GM News: General Motors To Differentiate Next-Gen SUVs

[William Maley]

William Maley

Staff Writer - CheersandGears.com

December 27, 2012

In the past few generation of its full-size SUVs, General Motors used pretty much the same interior design across all brands. That looks to be changing with the next-generation SUVs.

“In the past we shared SUV and (pickup) truck interiors. That is not the case going forward,” said Chris Hilts, creative manager of interior design at General Motors to Car and Driver.

Hilts cites two reasons for this change. One is that SUV owners want more refinement in their vehicles. Pickup owners want something a bit different.

“We went to a lot of clinics. What we learned is that truck customers like their interior to feel like a truck. In some of our past experiences, we felt truck customers would like a passenger-car interior. That wasn’t quite the case when we started listening to what was being said,” Hilts said.

The second is to help better separate the Chevrolet, GMC, and Cadillac versions from one another.

“I think in the past we have not done so well with brand differentiation and we haven’t done so well with trim differentiation,” Hilts said. With the next-generation pickups and SUVs, “we tried to make a great effort to correct that.”

Source: Car and Driver

William Maley is a staff writer for Cheers & Gears. He can be reached at [email protected] or you can follow him on twitter at @realmudmonster.

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[Drew Dowdell]

Differentiation is good.

[G. David Felt]

About time they went the proper route of keeping each brand distinctive. This will help in building loyalty and win people over from other brands.

[hyperv6]

I just hope they don't look a lot like the old ones. Not to say the old ones were bad but if thses are new they should look more than just an update.

[ocnblu]

I hope they have the pickup truck front ends this time, as in olden days.

[Justin Bimmer]

I hope they have the pickup truck front ends this time

They won't because...

as in olden days.

[GMTruckGuy74]

I knew this was going to happen. The SUVs will remain more car-like with their interior design to keep the soccer moms happy. I'm hoping that the brand differentiation is more apparent than in the GMC & Chevy pickups. Other than red lighting for GMC/blue lighting for Chevy and the different names on the horn pad, they're identical in design. They should have taken the Lambda approach and differentiated the dash more between the two brands.

[Delta Force79]

They should have taken the Lambda approach and differentiated the dash more between the two brands.

I think this is exactly what we can expect with the upcoming SUV's. I was never a fan of the more car-like dash in the current trucks, it was way too bland. I'm hoping they don't go down the conservative route this time.

[smk4565]

I think GM has promised "more differentiation" on vehicles for a decades, yet they all end up looking pretty much the same. Perhaps this means the pickups get the work truck style interior while the SUVs get an evolution of what they had.

[Drew Dowdell]

I think GM has promised "more differentiation" on vehicles for a decades, yet they all end up looking pretty much the same. Perhaps this means the pickups get the work truck style interior while the SUVs get an evolution of what they had.

At least BMW doesn't promise differentiation...

[smk4565]

I think GM has promised "more differentiation" on vehicles for a decades, yet they all end up looking pretty much the same. Perhaps this means the pickups get the work truck style interior while the SUVs get an evolution of what they had.

At least BMW doesn't promise differentiation...

BMW has 3 brands and one would not confuse a Mini for a BMW or a BMW 7-series for a Rolls-Royce. GMC for years has just been Chevy, yet Generals Motors pretends they are a unique brand.

[PurdueGuy]

Am I the only one that is a bit iffy about this? While I see some value in it, I'd rather see each brand have a different interior that's REALLY well done, but not go to the extent of different interiors for the full size trucks vs SUVs. Doubling the number of interiors to design runs the risk of spreading talent and resources thinner, and resulting in more, but not as well thought out interiors.

[SingleStylish]

I am certain you could find an identicle article before the GMT-900 release. And the 800 before it.

In fact, I am pretty sure that you can hear some of the same comments on the most recent release of the '14 trucks. Don't get worked up, they'll be differentiated by upfitting and not much else.