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GMC Envoy could be returning as GM files for 'Envoy' trademark

The GMC Envoy could be on its way back, if a recent GM trademark filing is any indication of the future. To be exact, GM's trademark filing is for the name "Envoy," and is applicable to "motor vehicles, namely, sport utility vehicles, engines therefor and structural parts thereof." A victim of the recession and high gas prices, the original Envoy – related to the Blazer, and more recently the TrailBlazer and similar GM SUVs – was discontinued after the 2009 model year. In today's SUV-happy market of low gas prices, unearthing the somewhat familiar Envoy name makes a certain amount of sense. As soon as gas prices start trending in the other direction, we'll all be saying the opposite, though. What this SUV will take shape as is the big question now. With the Chevrolet Blazer well and truly on its way, there's every reason for a GMC version of Chevy's stylish new crossover sporting the Envoy name. Another, less likely, possibility is a Traverse-sized vehicle to slot between the shorter Acadia (10 inches shorter than the Chevy Traverse) and the body-on-frame Yukon. GM could come out of left field and make the Envoy a Buick too. It fits the bill with the "En" beginning, and Buick undoubtedly has crossovers in the works. We think that's even more unlikely, but it's important to remember that we're still in the speculation phase. Soon we'll drive Chevy's new Blazer, and perhaps have more news then. Check in next week for that. Related video:

Buyers ditching expensive European sedans to buy expensive American trucks

The New York Times ended the automotive week with a story that adds numbers and context to a range of other stories, from the crossover craze to the increasing median price of a new car to ever more grandiose pickup trucks. The NYT piece reveals that the shift to larger vehicles isn't merely about the average U.S. buyer swapping the midsize sedan for a Ford Edge. Luxury buyers are migrating from plush sedans to plush SUVs and trucks that creep close to six-figure prices, and the Detroit Three are running Treasury presses because of it. From 2013 to 2017, the truck category — everything from pickups to minivans — climbed from 30 percent of the market to 41 percent. In January of this year, trucks claimed 66 percent of new vehicle sales. At the milk-and-honey end of profits, GMC alone accounted for 11.3 percent of all vehicle sales over $60,000, not just trucks. That puts the luxury truck maker behind Mercedes-Benz and Ford, The Blue Oval's feasting on Lariat, King Ranch and Raptor versions of the F-150, which make up more than half of that pickup's sales, putting it ahead of Chevrolet, Porsche and Lexus on the high-dollar sales list. The average transaction price of a GMC in Denali trim last year was $56,000; it's easy to see why, when one dealer told the NYT he just swapped a 2012 BMW 550i for a $71,000 GMC Sierra Denali. That truck starts at $52,900. The NYT started its story with a buyer who took home a Ford Raptor instead of an Audi A6, and optioned that $50,020 Ford Raptor close to $80,000. Over at Lincoln, the new $72,055 Navigator — the one so popular that Ford will increase production — crossed hands for an average sale price of $77,000 in January. And a Jeep dealer told the NYT that the two $93,000 Trackhawks he had on his lot "won't be here more than a few weeks." While trucks head up in sales volume and price, cars are headed so viciously in the opposite direction that "the Detroit Three and even some foreign manufacturers acknowledge they are now losing money on many of the cars they sell." So ... get ready for a lot more crossovers and trucks. Related Video: Find out what vehicle is right for you. Give our Car Finder tool a try.

2022 GMC Hummer EV dimensions, clearances and off-road features explained

There are two things that almost everyone immediately thinks of when they hear the word "Hummer." And they are size and off-road capability. Looking at the numbers on the 2022 GMC Hummer EV, it seems the electric pickup has literal truck loads of each. One of the most prodigious numbers is the truck's width. See those clearance marker lights on the roof? They aren't just there for style, they're required by law due its width. At 86.7 inches, it's just a bit wider than a Ford F-150 Raptor, which is itself 6.4 inches wider than a comparable F-150. The Hummer is also 5.5 inches wider than a GMC Sierra. Length is more reasonable at 216.8 inches, which is much less than a full-size crew cab pickup (a Sierra 1500 is 231.7 inches with its 5-foot-8-inch box or 241.2 with the 6-foot-6 one). It's even 3 inches less than the Raptor SuperCab and only 4.4 inches longer than a GMC Canyon with the standard 5-foot-2-inch box. In other words, the Hummer EV is roughly as long as a midsize pickup but is wider than a heavy-duty one.  What does that mean for the cabin? With 38.9 inches of rear legroom, it falls well short of a Sierra Crew Cab's 43.4, but it's important to remember that crew cab pickups have an overkill amount of limo-like legroom. The Hummer's amount is still 3.7 inches longer than a Sierra Double Cab and 3.1 inches longer than a Canyon Crew Cab. Headroom, which was rather pathetic in the old Hummer H2, is 38.6 inches in the back seat – less than both its GMC truck siblings, but not by much. In other words, there should be plenty of space back there. Note that GMC didn't indicate bed length, frunk volume, or importantly, curb weight. We will update this should we find out answers to any of those.  Although it's big, the Hummer has plenty of features to make it nimble off road, both traditional and high-tech. One of the primary features is the height-adjustable air suspension, which offers 13 inches of travel and automatically adjusts damping for driving conditions. It has three main levels, a lowered setting for Aero Mode that helps with improving highway energy use, a default height for the normal driving modes, and a higher setting for the off-road Terrain Mode.