General Motors has yet to approve a subcompact crossover SUV for its GMC brand, GM Authority has learned from sources familiar with future GM product plans.
The subcompact (B-segment) crossover, which would slot beneath the current GMC Terrain and wear the GMC Granite name, has been a point of contention for GM product planners for quite some time, sources tell us. In fact, current thinking as it relates to the potential vehicle revolves around finding a way not to cannibalize sales of the all-new Buick Encore GX and Chevrolet Trailblazer, given that the Granite would be roughly the same size as those models and share the same GM VSS-F platform / vehicle set. It would also be sold in the same showroom as the new Encore GX.
2020 Buick Encore GX
The idea for a GMC model to slot below the Terrain started in 2010 with the GMC Granite Concept. Based on the GM Delta II platform, the show car was a tall hatchback roughly the same size as as Scion xB. It featured rear-hinged rear doors and also derived a pickup truck variant called the Granite CPU (an acronym for Compact Pick Up).
After a few false rumors suggesting that the Granite Concept was green-lit, the Granite Concept ultimately never made it to production, allegedly because engineers could not find a cost-effective way to meet crash test regulations with the rear-hinged door design. The project was then shelved shortly thereafter.
2010 GMC Granite Concept
But the spirit of a GMC model beneath the Terrain seems to have never died within General Motors. In fact, the automaker has filed four trademark applications spanning ten years to register GMC Granite with the USPTO. The efforts have so far proven fruitless, because any applicant wishing to register a trademark must demonstrate an actual, real-world product or service by the name in question. GM currently has no real-world product using the GMC Granite name, hence it can’t successfully register its applications.
2021 Chevrolet Trailblazer
While GM continued to pursue rights to the GMC Granite trademark, a colossal shift in automotive buying preferences has taken place, resulting in crossover SUVs skyrocketing in popularity – primarily at the expense of sedans. Subcompact / B-segment crossovers have seen one of the largest sales gains as a result of the shift, and GM has benefited significantly.
2018 Chevrolet Trax
For instance, Chevrolet Trax sales have jumped 43 percent to 89,916 units in 2018 compared to 2015 levels, while Buick Encore sales have catapulted 191 percent to 93,073 units in 2018 compared to 2013. Together, the Trax and Encore typically make up the best- or second-best-selling subcompact crossover SUV franchise.
2018 Buick Encore
Seeing those figures makes us scratch our heads while wondering why GM has held GMC back from entering the rapidly-growing subcompact crossover segment. Clearly, the market has enough room for another subcompact crossover, especially one with GMC’s Professional Grade brand values and unique styling. To that end, GMC brand chief, Duncan Aldred, has previously stated that he believes a subcompact crossover would fit well within the lineup.
If a subcompact GMC crossover SUV does get approved before the end of 2019, then we expect it to launch around the 2022 or 2023 calendar years. And it will more than likely be called GMC Granite. But as of this writing, no such plans exist to our knowledge.
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Comments
I don’t understand GM’s problem. For the last however long they’ve been saying they want to make body styles that are distinct to their divisions. This seems like a perfect moment for that. In terms of cannibalizing sales between divisions, people that buy Buicks and Chevys tend to prefer their Buicks and Chevys.
One possible reason for why General Motors has yet to give the GMC Granite subcompact CUV the greenlight production is that sales for the Buick Encore and Chevrolet Trax have slowed as the last thing GM wants to do is enter a third model in a shrinking market; this is why GM needs to consider developing a GMC Granite based on the Chevrolet Equinox which sold 88,500 units in Q1 for 2019.
Yeah, great idea, but instead of calling it Granite, we can call it Terrain.
If I were GM I would forget the Granite based on the Trax or Trailblazer unless you can come up with a totally different concept.
In place of this build a mid size body on frame a Jimmy with removable doors and none of the Jeep Wrangler liabilities.
Let GMC and Buick compliment each other vs compete with each other.
Did we not learn anything from the pre chapter 11 badge engineering?
Though they have 3 divisions they still n edd to work as one together.
EXACTLY!!
Why does GM need 3 cars that occupy the same space? What will GMC bring to the table? Buick is supposed to be the upmarket version….and I’ve sat in the car. It’s not much more up market, and it really can’t be for what it is. GMC would be overlapping both. What GMC really needs is a BOF SUV. Build a wrangler competitor. Build a smaller Canyon. There’s a million other products GM could giver GMC before another rebadged Trax.
Although the GX and Granite would be in the same class, they would be very different offerings. The Granite on a vss-f platform with say maybe a 2.0t would be a completely different beast than the encore GX. I imagine the GX would offer ample room and have a higher roofline. The granite would wear its weight differently and sit a little lower offering much sportier driving dynamics. So, even though the GX and Granite would share a showroom, they wouldn’t compete. GM would potentially lose sales if they left this offering out of Buick/GMC dealers.
They would compete as they would be too close in this lower price class. Buick has more room to work at a higer price point of the Enclave but at the lower end you will end up with much of the same vehicle or just another over priced Buick.
GMC has kept most of the Buick dealers alive.
GM needs to take each divsion of GM and make them work like cogs and mesh together for a common pourpose vs making them compete with each other. To be hones Buick is really now just the Enclave that holds much value as the cars are dead and the other models sell in low volumes to where they are just add on sales.
With GMC and Buick in one dealership they should never share any models unless they hold a major distict difference like the Enclave.
The GX and Granite would be different models, though. They would very likely offer different motors. I would imagine the Granite would cost about 5k more as well. The only dealership that would offer something remotely similar to the Granite would be Chevy. I think that a 5k is a lot of money and would separate these two vehicles into different price brackets.
I still remember the lab , granite and granite pickup. It was great today model for 2009. But times changed .. It may be now worthy to come up with granite EV in both pickup and cuv. Say with a size for 5 adults and 5 thirty inch bags in trunk and one on frunk would be great. It can be red or dual motor. Something like ipace of GMC. Or updated bolt of GMC or the model y of GMC Again times are moving to grill less designs (model 3) . So they can use for grill less version of GMC.
Buick isn’t going to offer anything in the USA that doesn’t sell in China.
Vehicles, styling, features…pretty much everything.
And you can bet Cadillac, Chevy and GMC want to increase sales in China, so they’ll mirror what Buick offers.
GMC is not offered in China. GMC is sold in the USA, Canada, Mexico and the Middle East. China is irrelevant to this conversation.
They shouldn’t make it a Encore/Trax rebadge. If GMC is supposed to be the truck division, they should team up with Suzuki again and rebadge the Suzuki Jimmy as a GMC and have a more offroad-centric compact SUV.