GM Stops Building GMC Yukon, Denali, Sierra, Heavy Duty; Chevrolet Tahoe

by Robert Farago

Published: May 6th, 2008

gm stops building gmc yukon denali sierra heavy duty chevrolet tahoe

General Motors has stopped production of the lion's share of their 2008 truck line-up. Automotive News [AN, sub] reports that GM's told its dealers that "the allocation volume for the Dealer Order Submission Process cycles beginning May 8, 2008, and May 15, 2008, have been canceled." Translation: the American automaker will no longer fill orders for the vehicles listed above. The General blames the shutdown on the ongoing United Auto Workers (UAW) strike at American Axle, which has caused a paucity of parts. The situation could be worse for GM, but it's hard to see how. Even thought the strike and resulting shutdown provide a convenient excuse for GM to cut production on an entire genre of vehicles– vehicles that can't be sold at a profit, or, indeed, sold– GM's cash burn demands some kind of cash flow. From one perspective, there is no end in sight to General Motors' North American profit drought. "If the [American Axle] strike continues, there might be additional production cuts," GM spokeswoman Susan Garontakos admitted to AN. From another perspective…

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4 of 31 comments

Geeber on May 07, 2008
menno: BTW, does anyone else wonder if these vehicles are going to be “temporarily discontinued” in the same way that Studebaker “temporarily discontinued” car production in South Bend, Christmas 1963? (And yes, I know that for a further 30 months, a Canadian plant built a few Studebakers). When Studebaker made the announcement that it was shutting down production in South Bend in December 1963, it was clear that the closure was permanent. And everyone understood that it basically meant the end of Studebaker cars, because the company was also shutting down its styling and engineering sections, too, and the Canadian plant did not have the capability to produce engines (which is why Studebaker bought Chevrolet engines for those final cars). I doubt that GM is going to permanently pull the plug on these vehicles. The SUV market is not going to go away completely - it will shrink to what it was in the 1970s. GM was making Suburbans (both Chevrolet and GMC models) then. Given that its big SUVs are some of the best examples of the genre, I would expect that they will be among the last ones standing in this segment - provided that the parent corporation survives to build them.

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Tredshift on May 07, 2008

I can't believe anyone would consider buying one of these dinosaurs, and good luck tying to sell it on the used market. "That boston.com article says Herb Chambers has a one year waiting list for Smart cars! That’s insane. I think the concept of the Smart car is good, but I wouldn’t pay $20000 for one." Speaking of the "Smart Car"....I've actually seen 2 of them around here in the last week and they have to be possibly the MOST RIDICULOUS looking vehicles EVER produced. And the price, for that joke of a car? Maybe you could get over the embarrassment if this thing only cost $6 or 7 thousand. You can buy a number of actual cars that get basically the same mileage that the "Smart Car" gets. So what is the advantage????? I've been to Europe many times and I'll never forget the first time I saw one of these things in Rome. I could not get over just how tiny it was.

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Mj0lnir on May 07, 2008
Tredshift : May 7th, 2008 at 4:21 pm I can’t believe anyone would consider buying one of these dinosaurs, and good luck tying to sell it on the used market. I'm hoping they get cheap enough on the used market that I can buy one. A year-old Suburban/Denali XL with two years and 20,000 miles of warranty left for ~$12k to $14k would be perfect. I'll take a huge hit on my current Suburban, but the new ones get better mileage and it'll be nice to have another 130,000 miles before worrying about repairs.

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Joeaverage on May 08, 2008
Tredshift: I’ve been to Europe many times and I’ll never forget the first time I saw one of these things in Rome. I could not get over just how tiny it was. I'm ALL for fuel efficiency but I'm not seeing any real advantages to it's size in the USA. Well, maybe it's diminutive size is a good thing in Manhattan but in the other parts - who needs the diminutive size when you can get better mileage out of larger vehicles? I think they are cool looking but two seats eliminates it from being in my "fleet" otherwise I'd be cross shopping the Miata, MR2, Saturn Sky, etc. Having lived in Italy tiny cars are still an advantage...

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