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2022 GMC Yukon AT4 to offer 6.2-liter V8

A year ago, GM said it was considering making its 6.2-liter V8 available outside the flagship trims of its full-sized SUV trio of Chevrolet Tahoe and Suburban, and GMC Yukon. There has been a year of gnashing teeth on GM forums since the automaker decided to meditate on the issue, but GM Authority reports The General has finally made the call — the 2022 Yukon AT4 will offer the 6.2-liter. This follows last week's news that three 2022 Chevrolet Tahoe and Suburban trims would also add the 6.2-liter as an option. With the Yukon Denali already in the 6.2-liter camp, only the Yukon SLE and SLT will be left out. Those latter two levels will continue to offer the 3.0-liter Duramax diesel as the optional engine, which the AT4 trim cannot take advantage of because the AT4's front fascia and skid plate interfere with the diesel's plumbing. The 5.3-liter V8 that's the standard engine makes 355 horsepower and 383 pound-feet of torque. The 6.2-liter makes 420 hp and 460 lb-ft. As has been pointed out, the 5.3-liter can tow 200 pounds more than the 6.2, but fuel economy is a wash — the 5.3 only gains 1 mpg in the city over the 6.2. This is a pure power play. For the moment, it looks like Yukon AT4 buyers won't need to do anything other than check a box to get the 6.2-liter. That's the opposite of what some Tahoe and Suburban buyers will face when trying to get the 6.2-liter for their rigs; outside of the Premier trim, Chevy put the engine behind a paywall of option packages. Since GMC hasn't revealed pricing for the 2022 lineup yet, we don't know what the surcharge will be for the big engine. The GMC Sierra AT4 pickup charges $2,195 to go from the 5.3 to the 6.2, so that's probably in the ballpark. Related Video: This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings.

U.S. new-vehicle sales in 2018 rise slightly to 17.27 million [UPDATE]

DETROIT — Sales of new vehicles in the U.S. rose slightly in 2018, defying predictions and highlighting a strong economy. Automakers reported an increase of 0.3 percent over a year ago to 17.27 million vehicles. The increase came despite rising interest rates, a volatile stock market, and rising car and truck prices that pushed some buyers out of the new-vehicle market. Industry analysts and automakers said strong economic fundamentals pushed up sales and should keep them near historic highs in 2019. "Economic conditions in the U.S. are favorable and should continue to be supportive of vehicle sales at or around their current run rate," Ford Chief Economist Emily Kolinski Morris said after the company and other automakers announced their sales numbers Thursday. That auto sales remain near the 2016 record of 17.55 million is a testimonial to the strength of the economy, said Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody's Analytics. The job market, he said, has created new employment, and wage growth has accelerated. "That's fundamental to selling anything," he said. "If there are lots of jobs and people are getting bigger paychecks, they will buy more." The unemployment rate is 3.7 percent, a 49-year low. The economy is thought to have grown close to 3 percent last year, its best performance in more than a decade. Consumers, the main driver of the economy, are spending freely. The Federal Reserve raised its key interest rate four times in 2018 but is only expected to raise it twice this year. Auto sales also were helped by low gasoline prices and rising home values, Zandi said. It all means that people are likely to keep buying new vehicles this year even as they grow more expensive. The Edmunds.com auto-pricing site estimates that the average new vehicle price hit a record $35,957 in December, about 2 percent higher than the previous year. It will be harder for automakers to keep the sales pace above 17 million because they have been enticing buyers for several years now with low-interest financing and other incentives, Zandi said. He predicts more deals in the coming year as job growth slows and credit tightens for higher-risk buyers. Edmunds, which provides content, including automotive tips and reviews, for distribution by The Associated Press, predicts that sales will drop this year to 16.9 million.

GM seeks national mandate for zero-emissions cars

DETROIT — General Motors says it will ask the federal government for one national gas mileage standard, including a requirement that a percentage of auto companies' sales be zero-emissions vehicles. Mark Reuss, GM's executive vice president of product development, said the company will propose that a certain percentage of nationwide sales be made up of vehicles that run on electricity or hydrogen fuel cells. GM says a nationwide program modeled on such a requirement in California could result in 7 million electric vehicles, or EVs, on U.S. roads by 2030. California wants 15.4 percent of vehicle sales by 2025 to be EVs or other zero emission vehicles. Nine other states, including Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey and New York, have adopted those requirements. In January, California Governor Jerry Brown set a target of 5 million zero-emission vehicles in California by 2030. The Trump administration criticizes California's ZEV mandate, saying it requires automakers to spend tens of billions of dollars developing vehicles that most consumers do not want, only to sell them at a loss. Reuss told reporters that governments and industries in Asia and Europe "are working together to enact policies now to hasten the shift to an all-electric future. It's very simple: America has the opportunity to lead in the technologies of the future." A national mandate also would create jobs and reduce fuel consumption, CO2 emissions and "make EVs more affordable," Reuss added. GM, the nation's largest automaker, will spell out the request Friday in written comments on a Trump administration proposal to roll back Obama-era fuel economy and emissions standards, freezing them at 2020 levels instead of gradually making them tougher. Under a regulation finalized by the Environmental Protection Agency at the end of the Obama administration, the fleet of new automobiles would have to get 36 miles per gallon by 2025, 10 mpg higher than the current requirement. But the Trump administration's preferred plan is to freeze the standards starting in 2021. Administration officials say waiving the tougher fuel efficiency requirements would make vehicles more affordable, which would get safer cars into consumer hands more quickly. GM on Thursday said it doesn't support the freeze, but wants flexibility to deal with consumers' shift from cars to less-efficient SUVs and trucks.