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GMC doesn't care if it's Mt. McKinley or Denali

GMC is getting a mountain of free publicity from President Obama's decision to rename the former Mt. McKinley back to Denali in Alaska. The truck-and-SUV brand is happy to see the moniker of its high-end trim in the news, but doesn't intend to change any marketing because of the switch. "It had no impact or change on our strategy," a GMC spokesperson told the Detroit Free Press. The brand doesn't expect sales to change, though the frequent use of the word Denali in the news in a positive light amounts to free, albeit temporary, advertising for the company. Denali is the word for the nation's tallest mountain in the Koyukon Athabascan language, and it means "the high one." In 1896 a prospector rechristened the peak Mt. McKinley to support presidential candidate William McKinley. He won the election, but was assassinated in 1901. The title stuck, and the site officially got the name when a national park was created there. Since then, there has been a push to return to the original moniker, and according to the Free Press, the park became Denali in 1980. Now, the peak has followed suit. GMC started using Denali to denote the top models on the 1999 Yukon. Today, it's available as an upmarket alternative on most of the brand's lineup. Related Video: News Source: The Detroit Free PressImage Credit: Copyright 2015 Jeremy Korzeniewski / AOL / GMC Marketing/Advertising Weird Car News GMC Truck SUV Luxury gmc yukon alaska denali gmc denali

GMC Hummer EV could have had the Chevrolet Avalanche's Midgate

One of the many rumors swirling around the GMC Hummer EV claimed the truck would resurrect the Midgate inaugurated by the original Chevrolet Avalanche. Although we now know there's no way to fully knock down the partition between the cab and the cargo box, the firm revealed the rumor wasn't entirely false. "There was [a Midgate] early on. We opted for the functionality of the drop glass in the back. With the package layout and things like that, it was not advantageous to pursue that one. And, the five-foot bed was kind of the industry standard in regards to price of entry in that segment," explained John Mack, the Hummer's exterior design management, during an interview with Muscle Car & Trucks. The Hummer will go on sale with a five-foot box, and it doesn't sound like a longer bed will be available, so a modern version of the Midgate would have made the model more versatile by giving users the ability to fold down the partition behind the rear seats to carry bulky items, like plywood and ATVs. It's a feature that would have inevitably made the truck more complicated to build, however, because it adds moving parts that need to be sealed. Hinges, seals, and latches in turn add weight, and complexity almost always invites high manufacturing costs. As an electric pickup built with newly-developed components, the Hummer already has enough of each. Motorists who need to carry something that's significantly longer than the cargo box aren't entirely out of luck. As Mack pointed out, the rear window drops into the partition, so owners will have the ability to haul surfboards, lumber, or anything else that's relatively long and reasonably thin by simply pushing a switch. Alternatively, the only thing limiting cargo space when the roof comes off is the sky — or, depending on where you live, bridges. Mack didn't reveal when the Midgate was dropped. GMC launched the Hummer project in April 2019, and it previously released early design sketches that show how the truck transitioned from a sketch to a prototype. As of writing, nothing suggests the Midgate will make a comeback in the near future on any member of the General Motors portfolio. It was introduced in 2001 on the first-generation Chevrolet Avalanche, which went on sale in the United States for the 2002 model year. It later spread to Cadillac's luxed-up variant of the truck, the Escalade EXT, and to the short-lived GMC Envoy XUV.

GM threatens predatory dealers with order cancellations, non-transferrable warranties

General Motors will launch a second salvo against misbehaving dealerships next week with a new set of policies aimed at curbing predatory markup strategies. With the new Chevrolet Corvette Z06, GMC Hummer EV SUV and Cadillac Escalade-V about to head into production, GM is putting its foot down yet again. Dealers that attempt to circumvent GM's markup restrictions by dealing directly with brokers or other resellers could find themselves in a particularly nasty spot, as the company is threatening to withhold future allocations and end the transferability of warranties when dealers facilitate the reselling of vehicles within 12 months.  While this may help curb some dealership chicanery, it's possible the real loser in such a deal could end up being the customer who unwittingly ends up with an un-warrantied vehicle. We suspect GM has accounted for that, but we'll have to wait until next week to find out exactly how these new policies will be enforced.