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Elvis Presley owned this GMC pickup. Now you can, too

Befitting his status as America's first rock star, Elvis Presley lived large. Among his many excesses, Elvis was well known for his prolific new-car purchases. Mostly, it seems the King favored Cadillacs and Lincolns — although, during his Army stint in Europe, he picked up a BMW 507 roadster. Here we have something different from the Elvis Presley canon: a 1967 GMC pickup. And this GMC will be crossing the block at the GAA Classic Cars auction on February 27. This GMC is one of three that Elvis purchased from Guy Caldwell Motors in Senatobia, Mississippi, almost exactly 54 years ago: on February 7, 1967. He bought a red one, a blue one, and this green one for use on his Circle G Ranch in Horn Lake, Mississippi. According to a badge on the glovebox door, this pickup is a GMC Cheyenne Super, which sounds like a fancy-pants trim level, although the truck still looks pretty bare-bones to our eyes. The steel wheels have dog-dish hubcaps, and the grille and bumpers are painted white rather than chrome. It's a standard-bed half-ton pickup and is powered by a six-cylinder engine with a three-on-the-tree column-shift manual transmission. The truck spent just over a year on the ranch before being sold off. It then went through a series of owners and several museum stints. Among the paperwork included with a sale is a letter from Elvis Presley Enterprises confirming that a GMC pickup with this VIN number was bought new by Elvis. It has now been restored, so there shouldn't be a whole lotta shakin' going on. The truck has been repainted green, although the side mirrors are different than what's shown in a vintage photo, and the chrome trim along the sides is missing. More notably, we'd like to see the "Circle G Ranch" logo it once wore on its doors be added. No pre-sale estimate is given. The final hammer price for this GMC will depend on the degree to which bidders are all shook up at the prospect of owning one of the more unusual Elvis Presley vehicles.

GM plans to sell the Chevy Tahoe and Cadillac Escalade in China

General Motors Co plans to sell full-size sport-utility vehicle (SUV) models in China for the first time, and will import a range of models to beef up its product lineup into the world's biggest car market, its China chief told Reuters. The plan would mark a change of tack for GM, which currently produces all of the vehicles it sells in China within the country, which is set to be the only major economy to grow this year amid the COVID-19 pandemic. GM, China's second-biggest foreign automaker, is aiming to offer four models as it looks to improve its brand image and support a sales recovery: Chevrolet's Tahoe and Suburban, Cadillac's Escalade and the GMC Yukon Denali. The Detroit-based company is showcasing those models at the China International Import Expo, or CIIE, an annual import show in Shanghai which started on Wednesday and runs into next week. "Our intention is to get customer reaction and find a way to sell these cars in China," said GM's China chief Julian Blissett. The automaker sees opportunities for such vehicles, partly because Chinese families are expanding, he added. "We are looking into a variety of market sales plans for these vehicles, including online sales, leasing and others," he said, declining to give a detailed timeframe for the plan. GM's Buick and Cadillac mid-size SUVs helped the group's Chinese sales grow 12% in the third quarter this year, the first quarterly growth in the past two years. But it does not have full-size SUV models, which usually have a third row of seats and has room for six or seven people. BATTLEGROUND China, where over 25 million vehicles were sold last year, is a crucial battleground for global automakers including Volkswagen AG, the biggest foreign player by sales volumes, GM and Toyota, as well as local leaders Geely and Great Wall. The country has seen auto sales pick up in recent months following a COVID-19-induced slump, and authorities say they have largely brought the epidemic under control following its emergence in the central city of Wuhan at the end of last year. The expansion plan would also mark GM's first official sales in China of GMC vehicles, a premium brand in the group. Previously GMC vehicles were only sold in the country via unofficial grey importers. The imports will, however, not change GM's basic production strategy in China. It will still mostly sell vehicles made in China - for now, at least. "Depending on however we go we might make other decisions," Blissett said.

2024 GMC Sierra prices go up — and also down

The 2024 GMC Sierra 1500 is ready to work the yard, but how much you'll need to get the pickup back to your yard has changed compared to the 2023 Sierra — most often in a good way. The changes for the new model year aren't substantive, just enough to give Sierra lovers enough modification to prove they have the latest. The AT4X was only available with the 6.2-liter V8 in 2023; for 2024 the big bad off-road trim makes the 3.0-liter Duramax diesel inline-six the standard engine and takes $2,400 off the base price compared to last year's 6.2-liter. On top of that, the 6.2-liter AT4X costs $500 less than last year. Re: the gas V8, this is the opposite of the hefty increases we've seen Chevrolet generally do with 6.2-powered trims. The SLT, AT4, AT4X, Denali, and Denali Ultimate get the option of an active exhaust on four-wheel-drive trims with the 6.2-liter for $395. The 2.7-liter Turbo H.O. four-cylinder gas engine is rebranded TurboMax and comes with a five-year, 100,000-mile warranty. Two new wheel designs enter the catalog, availability depending on trim, and colors join the palette, their availability also trim-dependent: Downpour Metallic replacing Pacific Blue Metallic, and Thunderstorm Grey, both adding $495 to the price. Now to the haggling. Even though destination has risen $100, to $1,995, five of the eight trims — including the diesel AT4X — are less expensive than they were a year ago, some of them by $1,000. The new sums after destination and their differences from 2023 are:  Sierra Pro Regular Cab Standard Box 2WD TurboMax: $39,695 ($700) SLE Double Cab Std Box 2WD TurboMax $51,095 ($1,000 less) Elevation Double Cab 2WD TurboMax $52,795 ($1,000 less) SLT Crew Cab Short Box 2WD 5.3L V8 $56,795 ($1,000 less) AT4 Crew Cab Short Box 4WD Duramax 3.0L I6 $68,595 ($500 less) AT4X Crew Cab Short Box 4WD Duramax 3.0L I6 $81,195 (New trim) Denali Crew Cab Short Box 2WD 5.3L V8 L84 $68,595 ($1,000) Denali Ultimate Crew Cab Short Box 4WD Duramax 3.0L I6 $83,490 ($500) Since certain varieties of the 2023 Sierras are still on the configurator and in dealer inventory, any business wanting to take a tax loss for 2023 should buy the older Sierra. Regular buyers willing to forego the new bits on the 2024 Sierra will likely be able to find dealers ready to take a machete to the MSRPs of some 2023 Sierras sitting on the lot.