GM’s full-size GMC Yukon SUV may soon debut in Australia if recently discovered trademark filings are an indicator of plans to introduce the vehicle “down under.”
Drive speculates the three-row SUV may find its way to Australian dealerships by sometime in calendar year 2024, since there is basically no local information available about its arrival as of late March 2023.
GM operates as General Motors Specialty Vehicles or GMSV in Australia and New Zealand. Currently, no members of the GMSV dealer network have received any news about the GMC Yukon coming to Australian showrooms.
GMSV itself says it doesn’t currently “have any announcements to make.” Its representatives also state the trademark filings are “common practice for GM to secure key trademarks globally” and that registering nameplates is simply “to protect them from unapproved usage.”
GM has only trademarked a small fraction of its nameplates in Australia, however. Besides the GMC Yukon, Drive found a trademark filing for the Cadillac Lyriq EV. Interestingly, a right-hand-drive Cadillac Lyriq was also spotted undergoing testing in February 2023, sporting a steering wheel position suitable for Australia and New Zealand as well as other foreign markets such as the U.K. or Japan.
Several GM models are already available in Australia. These include the Chevy Silverado pickup truck, remanufactured with a conversion to right-hand-drive configuration by Walkinshaw Automotive Group, and the popular Chevy Corvette which is built in RHD configuration directly at the GM Bowling Green assembly plant in Kentucky.
The process of converting the GMC Yukon for export to Australia could be made easier by the fact that it shares its GM T1 platform with the Chevy Silverado. With an existing right-hand-drive Silverado already in production, some of the components needed for a Yukon conversion to the same configuration are almost certain to be currently available in GM’s supply chain.
As a reminder, the standard U.S. version of the 2023 GMC Yukon is offered with three powertrain options. Two of these are gasoline options, including the naturally aspirated 5.3L V8 L84 gasoline engine, rated at 355 horsepower and 383 pound-feet of torque and the naturally aspirated 6.2L V8 L87 gasoline engine developing 420 horsepower and 460 pound-feet of torque.
GM also offers a single diesel option for the 2023 GMC Yukon, the 3.0L I6 LM2 turbodiesel Duramax engine, rated at 277 horsepower and 460 pound-feet of torque. Both gasoline and diesel engines are paired with a GM 10-speed automatic transmission.
GMC Yukon production takes place at the GM Arlington plant in Texas.
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before GMC sends them to another country, why not start building enough (COMPLETE VEHICLES) to sell in the USA....so tired of getting jerked around trying to buy vehicles in the United States that are in short supply or missing parts or have features not available....3 years of this with NO END in sight
Don't hold your breath. This will be the new normal moving forward. Plants will produce enough product to just meet demand to minimize inventory costs and keep huge discounts off the table. A dealer told me you can forget about the days of 200 Toyota Corollas on the lot. Never again.
The entire industry has used the pandemic to change its business model for good. Even when chips stabilize, (and they will) they are never turning back. Remember flying before 9/11? Now every plane is full and it will remain that way.
You are correct I tried to get one for an entire year until I went into another model year before I could get one. It took forever. I am very happy with it but it took too long.
Brilliant considering they can't even keep up with the US demand. I've had an order in for a year now it's gone nowhere.
That's incorrect that inventory is not going to build back up. Customers will switch to another brand that has enough inventory.
1) Interest rates impact sales.
2) Increasing price too much impacts sales.
There is a sweet spot between sales numbers and price to maximize profit. If the manufacturer doesn't get that exactly right then they either miss excess profit or lose customers to other manufactures. Do you think that a manufacturer is going to idle a plant, which eats into profit, and risk losing customers to another manufacturer? No way. Do you think Toyota and Ford are going to hold at 60-day supply because GM thinks its the optimum inventory level? heck no, Toyota and Ford would make 100-day supply, and then sell the vehicles for $2k less than GM and take GM's market share. The whole 60-day inventory idea is a pile of baloney.