DETROIT – General Motors has updated its highly profitable large SUVs for Chevrolet for the 2025 model year to defend the brand's long-standing segment leadership.
According to GM, the Detroit automaker's Chevrolet Tahoe and Suburban models have been leaders in the mainstream full-size SUV segment for more than 45 years. But increasing competition from car manufacturers like Ford engine, Jeep and Nissan Motor have slowly eroded the automaker's market share.
“With what we're doing today, we're playing a little offense here,” Chevrolet Vice President Scott Bell said Tuesday during a media event in suburban Detroit. “We certainly have an answer for our competitors across multiple segments.”
2025 GMC Yukon AT4 Ultimate.
GMC
Chevrolet's retail market share of full-size SUVs is approximately 34.2%. If you include its GMC sister SUVs Yukon and Yukon XL, GM's market share is 64%, according to the automaker. That's down from more than 70% when the vehicles were last completely redesigned for the 2020 model year.
GMC's large SUVs have also been updated for the 2025 model year. Both Ford and Nissan have updated their large three-row SUVs on sale this year.
Updates to vehicles in general include new styling, larger interior screens, improved performance, and in some cases the addition of new high-end models to increase profits.
For Chevrolet, the 2025 Chevrolet Tahoe and Suburban models meet many of these criteria and also feature GM's Super Cruise hands-free advanced driver assistance system.
“Overall, they are critically important in our portfolio,” Bell told CNBC. “They are very important to us from a profitability perspective and have been for four years.”
Starting prices for the 2025 Tahoe will range from about $60,000 for a Tahoe LS to more than $83,000 for the top-of-the-line High Country. Prices for the 2025 Suburban will range from about $63,000 to over $86,000. Prices include mandatory destination charges of $1,995.
The updated SUVs are expected to arrive at U.S. dealers in the coming weeks, the company said.
Edmunds.com, a wholly owned subsidiary of CarMaxreports that the mainstream full-size SUV segment has grown to 2.7% of the U.S. market this year, up from 2% in 2017. Segment sales were around 312,500 units through September of this year.
GM said sales of the Chevrolet Tahoe and Suburban would be significantly lower this year due to the model year change and decline in fleet sales, but the brand continued to lead the segment by a wide margin.
Combined sales of Chevy SUVs, which are essentially the same vehicle but in different sizes, fell 19.3% to 102,292 units through September compared to a year ago.
Sales of the Ford Expedition – the closest competitor to Chevy's SUVs – totaled 73,396 units in 2023. Sales of this vehicle increased by 3% to more than 58,000 units through September this year.
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