Acadia downsize - bad idea

[regfootball]

well GM just went and threw a successful product in the trash

 

everyone I know who got Acadias did so because of the size, esp the third row......

 

they could have brought back the Envoy name...

Edited January 12, 2016 by regfootball

[ocnblu]

I don't know... I kinda like the All-Terrain model.  Reminds me of a Durango for some reason though.  Perhaps it's been "right-sized"? 

[G. David Felt]

well GM just went and threw a successful product in the trash

 

everyone I know who got Acadias did so because of the size, esp the third row......

 

they could have brought back the Envoy name...

Disagree with you. The new Acadia is very sharp looking and I think they adjusted it to fit into the proper mid size segment. Plus with all the new technology and the ways to loose weight while giving more room inside, I do not think this will hurt sales of the Acadia.

 

Really sharp looking ride.

[Robert Hall]

They have the Yukon for the full size, this fills the midsize niche, since the next Terrain is going to be downsized, isn't it? 

[hyperv6]

I think you missed many of the points of what is really going on here.

​#1 GM is repostitioning models to better fit the compitition.

 

#2 GM will add a model to take the place of the Acadia. Most likley based on a Canyon platoform in some way.

 

#3 The new model may not be too far off in size as GM has repackaed it much more efficiently

 

​#4 the new model may have much more appeal even over the last one with more MPG and the fact it looks like a proper SUV and not an enlarged Mini Van.

 

GMC is going to have 5 SUV and CUV models.

​The new small one yet to be anounced.

​The Terrain went down some in size but should have as much room as it did now. It was really poorly packaged.

​The Acadia will go down some in size but but will match up to models in class better.

 

​Then GMC will bring as will other GM divisions a new RWD/AWS based model that will fill the present Acadia slot. This will better go after the Grand Cherokee than the Acadia did.

 

Then we have the Yukon  and Yukon XT.

 

The fact is they will have somehting for everyone.

 

The present Acadia was nice but it was not really in what the market is following anymore. It was very heavy for what it was too. It was packaged better than the Terrain but I think the new model will satisfy 95% of most owner of the present Acadia. You would be shocked how seldom all the seats are used. Look around on the road. How often do you see heads in the back seat?

 

Cargo room if anything could use some improving but that is any SUV or CUV with the seats up.

 

The only real question here is price. Just how much for the Terrain and Acadia if they go down in size. Will we see them adjust the price to meet the class they are now in. I expect so but time will tell. None are cheap anymore.

 

You have to look at this big picture and If you do you will find that GM is getting smart and going head to head and adding models to areas they do not address now. Profits should be good here.

 

The one thing I have noted was that the new model appeals to many of the past Envoy owners. there were a hell of a lot of them so if we lose anyone we may real in two more to replace them.

Edited January 18, 2016 by hyperv6

[smk4565]

Downsize is a good idea.  Sales will go up, and they have the Traverse/Enclave as bigger, plus the Yukon.    Terrain and Equinox are shrinking remember.  You can't have a 182 inch long Terrain and a 201 inch long Acadia, especially when you have a 160 inch long Encore and 201 inch long Enclave in the same showroom.  You have to have a mid-size, medium is often the best selling size.

[regfootball]

 

 

#2 GM will add a model to take the place of the Acadia. Most likley based on a Canyon platoform in some way.

 

#3 The new model may not be too far off in size as GM has repackaed it much more efficiently

 

 

​#4 the new model may have much more appeal even over the last one with more MPG and the fact it looks like a proper SUV and not an enlarged Mini Van.

 

#2- people bought acadias because they were large crossover cars, with width and volume, they did not want a Trailblazer / Canyon (the lambdas laid waste to the trailblazer and envoy) nor did they want the Yukons and Suburbans, they are entirely separate markets.  Lambdas were a huge success because people wanted a LARGE 7-8 seat CROSSOVER that could haul lots of people and cargo and could replace vans in particular with something that drove similar to one but had AWD.

 

#3- stats show the new model is very far off in size, its a smaller class, instead of adding a model to take the place of a wildly popular vehicle (one that had its best sales ever in its 10th year no less), if the 'new model' is not 'too far off in size', why not just keep the name, keep the size, and keep the people happy with what got you there?  Call the new model Trailblazer, Envoy, or Terrain.  Terrain actually would have worked well because the wheelbase is the same, and you would have been giving people MORE than you had before.  The smaller compact size replacement could get a new name since it would literally be a new product.  Granite? perhaps.  

 

#4- 700 pound weight loss is misleading, it is based on the 4 cylinder model, lets wait to see what loaded 4x4 configs compare at.  I am guessing the diff will be around 300-400 pounds max.  Despite all the amazing! engineering to lose 30% of your cargo room and 1/3 ton of weight, the epa mpg (1 mpg combined????) gains are near worthless to marginal, in the age of sub $2 gas.  Record number of cars sold in the US last year and people are breaking open the wallets for larger vehicles again now that they can act on their preference again, and GM......downsizes.

 

Clearly GM botched their product plan but won't come clean.  They did this as part of the pressure to keep pushing CAFE up and when they hatched this plan they probably felt the saudis and world directives weren't gonna push gas below $4.  This is probably rooted in issues of which plants for production they were ultimately going to produce something at as well.

 

GM is going to make a ton of money with their new auction site reselling their own Acadia lease returns to people who can't buy a real new one anymore.  All those lambda customers (many of them repeat) who don't want anything besides a GMC are left out in the cold.  Of course GM left the Camaro customers out in the cold for 7 years, that is 10% of many's lives, but GM doesn't concern itself with that. Imagine if Kelloggs stopped making corn flakes for 7 years.

 

GMC sold over 700,000 (US) Acadias in 10 years, including nearly 100,000 of them last year.  GM sold (rough calc) like 1.7 million (US)  lambda vehicles; at high margins, pretty incredible when you consider the economic toilet for most of the years they sold these things in.  Very few of these were rentals, these were the retail products that kept GM in business in tough times.  These are core, signature, staple products, they invented the segment, and GM has decided to tank that market (while chasing many niche markets like CTS wagons and a few hundred SS chevys and a few Astra convertibles now a year).  

 

GM will end up splitting up all their sales share over a larger number of crossovers, and they won't end up making any dents in midsize segment leaders Highlander or Grand Cherokee sales with this new strategy.  Moving the Terrain and Equinox down will lose business.  The Trailblazers and new size Acadias won't satisfy customer demand for the 7-8 passenger crossover either.

 

It would have been nice if GM hadn't been so dull with the styling on this.  Styling alone can make a vehicle take off on the sales charts, but a 2016 version of Ascenders, Bravadas, 9-7's, etc, isn't a great strategy.  Gouging your towing capacity doesn't help either.

 

Check out a variety of other car forums and there is a majority of people wondering why GM is sticking its foot in its mouth here.  Lots of PO'ed current lambda customers.......many of them saying if the GMC looks like a Durango they might as well get a Durango.  GM is sending previous happy buyers directly to other manufacturers.

 

This was a segment where GM innovated.  Now its gone.  Only if the Traverse replacement is the exact same size or larger in all dimensions will they make up for this sin.  And then its Chevy vs. Ford and Chevy won't make up the slack that GMC and Buick are losing here.

Edited January 19, 2016 by regfootball

[hyperv6]

#2 There are many still driving their TrailBlazer and Envoy because GM has nothing to offer Similar. Also not everyone loved the Lambda look size and weight. In the long run they could create two distinct groups of buyers because they were loosing people to the Grand Cherokee and other similar sized models.

#3 you already have a terrain that is larger in size but very limited on cargo because of the poor interior space packaging. I know we own one. .Moving it down will not hurt it usable space wise much as I can carry nearly as much in my smaller HHR. I also hate the two tons of weight.

As for CAFE it is not going to go away even if gas goes to 50 cents a gallon. Also the emissions will continue to get stricter. This will happen no matter who is elected anymore. Things will need to get lighter and smaller unless some wonder micro metal can take the place of what we have now at a reasonable price.
GM will split some sales but it will create more as it will offer about every size out there with a very competitive product. The same was said about Ford being a bust with FWD Explorer but yet today it is at the top of its segment.

As for most of the critics the biggest thing I find is that they have no clue to the future, Most have no clue on the true size, most have not seen the new model in person and few know about a similar size model coming to take the slot in the market to replace it. The only thing GM has done wrong is give the full story on what and why they are doing. Some folks like to complain and not have all the facts.

As for the Camaro absence.  The reason why it was gone. GM was going broke. Plain and simple GM did not have the money to continue it at the time. The old car could not pass crash standards and they has many other models selling in much greater volumes that just needed the money more.

The fact was GM knew they were headed for bankruptcy. They did start the Zeta car but it paid the price for many issues of using the old platform. It also has to wait to be finished once they got more money. Same for the GTO as they did not wait as Lutz knew Pontiac was going down by the bow. GM was in such bad shape in 2004 they did not even have enough money for the duel exhaust and fake hood scoops till 2005. That was told to me by Fred Simmons of Pontiac Motorsports.

Reg you have been around here long enough I know you know better than this.

In the long run I think you will find the new layout not only will work as well but even better profit wise for GM. They in the long run are not losing anything and just adding to the plan with models that all will sell great.

I believe the fact the Acadia looks more like a SUV will sell more than one that looks like a big old two and a half ton mini van.

Many also said Buick would fail with the Encore too. The truth is GM knows and does CUV and SUV models better than anyone. They hold a lead now and will continue to hold a lead when it is much easier to cross shop models and have a product for every size and need here.

I just love the Nox and Terrain web site. They all talk of how they would like to see things changed and all the flaws of their model yet they still love it. Imagine once they give them what they have been asking for or other choices to stay the same or more.

[Guest 2Shea]

I agree 100% that the new Acadia is a disappointment compared to the old one.

We had a 2013 Acadia Denali that we loved for the comfortable 7-passenger capacity without being so big (like the Yukon) where my wife would be afraid to park it!

It was the best of both worlds, as it felt like a car when driving, but still had the extra room when needed.

The only reason we got rid of it is that is started having electrical and rear A/C issues that seemed to constantly occur even after taking to dealer many times to fix.

When we heard all those issues were addressed and fixed in the 2017 Acadia, we went to test drive with the intention of buying another one.

Boy, were we disappointed! 

My wife said “It feels like I am driving a Toyota”.  The interior is MUCH smaller and they only offer a 2-3-2 configuration, instead of he old 2-2-3 which was perfect for passenger comfort and easy rear seat access.

BIG mistake by going smaller GM!

Yes, I know that we could have gone with the Traverse or the Enclave, but they did not have the “Sporty” look and feel that we prefer.

Bummer

[ocnblu]

Well I don't know about dat.  Sales of the new model have been up at a pretty decent clip, IIRC, every month year-over year.

New Traverse can be spec'd to look fairly sporty, and all the road tests I've read say the new Traverse drives very nicely.

[Guest Ivar]

The new Acadia exceeded sales of all other years in 2017. 

I see many here that were critical missed the mark. 

[A Horse With No Name]

On 1/26/2018 at 10:51 PM, Guest Ivar said:

The new Acadia exceeded sales of all other years in 2017. 

I see many here that were critical missed the mark. 

Not unusual.

[Guest ToBe Honest - -]

On 1/17/2016 at 9:13 PM, hyperv6 said:

I think you missed many of the points of what is really going on here.

 

#2 GM will add a model to take the place of the Acadia. Most likley based on a Canyon platoform in some way.

 

 

Looks like #2 claim here missed the mark. Still waiting for this "Canyon " based Acadia. .  . lol.

However. . . going to 2022-23  . . . It does seem like Acadia will be moved back to a larger size once more.