I seriously think GM has intentionally sabotaged the Avalanche. We can infer this by comparing their bread and butter Suburban. So lets break this down...
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[*]Sales of the first gen are high, especially for such a unique vehicle.
[*]Sales right out of the gate for the 2007 MY are strong but no where near the level of the 2001-2006 MY. Difference in sales numbers from previous gen can be chalked up to gas prices, peoples sudden loss of interest in gas guzzlers, etc. How do we know this? Because the Suburban saw the same exact drastic decrease in sales numbers, and I do mean
drastic.
[*]The economy soon tanks and sales drop off a cliff. Even the Suburban hits rock bottom at just over 40k vs well over 100k in prior years.
[*]By 2010, Avalanche sales start to tick up and by 2012 they were on the path to a decent recovery, albeit still small. The same trend was happening for the Suburban.
[*]Sales of the suburban still, to this day, hover around 50-60k a year. That's a
far cry from its 150k sales back in ~2001. According to GM logic, the Suburban should have been tanked.
[*]GM introduces an Avalanche-esque Silverado to gauge interest...
GM: "Looks like nobody wants an Avalanche."
Literally everyone: "Where's the midgate!?"
GM: "Yep, see, no one wants this."
Literally everyone:
[*]We'll never see sales numbers like we did around the late 90s/early 2000s for
any SUV. The Ford Expedition was selling over 200k! During the down turn it barely got over 30-40k. That's a simple fact of life now. People have moved away from big honk'n gas guzzlers, the average family size has decreased thus requiring less seating and ironically, the utility aspect of the Avalanche probably fits the current state of life more than the Suburban and yet GM won't take a chance and bring it back with all the modern improvements.
[*]We're now seeing a drastic increase in sales for these vehicles. Heck, the Ford Expedition wasn't getting past 60k and then their 2019 model has exploded in sales. It will be interesting to see what the sales numbers of GM's next gen Suburban will be. I have a hunch it's going to be big.
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GM, if you don't have a successor to the Avalanche hidden back there somewhere, then you blew it. This was the best time to reintroduce one and I bet they would sell like hot cakes.