3/4 or 1 ton SUV ?

Dadoffourgirls wrote:


It took about three years to saturate the market starting in 2001. Their sales continued to dwindle as a percentage of all full size SUVs for GM in 2007 (and it might have been the bumper tongue weight). I think you underestimate the cost of engineering, producing, and certifying a low-volume, short-lived demand vehicle.

Additionally, GM is constrained currently with plant capacity.

Regardless of your staunch defense of the van, which really is apples and oranges compared to a typical suv, you may be right, or otherwise someone smarter than us would have re-introduced them by now. Although there's rumors from last year GM will.

Personally they're not my thing. Id take a HD truck 10 times out of 9 for my use. But given the soaring sales of full size trucks and suvs, year by year it just seems strange that a HD suv platform wouldn't be successful once again. Considering, for 1 mfg, they would only need to steal less than 5% of the overall market share of current full size suvs and trucks to sell some comparable quantities to other vehicle models.

Big part of the previous demise was likely similar capabilities as less expensive half ton SUVs (the whole world doesn't think like rvnet where you need more truck than necessary to get the job done) and generally no diesel offering or at least no good diesel offering after 2003 and none after 05 or whenever the Excursion died.
It would be a huge step back for many HD truck owners to get a gasser HD suv for towing unless they absolutely needed the seating.