A rumored new body-on-frame SUV from GMC looks like it has joined other GM projects on the shelf.
Muscle Cars & Trucks cited unnamed inside sources that said GMC's plans for a standalone SUV have been, effectively, killed. The Thursday report said the SUV was meant to give GMC a rival to the upcoming Ford Bronco and also provide some distance between GMC and cousin Chevrolet. Currently, every single vehicle GMC sells features a more pedestrian Chevy counterpart. This would have been a GMC exclusive. Some outlets have reported the purported SUV would have been a new Jimmy with serious off-road credentials.
2009 GMC Envoy
It wasn't only the GMC mid-size SUV that received the axe. This vehicle was supposedly meant to ride on an overhauled body-on-frame platform dubbed 32XX. The 32XX architecture was meant to serve the next-generation Chevrolet Colorado and GMC Canyon. While the two pickups will return for a new generation, they'll instead ride on a heavily reworked version of the 31XX platform, dubbed 31XX-2. Supposedly, when the decision came to cut the 32XX program, the GMC mid-size SUV went with it.
2001 GMC Jimmy SLE
The report states the mid-size SUV's cancellation came as a result of the massive North American restructuring plan GM enacted last November. Along with idling four U.S. manufacturing facilities and the death of numerous passenger car models, the sweeping cuts reached future projects. Among them reportedly were a sixth-generation Camaro Z/28 and a seventh-generation Camaro. Cost-cutting was the main factor for each project's demise as GM pours more resources into its ambitious electric car and autonomous vehicle plans.
There may be one sliver of hope, according to the report. It's possible GMC's Bronco rival has transitioned to GM's electric-vehicle strategy. We know GM has plans for a battery-electric pickup, so don't rule out an off-road model from GMC just yet. If it happens, it will be a far different animal than what we would have been.
