Despite sharing a lot of dirty bits underneath, General Motors has done a commendable job lately of differentiating GMC and Chevrolet. Look at the Equinox and Terrain or the Acadia and Traverse as proof. Both pairs of vehicles share the same underpinnings, yet each have their own look. That’s a definite improvement over prior efforts, and Automotive News is reporting that GM may go further in the future.
Mark Reuss, GM President in North America, tells AN that GM’s two-brand approach to trucks needs to be better executed in the future. The high-level exec adds that the similarities in price between the two brands often leads to identical incentives, which has in turn led to the dilution of the GMC brand.
One way to further differentiate GMC is to head upscale, and the Professional Grade has its successful Denali trim range to help make that happen. “I think we can do premium Chevrolets, and take GMC and move it even further up,” says Reuss. If GMC were to use Denali to increase luxury sales, the brand would have to incorporate the badging on a lot more vehicles. Right now the Denali brand is limited to Sierra, Yukon and Acadia variants, but a Terrain variant has been spotted testing.
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