Not since the Pontiac Aztec has such an ugly disaster rolled off the GM assembly lines.

To add more salt to Chevy's wounds, GM is now forced to add $4000, YES FOUR THOUSAND DOLLAR rebates to move the Avalanche. The Avalance has barely been out, and GM is forced to add unheard of rebates to get rid of them.

Chevy had originally forceast sales of more then 100,000 a year. Major embarassment to GM.

""GM raises truck's rebate to $4,000 after sales fall "

February 11, 2003

BY JOE MILLER
BLOOMBERG

General Motors Corp., the world's largest automaker, increased the Chevrolet Avalanche rebate to $4,000, the highest in the company's U.S. lineup, after the truck's January sales fell 47 percent.

The discount rose from $2,500 on Friday and now is about $1,000 more than the company's next-biggest rebate, spokeswoman Elaine Redd said. The move follows a $500 rebate increase three weeks ago on the Avalanche, a large sport-utility with an open pickup bed. The latest offer ends Feb. 28.

General Motors sold 3,529 Avalanches in January, the lowest U.S. monthly total since the truck's mid-2001 debut. The automaker began boosting truck incentives in late January because sales sagged after some rebates and discount loans were scaled back earlier in the month. General Motors' total monthly sales fell 2.2 percent, more than the industry's 1.9 percent drop.

"They're still trying aggressively to maintain or increase their share of the market," said Burnham Securities Inc. analyst David Healy, who doesn't own or rate the Detroit-based company's shares. "General Motors still would rather lower prices before it lowers production."

 

I'm not sure which member used this line but, if I knew who you were, I'd give you full credit...

The comment was made in another Avalanche thread....


"I cringe to think about how many rubbermaid garbage cans gave their lives in the production of one Avalanche..."


LMAO!!

RP

 

Me thinks that perhaps a 'controlled substance' played a major roll in the final design of the Avalanche and Aztec!

My 2001 SuperCrew



Mods so far ......
---> Custom Airbox replacement
---> Magnaflow cat-back exhaust system
---> SuperChips Micro Tuner
---> Hellwig Rear Swaybar
---> Lightning Replica Wheels
---> 285/60R18 Kuhmo Ecsta STX Tires
---> NR White Gauge Face
---> Sylvania Silver Star Headlight Bulbs
---> OEM Lightning Taillights
---> Sportmasters Soft Tonneau
---> Westin Side Steps
---> Duraliner Bed Liner

Next Mods ........
---> Speed Grills
---> Custom Badges
---> OEM Lightning Headlights & Front Corners

 

The Avalanche seems to be a big seller around in my area. Just about everywhere I go, I see at least 2 or 3 going down the road. And every time that I see one, I still cringe at the site of them. There is a girl who just started working with me on my job and she said that she wanted one of them. To be nice to her, I had to really keep my thoughts to myself. If they would take off all of that plastic and just make it a regular 4 door truck, they would sell so much better and be nicer on the eyes.

 

Big Deal, awesome rims on your truck.

for 03 Chevy has a version of the Avalanche without the Tupperware around the bottom of it. I have seen one and it looked ok, kinda plain. I think Chevy had good intentions with the Avalanche but it's an overwhelming vehicle. I test drove one with a friend that was interested. It drove nice but when you look around one all you can think is "I wonder how long it will last before the whole *** end starts leaking water?"

Now Chevy makes all of thier trucks with the same front end except for the Tahoe and Suburban. Could you imagine a Tahoe with the new front end, yuk!

 

Thanks Seacrow.... I also know a guy that has an Avalanche. He's tried several times to convince me of it's 'utilitarian' attributes. Kinda 'jack-of-all-trades' vehicle. I mentioned to him, and you should be able to appreciate this living in Florida during the summer months, that taking the back window out and laying down the back of the cab gives ya what exactly?
1) No air conditioning
2) No ability to carry on a conversion with others in the truck
3) The ability to have everything in the bed join you inside the truck
4) The ability to introduce rain into the truck (and everything else for that matter)

IMHO this thing feeds on the human interest in gimmicks. In my mind it does nothing well. It instead does everything halfa**. Want a people hauler? Buy a SUV. Want to haul a lotta stuff? Buy a truck. And as Rockpick noted, if you want something that looks surprisingly like a rubbermade garbage can, venture out to you local Home Depot and buy one. It's a lot cheaper and way better looking.

 

Check out this link: http://www.pickuptruck.com/html/otf0999.html


It seems the Avalanche is one of 2 vehicles with sales going up. +68.8% YTD sales. Dodge was up 15%.

 

The Avalanche is a niche vehicle. A certain amount of people will buy them and that's it-the market for it got saturated quick and now GM has to work to sell more. I'll bet over the next few years the concept will evolve into a more desirable vehicle and other auto makers will start designing similar trucks-probably on a smaller platform that's more applealing to younger people that are into surfing, biking etc.

And don't forget Fords wonderboy pickup...the Blackwood! That thing is uglier and more useless/overpriced to me than the Avalanche could ever hope to be. Every auto company has it's goofs, it seems.

How about the Honda Element??? Have you guys seen that ********d-up looking thing? I'll bet those are flying off the lots too. Looks like one of my kid's Fisher-Price toys!

 

At least the Ford engineers had enough sense with the Blackwood not to open up the back up the cab. And as Rockpick noted in another post about the Avalanche, at least the Blackwood didn't require "the personal sacrifice of 20 rubbermaid garbage cans to be built"!

I still want to see a guy show up at the local home center with his three year old (car seat in the back seat) and buy something long to haul home. I'll actually sit on the tailgate of my SuperCrew and watch him open the back of his cab, slide in his purchase, then stand and scratch his head trying to determine where the kid is going to ride on the way home (no airbag cutoff switch, so no car seat in the front). Niche vehicle or not, IMO the looks and features of this vehicle suck. Just proves the point I've tried to make over the years that 'most' people do not exercise even a minimal level of common sense when they purchase a new vehicle. That comment ought to generate a flame or two!

 

LOL, could you imagine the mess of a half a yard of gravel in one of those afternoon summer Florida storms in an Avalanche. Or slamming on the brakes with a fridge loaded in the back. There are a lot of holes in this theory. I suspect that every avalanche sold has not been used as a truck. I also remember the $4000 rebate over a year ago, shortly after it was lauched. The local dealer said he would personally boost it to $6000 if my friend would buy a copper colored one. Out of 20 in stock, about 10 of them were copper colored.

 

Whats odd is that the Escalade EXT is the same exact thing, except the panels are painted and it has a few extra bells and whistles.

I think the Cadillac EXT is absolutely gorgeous.

 

I guess the stock analysts finally saw an Avalanche and put a SELL rating on GM today........

"Analyst downgrades GM stock

Pension, competition are cited for sell rating
February 13, 2003

BY JEFFREY MCCRACKEN
DETROIT FREE PRESS BUSINESS WRITER


Citing concerns ranging from an underfunded pension fundto foreign competition in the truck market, a prominent Wall Street auto analyst became the first to downgrade General Motors Corp. stock to a sell, the lowest rating a stock can get.

Partly in response to the downgrade, GM stock fell 5.6 percent, or $2.03, Wednesday to close at $34.02. It was the biggest decliner on the Dow Jones Industrial Average, which fell by 1.1 percent, or 85 points, to close at 7,758

 

And a sticker price that would sink the USS Harry Truman! The Avalanche is 'way' too much money, but the Escalade EXT is what I call 'crazy money'.