GMC Knows to Leave Well Enough Alone, Has No Plan to Fight Jeep Wrangler With a Dedicated Off-Roader

Timothy Cain
by Timothy Cain

News that suggests General Motors no-car GMC division is closing in on the launch of its own subcompact crossover to accompany the compact GMC Terrain coincided with revelations from GMC’s division manager regarding the future of a Jeep Wrangler rival from GMC.

There won’t be a Jeep Wrangler rival from GMC.

Ford’s Bronco is yet two years away, and the extent to which the next Bronco will directly challenge the Jeep Wrangler remains a complete unknown. Rumors differ.

But according to the global head of Buick and GMC Duncan Aldred, GMC has no intention of tangling with the Wrangler in the convertible, off-road, body-on-frame sector over which the Wrangler exerts total control.

“I don’t think it’s worth trying to take on Wrangler,” GMC’s Aldred tells Automotive News.

On the one hand, it’s not surprising that plans for the all-light-truck GMC brand to fight the Jeep Wrangler don’t exist. There’s been no concept from GMC since 2001’s Terracross or 2005’s Graphyte that hints at a desire to enter that space. In fact, the last non-pickup concept from GMC was 2010’s Granite, a mini MPV.

However, in a world gone crazy for utility vehicles, a U.S.-centric brand that majors on body-on-frame construction seems like the ideal fit for a rugged off-roader that could eat into the Wrangler’s slice of the SUV pie.

The problem? Other automakers try, and other automakers fail. The Nissan Xterra and Toyota FJ Cruiser were admittedly lacking the removable top portion of the equation, but both faded away as the Wrangler gained strength. 2015, you’ll recall, was the Wrangler’s best year of U.S. sales ever, and sales have only tailed off since because the next-gen Wrangler is quickly approaching. Jeep is still managing to produce nearly 17,000 U.S. Wrangler sales per month.

Toyota never managed to average more than 5,000 monthly FJ Cruiser sales. Nissan never averaged more than 7,400 Xterra sales per month. Annual FJ Cruiser sales plunged 79 percent from its 2006 peak in 2009. Xterra volume slid in 12 of 16 years.

You can see why GMC doesn’t think it’s even worth trying. GMC is not so full of hubris that it believes it can succeed where others have routinely failed. But in less direct opposition to the Wrangler, could GMC latch onto the next Chevrolet Blazer for a little 4Runner fighting fun?

In the meantime, the off-road answer at GMC resides in the Sierra lineup with the All Terrain X, currently a $3,405 package on the Sierra 1500.

[Images: General Motors, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles]

Timothy Cain is a contributing analyst at The Truth About Cars and Autofocus.ca and the founder and former editor of GoodCarBadCar.net. Follow on Twitter @timcaincars.

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  • Superdessucke Superdessucke on Aug 28, 2017

    Jimmy? Jimmy?? Jimmy!!!!

  • Sdlizard71 Sdlizard71 on Aug 29, 2017

    I've been driving Jeeps for years, but this I know... If a company from China has success in purchasing Jeep, I will never buy a new Jeep...ever again. Jeep is American. Made in America. Period.

    • Kenn Kenn on Sep 04, 2017

      Many people make the same stalwart claim - then show their appreciation for low price above-all-else at Walmart. For every one of you, I believe there are many more who will buy a product based on the product itself and its inherent value, not patriotic flag waving (at least, I hope so).

  • Wolfwagen Is it me or have auto shows just turned to meh? To me, there isn't much excitement anymore. it's like we have hit a second malaise era. Every new vehicle is some cookie-cutter CUV. No cutting-edge designs. No talk of any great powertrains, or technological achievements. It's sort of expected with the push to EVs but there is no news on that front either. No new battery tech, no new charging tech. Nothing.
  • CanadaCraig You can just imagine how quickly the tires are going to wear out on a 5,800 lbs AWD 2024 Dodge Charger.
  • Luke42 I tried FSD for a month in December 2022 on my Model Y and wasn’t impressed.The building-blocks were amazing but sum of the all of those amazing parts was about as useful as Honda Sensing in terms of reducing the driver’s workload.I have a list of fixes I need to see in Autopilot before I blow another $200 renting FSD. But I will try it for free for a month.I would love it if FSD v12 lived up to the hype and my mind were changed. But I have no reason to believe I might be wrong at this point, based on the reviews I’ve read so far. [shrug]. I’m sure I’ll have more to say about it once I get to test it.
  • FormerFF We bought three new and one used car last year, so we won't be visiting any showrooms this year unless a meteor hits one of them. Sorry to hear that Mini has terminated the manual transmission, a Mini could be a fun car to drive with a stick.It appears that 2025 is going to see a significant decrease in the number of models that can be had with a stick. The used car we bought is a Mk 7 GTI with a six speed manual, and my younger daughter and I are enjoying it quite a lot. We'll be hanging on to it for many years.
  • Oberkanone Where is the value here? Magna is assembling the vehicles. The IP is not novel. Just buy the IP at bankruptcy stage for next to nothing.
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