GM's do or die SUVs

GM must be hoping history doesn't repeat with the launch of its do-or-die GMT-900 sport/utilities. When Gas Crisis I sucker-punched the Big Three in 1973, GM's U.S. market share was more than 43 percent, most of it based on big gas-guzzling cars. Now it's in the mid-20s. Some 33 years later, General Motors says big SUVs sell nearly 750,000 units annually, with 6.5 million owners total, and that it owns 62 percent of the segment. But the GMT-900s, rushed to market six months early, arrive just as Hurricane Katrina has walloped our oil supply and driven gas prices up to $3.50 per gallon and to the top of mind among anxious consumers.

Against this background, even the most optimistic GM insiders must be concerned that the troubled giant's future hinges largely on the success of the big Chevrolet Tahoe, Suburban and Avalanche, GMC Yukon/ Denali and Yukon/ Denali XL, and Cadillac Escalade/ ESV/EXT in 2006. The 116-inch-wheelbase Tahoe, Yukon/ Yukon Denali, and Escalade launch within weeks of each other in the first quarter; the others, the larger 130-inch-wheelbase models, launch in the second quarter.

The good news is the GMT-900s are vast improvements over the aging 800s. Precise, responsive rack-and-pinion steering with the best feel and feedback in the segment, plus pushrod V-8s with variable-valve timing and fuel-saving displacement-on-demand cylinder shutoff, distinguish the GM models over other big SUVs. The automaker expects combined EPA fuel mileage of 20.5 mpg for its 5.3-liter rear-drive models, 20.1 mpg for 4x4s. A two-phase hybrid will be available in 2007.

Fit-and-finish is excellent, with small, even panel gaps and one-piece front fascias that eliminate the big, gaping openings endemic to GM. The new interiors are improved, with GM's new chrome-ringed dials and quality switchgear, good leathers, and no more mouse-fur headliners. The Cadillacs, at least, and probably the GMC Denalis, should have real-wood accents (like Mercedes, BMW, and Audi) beyond the real-wood steering-wheel details, but mostly, the interiors are the equal of their competitions'. A power-operated flip-and-fold second row is optional, and power hideaway runningboards will be available a couple months after launch.