I agree, I thought it was pretty audacious of them to even mention the raptor in the title!
In GMs defense, they did not write the article or headline. That would be the USA Today "car/truck" guy that sensationalized the headline trying to drum up readers and controversy. The GM guy quoted in the article seems to know it is just an appearance package...
“Styling is the biggest influence on Sierra customers and the new Sierra All Terrain X builds on that with a more aggressive, personalized appearance that complements its exceptional capability,” said Duncan Aldred, vice president of GMC sales and marketing, in a statement. "It joins other models such as the new Sierra Elevation and premium Sierra Denali to offers more choices for finding the premium truck that matches customers’ style and capability needs."
It is the off-road truck that all others are measured against. Manufacturers want the Raptor's sales but don't seem to want to put in the effort to actually make a competitive product.
It really is a bummer that they do not want to put in the effort to step up and compete. But in reality, except for a relatively small percentage of Raptor owners, trucks do not get driven aggressively off road except for those in our Desert Race community. I am amazed by how many Raptors I see driving around here in Tennessee, most of which never even touch the dirt.
Just like when GM, Ford and others started dropping manual transmissions from their lineups, there really is only a very small demand for products like the Raptor to be used as it was built/intended. I am not at all a Ford guy, but I commend them for building and sticking with a platform that probably should be a simple sticker package according to all the bean counters!!!
