Auto blog

2022 GMC Acadia gets small changes, price hike

GMC put conspicuous effort into the 2020 Acadia, adding a few more embellishments this year. For 2022 the Acadia gets another nuanced rework, the most important change being the elimination of both the base SL trim and the 2.5-liter four-cylinder engine. The Acadia SLE, the next trim level up from the SL, this year offers the 2.5-liter four-cylinder and 3.0-liter V6 in front-wheel-drive guise. Next year, the only engine available for the front-driver SLE will be the 2.0-liter turbocharged four-cylinder. The spec rearrangement jacks up the Acadia's barrier to entry to $35,995 for the new base model, a $5,000 increase over 2021. There's some give-and-take in the details to even out the exchange. Buyers this year needed to step up to the SLE in all-wheel-drive trim to get access to the 2.0-liter, which started at $38,295, and keeps that price for next year. But SLE pricing only goes up by $900 to swap the 2.0-liter for the 2.5-liter, not much money for a lot more power. The 2.5-liter produces 193 horsepower and 188 pound-feet of torque, the 2.0-liter makes 230 hp and 258 lb-ft. One more cut sees the Acadia AT4 with the five-passenger cabin struck from the menu, six- and seven-passenger seating the only choices. And one more swap sees the $495 Red Mahogany Metallic premium exterior paint replaced by the $495 Light Stone Metallic. Upgrades include new 18- and 20-inch wheel designs, and all 2022 Acadias get the Pro Safety Plus package standard. That installs driver assistance features such as Automatic Emergency Braking, IntelliBeam headlights, Front and Rear Park Assist, Forward Collision Alert, and Rear Cross Traffic Alert. And Traction Select, GMC's name for road surface and terrain modes, is also standard across the lineup.  The 2022 Acadia entered production at GM's Spring Hill, Tennessee plant at the end of last month, the configurator is live now. Related video: This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings.

General Motors shaking up its marketing... again

One of the things that dogs the full comeback of General Motors is the instability of its marketing. That part of the automaker got yet another big shakeup today when GM confirmed what I have been tweeting for a few days - strong rumors that the Chevrolet and Cadillac ad accounts are walking to new ad agencies.
Cadillac, GM's luxury brand, is going into review from Fallon Worldwide, Minneapolis and the indications are that Campbell-Ewald, Chevy's old ad shop, will end up with most or all of it. C-E just announced that it was moving from its long-time home in Warren, MI to a new downtown Detroit office next to Ford Field, just blocks from GM.
The other shoe to drop shortly will be the shift of GM's most important brand, Chevy, from Goodby, Silverstein & Partners of San Francisco to McCann-Erickson of Troy, MI. McCann used to be the agency for Buick and GMC, as well as GM's corporate advertising, and has retained some pieces of business over the last few years. Sources have even told us that it was McCann that did a lot of the creative work on Chevy's new ad platform, Find New Roads. (Not to be confused with a former McCann tagline for Saab, "Find Your Own Road.")

There's an impending shortage of new trucks in America's heartland

URBANDALE, Iowa — Jerry Bill is worried the novel coronavirus could hurt business at the Des Moines auto dealership he runs, but not because of a shortage of buyers for the big Ram pickups on his lot. "Our biggest issue will be if we don't get more inventory," said Bill, general sales manager of Stew Hansen Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram, which sells around 2,700 new vehicles a year in Urbandale, a suburb of Iowa's capital Des Moines. After a drop in sales in April when consumers stayed home, Bill expects pickup truck sales to end May similar to where they were a year earlier. And if demand remains strong, Bill said he will run out of popular models in June. Fiat Chrysler began slowly restarting Ram truck assembly lines on Monday after a two-month shutdown. The U.S. economy contracted in the first quarter at its sharpest pace since the Great Recession of 2007-2009 because of lockdown measures aimed at slowing the spread of the coronavirus. Economists warn the second quarter will be much worse. Still, far from the lockdowns of states like New York, Michigan or Ohio, dealerships like Stew Hansen have provided FCA and Detroit rivals General Motors and Ford a rare bright spot: strong sales of pickup trucks in America's heartland. Overall U.S. sales of cars and light trucks crashed to the weakest pace in 50 years last month. But sales of big Detroit brand pickups, particularly in southern and western states less affected by the outbreak, significantly outperformed the market, industry executives and analysts said. Pickup trucks are one of the most profitable automotive segments in the world. They account for a huge portion of the Detroit automakers' profits and formed a huge lure for Peugeot, which expects to merge with FCA by early 2021. The pressure is now on to boost pickup truck production and send vehicles to dealers in parts of the country with dwindling supplies. That is particularly true for GM, which is running short of certain truck models after losing 40 days of production to a strike last fall. "If you don't have what someone wants, they can choose to go to another brand," said Cox Automotive analyst Michelle Krebs. 'Easiest swap ever' Detroit automakers in March rolled out large discounts — such as interest-free loans for seven years — to keep vehicles rolling off dealer lots.