GMC Yukon trademarked for Australia

The Toyota LandCruiser and Nissan Patrol could soon have a fierce rival in the booming mainstream upper large SUV market segment in the form of the GMC Yukon.

Just days after General Motors Specialty Vehicles (GMSV) launched the 2023 Chevrolet Silverado ZR2, GM filed a pair of GMC Yukon-related trademarks with IP Australia exclusively under Class 12 (automotive).

The trademark applications are specifically for the ‘Yukon’ and ‘GMC Yukon’ nameplates and were each filed late last week following the launch of the closely related Chevrolet Silverado pick-up range.

It was at this very event where GM International communications director Lauren Indiveri told carsales there are “some exciting things that will be coming” from GMSV for the Australian market “this year”.

However, she stopped short of mentioning any particular models – like the Chevrolet Silverado EV – or brands like Cadillac, several local trademarks for which have also been filed in Australia recently.

While GMSV axed earlier plans by HSV to release the Chevrolet Suburban or Tahoe SUV locally, and is yet to confirm the GMC Yukon for Australia, the chances of the Yukon being converted to right-hand drive and sold alongside the Silverado here are surprisingly good.

That’s because the GMC Yukon is effectively a rebadged version of the Chevrolet Tahoe, which is effectively a short-wheelbase version of the big Chevrolet Suburban, and all three SUVs employ the same ladder-frame platform and 6.2-litre petrol V8 as the Silverado pick-up already ‘remanufactured’ by Walkinshaw Group for GMSV.

So much of the expensive RHD engineering work, potentially including the MY23 Silverado’s fancy new digitalised dashboard, has in effect already been done for the Yukon, which may or may not introduce the GMC brand Down Under.

Apart from being a new rival for full-size ladder-frame SUVs like the LandCruiser and Patrol, the GMC Yukon would be a spiritual successor to the long-dead Holden Suburban offered here between 1998 and 2001.

Now positioned as an upmarket alternative to the Chevrolet Tahoe, the GMC Yukon was first introduced in North America and the fifth generation was revealed in the US in January 2020, two years after the release of the fourth-generation Silverado in 2018.

Produced in regular and XL forms, the Yukon is available in the US with a 3.0-litre turbo-diesel inline-six and, like the Silverado, a 5.3-litre petrol V8 or an optional 6.2-litre petrol V8 (standard in Australia).

If the localised GMC Yukon follows suit, its most direct competitor would be the 5.6-litre petrol V8-powered Patrol

but – in the absence of the new Toyota Sequoia or Jeep Wagoneer – its younger age and upmarket positioning could also sway buyers of the V6 diesel Toyota LandCruiser 300 Series.

Given the MY23 Chevrolet Silverado now costs at least $128,000 plus on-road costs and the 300 Series tops out at more than $140,000, if the GMC Yukon program goes ahead for Australia we’d expect a starting price somewhere between those two numbers.

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