here is that there are "lots" of sales being lost. If that were truly the case, would sales not be down instead of up? Looking at this in a fish bowl will give a distorted view. I agree that there are customers that wish they could get their vehicle their way, every brand has that. I have wanted the manual trans in a full size pickup since the day they dropped it. Did not wish to spend 10k on the diesel in the Dodge just to get a standard(even though dodge did the diesel the best way of all manufactures). The main reason I bought my truck? Paid 28k out the door for a brand new truck. It cost less than the G5 GT coming off lease cost. Value is what majority of customers want, and majority tends to rule.

If you want one issue manufactures have to deal with, research CAFE ratings and penalties.

Your not even in the ball park for what we are discussing here, we are talking about a unique package for a Silverado that when they have the word sport attached to it should actually back it up with more then just colored matched door handles and stickers! Café ratings have nothing to do with GM's refusal to take current parts of their shelf and give their truck customers something they might actually want!

Just to put it in simpler terms how would Corvette fans here feel if the z06 package was nothing but a z06 sticker and color matched mirrors? Or how about the zl1 or z28, lets just slap stickers on it paint the rims black and call it a day! GM owes us truck buyers because without us there would be no Corvette or Camaro for people to buy because this company would not even be in operation right now without it's truck & suv sales! Like I said above it is insulting to those of us that are GM truck fans when they half arse things like this!

Doug_Scott · September 25, 2014

Your not even in the ball park for what we are discussing here, we are talking about a unique package for a Silverado that when they have the word sport attached to it should actually back it up with more then just colored matched door handles and stickers! Café ratings have nothing to do with GM's refusal to take current parts of their shelf and give their truck customers something they might actually want!

Just to put it in simpler terms how would Corvette fans here feel if the z06 package was nothing but a z06 sticker and color matched mirrors? Or how about the zl1 or z28, lets just slap stickers on it paint the rims black and call it a day! GM owes us truck buyers because without us there would be no Corvette or Camaro for people to buy because this company would not even be in operation right now without it's truck & suv sales! Like I said above it is insulting to those of us that are GM truck fans when they half arse things like this!

Being someone that was a consumer in the 70's I am well aware of what GM did with "sticker editions" on ALL vehicles, including Corvette and Camaro. Actually, all manufacturers did it.

As to being off topic, if I had quoted a post regarding the topic you are reading about, and made comments about other topics, that would be off topic, but, my post is on topic to a few posts in this thread. Suggest you read content in the other posts. Quite a few have posted how the act of "sticker editions" is driving customers away in large quantities. My post simply pointed out how that is not exactly what is happening.

The reference to CAFE is very relative. Before GM can start offering large powerful engines in a vehicle, or offer any option that will greatly impact fuel economy, they have to do projections in sales in order to make sure it does not have a large enough of an effect on their CAFE number as to cause them to not meet the requirements. They get away with it on specialty models simply by tailoring that specific model to a very specific customer, and that will naturally limit the sales so as not to impact the CAFE number significantly. If they effectively produced a current version of the original Road Runner, imagine the impact on CAFE. There is so much behind the scenes bureaucracy that many either have no idea is there, or just plain ignore it and feel it has no impact.

SnakeEyeSS · October 5, 2014

I think sales are up because consumer spending(loans) are skyrocketing lately. A lot of companies have rising sales(why GM is pulling stupid desperate moves at Caddy, their sales dropped). The measure is how big is the increase.?

On the other hand, Ram has had to add capacity at the plants and is adding capacity to its small Diesel engine line, because they exceeding expectations (and maximum production capacity).

I think CF's new stance of offering a billion ways to option their trucks is paying off big. Remember a few months ago Ram sold more than GM. Even if for a month, and even if it includes HD sales, thats a pretty big deal simply beuase on the past Ram was never even CLOSE.

Doug_Scott · October 5, 2014

On the other hand, Ram has had to add capacity at the plants and is adding capacity to its small Diesel engine line, because they exceeding expectations (and maximum production capacity).

I think CF's new stance of offering a billion ways to option their trucks is paying off big. Remember a few months ago Ram sold more than GM. Even if for a month, and even if it includes HD sales, thats a pretty big deal simply beuase on the past Ram was never even CLOSE.

American's have been wary of diesel engines in anything but a transport truck. Too many stories of having to spend somewhere between $4k and $8k for injector pumps at 100k miles. And that was after having spent near $10k for the diesel and obligatory transmission. Then there is the large failures of trying to make a diesel for a full size GM car out of an Olds gas engine. And then add in the noisy, smoking, vibrating 4 cylinder diesels in the Chevette/Acadian. I drove a couple of those after doing brakes on them, and watching the dash vibrate up and down what had to be 4 inches as you let the clutch out to pull away from a dead stop pretty much made me sure I would never own one.

GM, Ford and Chrysler all need to take advantage of the current crop of new car consumers and show them a diesel is a dependable, affordable, and a more economical engine to gas engines. If they fail again, then it is not likely we will see a mass produced diesel engine in a North American produced vehicle in our lifetime.

MikeNH · October 5, 2014

I think sales are up because consumer spending(loans) are skyrocketing lately. A lot of companies have rising sales(why GM is pulling stupid desperate moves at Caddy, their sales dropped). The measure is how big is the increase.?

On the other hand, Ram has had to add capacity at the plants and is adding capacity to its small Diesel engine line, because they exceeding expectations (and maximum production capacity).

I think CF's new stance of offering a billion ways to option their trucks is paying off big. Remember a few months ago Ram sold more than GM. Even if for a month, and even if it includes HD sales, thats a pretty big deal simply beuase on the past Ram was never even CLOSE.

Ram outsold Chevy, not GM as a whole as I recall. As the crazy huge model lineup is now down to just them too- Ford consolidated their trim line for 2015 and made what once was a trim into option packages.

As for the diesel, whatever I guess. I don't buy stuff based on MPG and the Ram diesel is just something that gets good mileage. Based on how the Grand Cherokee performs with the same motor I'll say it's not going to have enough sack to be satisfactory in day to day driving. The big V8 diesel in the upcoming Titan seems interesting but the Japanese don't know how to style trucks so that's out. I'll keep buying V8s in pickups as long as I can.

galliher_nc · October 5, 2014

Ram outsold Chevy, not GM as a whole as I recall.

Correct.

RAM even admitted they outsold Chevy (by 200 units) because of heavy incentives on their trucks and the lack thereof on the new GM's at the time.

galliher_nc · October 5, 2014

I agree the sticker package trucks are lame, but the market for a true "sport truck" is small. Do I wish GM would do it? Sure, but I'll admit I probably wouldn't buy one. I like the versatility of my 6.2 crew cab. I would assume GM will open up the 6.2 to the LT model trucks in a year or two like they did on the 900's.

Doug_Scott · October 5, 2014

Correct.

RAM even admitted they outsold Chevy (by 200 units) because of heavy incentives on their trucks and the lack thereof on the new GM's at the time.

That should show manufacturers that consumers are more concerned with cost and availability than brand loyalty. If Dodge outsold Chev by 200 units, that means they also outsold GMC by an even larger margin.

If GM wants to claim being the largest in sales they need to consolidate the two truck brands into one. There is nothing stopping them from having both a Chevrolet Silverado, and a Chevrolet Sierra or GMC Silverado and GMC Sierra. They appear to be starting down that road though. My local dealer used to be Pontiac/Buick/GMC, they are now Chevrolet/Buick/Cadillac/GMC and stock both GMC and Chev trucks. Also noticed that what used to Chev/Olds dealers are now also Chevrolet/Buick/Cadillac/GMC dealers.

Personally, I think they need to remove the Chevrolet name from trucks and just use GMC. Chevrolet is more known for cars, and GMC is more known for trucks. As long as they keep the brands separate, they will never top Ford or even Dodge sometimes in sales.

MikeNH · October 5, 2014

GM will never dump one or the other or do anything to muddy the waters. The brand separation works for them and besides the two combined often have outsold Ford anyhow, and if you break it down by specific model, GM schools Ford in 1500 sales vs the 150. What Ram is doing is unsustainable, they'll either drive Chrysler broke or the incentives will have to dry up.

galliher_nc · October 5, 2014

Personally, I think they need to remove the Chevrolet name from trucks and just use GMC. Chevrolet is more known for cars, and GMC is more known for trucks. As long as they keep the brands separate, they will never top Ford or even Dodge sometimes in sales.

I know in Canada GMC outsells Chevrolet, but here Chevy outsells the GMC pickups by a WIDE margin. This reminds me of when the GMT-800's were released. I believe it was 1999 that Dodge either outsold or almost outsold the Silverado, but we know how that turned out. The K2's are starting to catch on and sales have been steadily increasing for both the Silverado and Sierra here in the States. I don't think they need to get rid of either brand, but play on each brands strengths. There was a study a few years ago, it showed that a large percentage of GMC buyers wouldn't buy a Chevrolet if GM were to can the GMC brand, the same was true with Chevy.

Doug_Scott · October 6, 2014

What I meant was that if you ask just about any adult to name a GMC vehicle they will only know a truck name, and if you ask them to name a Chevrolet, it will be a car name they come back with. GMC has not made a "car" since the El Camino clone have they?

SnakeEyeSS · October 6, 2014

Ram outsold Chevy, not GM as a whole as I recall.

Yeah, I knew that, just a typo.

galliher_nc · October 6, 2014

What I meant was that if you ask just about any adult to name a GMC vehicle they will only know a truck name, and if you ask them to name a Chevrolet, it will be a car name they come back with. GMC has not made a "car" since the El Camino clone have they?

Not necessarily. Most people know of Chevrolet for their trucks, SUV's and muscle cars. If you ask people to name a Chevy, quite a few will probably say Camaro, Corvette, Silverado, Tahoe or Suburban.

'01LS1 · October 6, 2014

Maybe GM will make a come back. You need to be fierce now. Yearly updates. Seriously 8 speed should of made all trucks.

Agree, 8 speeds should have been out at the start of the K2xx builds. What the marketing guys should have done is begged for the 8 speed to

go in the 5.3L Elevation/Ralleye trucks for this year. Would think that production could accommodate the few trucks being built in this segment & they

would definitely be profitable.

As far as the complaints for the sticker package on the Elevation? I know there are posts on this forum with people asking for just this package of

color matched bumpers/wheels w/sticker packages just like Rams Express/Sport when GM did not offer it. Ram does not have special motors for those other

than the standard issue hemi that is not even a hemi anymore.