[Adam Boca]

The new GMC Acadia and Saturn Outlook together accounted for more than 2,300 retail vehicle sales in the month. Combined with a 25 percent increase in retail sales for Buick Rendezvous, the mid-utility segment grew retail sales 132 percent compared with year-ago January levels.

GM REPORTS 247,464 DELIVERIES IN JANUARY
GM reported sales of 247,464 vehicles in January, down
19.7 percent on a sales day-adjusted basis compared to January
2006. The sales decline reflects GM’s accelerated efforts to
reduce daily rental sales. “We are aggressively reducing our
daily rental fleet sales as a continuing element of our strategy to
offer industry-leading value and improve residuals,” explained
Mark LaNeve, GMNA vice president, VSSM. “Importantly, we
also are launching significant new vehicles such as everybody’s
truck of the year, the Chevrolet Silverado, and the GMC Sierra
full-size pickups, as well as the new GMC Acadia and Saturn
Outlook mid-utility crossovers.”


Just a little bit of GM news....

Adam

 

[mitchl]

Yeah- I don't need the news to be too good before the end of March. I don't want any incentives to end before my delivery.

 

[admin]

Wow! That's a hell of a start for a brand new vehicle. But I have seen exactly ONE other Acadia and no Outlooks on the road here in northern VA. Judging by the number of Acadias on GMC lots, they must all be in Detroit, Atlanta and Orlando. At least on the eastern half of the country, those cities seem to have the most in dealer stock.

 

[NY_Joe]

I can;t find one that isn't white,carbon or silver.

Very few Reds and Blues as well. And the majority have capt chairs.

 

[Adam Boca]

Yeah most of the dealers are ordering them with the Captians chairs and not the bench. Being we have a baby on the way the bench seat is a must for us.

There are 2 Outlooks in town...1 in Silver and 1 in white...I saw an Acadia yesterday in Carbon...

We have test driven 2 of them....both were white...

Adam

 

[admin]

I know everyone has different needs, but I have a feeling the captains chairs are one of the big pulls for this thing. I know it was for us. keep in mind that one of the main target audiences for these full size crossovers are people who need minivans but don't want one. The ability to access the third row without having to move the 2nd row makes it extremely versatile. It sucks for those who truly do need the 8 passenger seating, but I have a feeling the vast majority of these will always have capts chairs.

 

[kjnorman]

I would go for the captain chairs over a bench. We have a 4yr old with a booster and a 10 month old with a car seat. To get into the third row we can walk between the two captain chairs rather than have to remove the booster, fold the seat for third row access then put the booster back. Much more versatile than a bench for those with two kid seats.

 

[elgmom]

Definitely a personal thing. I have had two mini-vans with the Capitan's chairs for that very reason (car seats)...but now that two of my kids are older, we are running into the "take a friend along" thing and having the ability to transport six kids (3 kids plus one friend each) is a real perk! Also having kids old enough to buckle themselves in the thrid row (behind a second row bench) helps.

 

[admin]

Yet another example of how much thought GM put into these vehicles. The flexibility to choose either Captains Chairs or bump up to 8 passenger support with the Bench just makes these things appeal to an even wider audience.

 

[kjf]

I have three teenagers, and took them along for the test drives. They all voted for the middle bench over the captains chairs (more room to spread out). Surprised me.

Kelly

 

[tdrumm]

Yeah- I don't need the news to be too good before the end of March. I don't want any incentives to end before my delivery.

LOL, I'm with you 100% on that one.

 

[mitchl]

I have three teenagers, and took them along for the test drives. They all voted for the middle bench over the captains chairs (more room to spread out). Surprised me.

Kelly

We have one little one. Only 3 in our family, so row 3 won't get used much. Row 2 will be used on trips to stretch out (and row 3 will be folded down completely) Spreading out is what I wanted out of row 2.

I think a lot of the dealers may be missing the boat by ordering SO many with the captains chairs. It is infrequent you will see one around here with the bench, or maybe they did order benches and they all sold. My guess though is that since it is $500 less, the dealers would not want to have that be an option at all.

 

[admin]

On Outlooks, though, the bench is standard and the capts chairs are an option (but only on the higher trim XR). Maybe they were testing the market both ways with the two Lambdas? I've always thought that was strange...

 

[hedges1]

Mitchl,

I hope you guys are stopping at one little one. Otherwise when that second one comes you are gonna be up a creek with the bench.

If you really want the bench seat then I'd take a peak at the saturn dealer. All of the initial outlooks down here in Texas showed up with the bench seats.