Heard on My Street: GM Crossover, Super Duty Buzz
March 26, 2007

My Sunday afternoon nap was interrupted by a neighbor pounding on my door. She was desperate to get a closer look at the test model GMC Acadia parked in my driveway. It was exactly like the one she had spec'd out on the Internet, right down to its candy-apple red paint.

The Acadia is the second member of a family of new crossovers, featuring three rows of seats, from General Motors. Saturn was first with the Outlook. Buick’s Enclave comes on stream soon.

I’m betting the Acadia, generating some buzz already, will be the sleeper of the trio -– from the sleeper GM division. GMC has been a roaring but completely overlooked success story for the past decade. Last year, GMC and Saturn were the only two domestic brands to show year-over-year sales increases.

The Right Demographics

My neighbor wanted to buy my test model Acadia on the spot; I declined since I don't own it. She knows she may have to wait awhile and pay full list for hers. She’s attracted to the Acadia’s styling and wants a smaller and more fuel-efficient vehicle than her current SUV for tooling around town. A minivan is out of the question.

She’s the ideal demographic for the Acadia, which GMC is aiming largely at women. Until now, only about 25 percent of GMC buyers were women compared with 42 percent of all SUV buyers. My neighbor is in her early 40s, a mother of three, works in the family’s business of collision shops and has Audi and Mercedes-Benz cars in her garage.

Of concern, however, is the fact that she’ll be swapping her leased Chevrolet Tahoe for the Acadia. Likewise, another neighbor considering a Saturn Outlook is turning in her Chevrolet TrailBlazer.

Chevrolet currently has no member of GM’s new crossover family in its line, leading me to wonder if GM may be cannibalizing its own Chevrolet sales with its new crossover line.

Edmunds.com’s analysis shows the Saturn Outlook is drawing heavily from buyers also shopping its prime competitor, the Honda Pilot. No numbers are available yet on the GMC Acadia. But GM needs to conquest from other automakers’ SUV and minivan owner bases -– and not its own division's –- for its crossovers to be a home run.

Super Duty Appeals to Young Guys

My neighbor had barely left when two teenage boys lumbered up my driveway to have a closer look at another vehicle I was test-driving -– Ford’s F-Series Super Duty pickup, the Texas King Ranch edition.

One offered to swap me his Chevrolet Colorado for the Ford; the other his Dodge Ram. Both vehicles combined wouldn’t add up to the Super Duty’s $57,000 plus price tag. But it's promising these truck buyers of the future are interested in Ford.

Posted by Michelle Krebs at 6:11 AM under Commentary , Ford , GM | Comments (0) | digg this | Seed Newsvine