GMC (General Trucks and Coach Division) was created in early 1900s. It became a separate division of General Motors that was committed to building commercial trucks. Over time, GMC’s lineup stayed in the commercial market, but gradually moved towards rebadging engineering. Rebadging is where auto manufacturers take the same car and rebadge it as something else. For example, the GMC Sierra is a rebadged version of the Chevrolet Silverado. GMC traditionally has always been the less mainstream version of Chevrolet SUVs and trucks. Its Yukon and Jimmy were rebadged versions of the Tahoe and Blazer, yet cost more. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, America experienced a SUV boom. The SUV completely over took the traditional wagon to be the new family car of choice. Americans swayed by the high driving position and image flocked to SUVs. All the automakers scrambled to produce a family friendly SUV in order to get a slice of this emerging market. The GMC Envoy was GM’s end result. Replacing the Jimmy, the Envoy was a rebadged version of the Chevrolet Trailblazer, as well as the Buick Rainier, Oldsmobile Bravada, Isuzu Ascender, and Saab 9-4X. The GMC Envoy was replaced by the Arcadia in 2009.
RNR Automotive Blog 