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Issue link: https://adp.epubxp.com/i/301356
p Chip Thole, lead exterior designer for GM SUVs, says that this is his favorite view of the Yukon because the sculpture of the body side is clearly evident. He describes the overall execution as having "the look of industrial sculpture." "We use aluminum where we need to," Luke says. And speaking to the dominance of the large SUV segment, which GM calculates to have been 263,948 units in 2013, it went like this in 2013: • Tahoe: 83,502 units, 31.6% share • Suburban: 51,260 units, 19.4% share • Yukon XL: 31,258 units, 11.8% share • Yukon: 28,302 units, 10.7% Which gives GM 194,322 units and a 73.6% share. Some people wonder, of course, about the relevance of a full-size SUV in a market that seems to be going toward things that are smaller and don't have V8s—fuel-efcient or not—under their hoods. But then in addition to the aforementioned size of the market, it is also worth taking into account that the customers for the vehicles tend to be on the afuent side, with, for example, the customers of the Yukon XL Denali having a median income of $188,000. Any vehicle manufacturer wants to keep people like that in the family. Chevy and GMC recently came out with new full-size pickups, the Silverado and the Sierra, respectively. Body-on-frame vehicles. So it stands to reason that the full-size SUVs would simply follow, with a modifcation primarily being an additional row of seats and more sheet metal. Luke: "There is no sheet metal sharing from the pickups." And the insides are diferent. And the rear suspension setup is diferent (with the SUVs having a solid axle and fve-link coil spring suspension). Luke does acknowledge that from a frame-point-of-view, there are architectural similarities, but this is not a one-for-one transcription. One area where there is sharing between the full-size pickups and SUVs is under the hood. The standard engine for the p While grilles tend to be two-dimensional (a fat surface with shapes removed or slats that present as being 2D when looked at from straight on), notice how they've added the third dimension to the side of the grille for the Yukon Denali. AD&P; > May 2014 > FEATURE > Chevy & GMC & the Continuing Relevance of Full-Size SUVs > Gary S. Vasilash > gsv@autofieldguide.com 38 38 0514ADP FEATURE SUV.indd 38 4/22/14 2:34 PM