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GMC doesn't care if it's Mt. McKinley or Denali

GMC is getting a mountain of free publicity from President Obama's decision to rename the former Mt. McKinley back to Denali in Alaska. The truck-and-SUV brand is happy to see the moniker of its high-end trim in the news, but doesn't intend to change any marketing because of the switch. "It had no impact or change on our strategy," a GMC spokesperson told the Detroit Free Press. The brand doesn't expect sales to change, though the frequent use of the word Denali in the news in a positive light amounts to free, albeit temporary, advertising for the company. Denali is the word for the nation's tallest mountain in the Koyukon Athabascan language, and it means "the high one." In 1896 a prospector rechristened the peak Mt. McKinley to support presidential candidate William McKinley. He won the election, but was assassinated in 1901. The title stuck, and the site officially got the name when a national park was created there. Since then, there has been a push to return to the original moniker, and according to the Free Press, the park became Denali in 1980. Now, the peak has followed suit. GMC started using Denali to denote the top models on the 1999 Yukon. Today, it's available as an upmarket alternative on most of the brand's lineup. Related Video: News Source: The Detroit Free PressImage Credit: Copyright 2015 Jeremy Korzeniewski / AOL / GMC Marketing/Advertising Weird Car News GMC Truck SUV Luxury gmc yukon alaska denali gmc denali

2015 GMC Yukon Denali

Automotive enthusiasts often wonder aloud - ourselves included - why General Motors would choose to keep GMC while sending Pontiac (and Saturn, and even Oldsmobile before it) into the great automotive graveyard in the sky. The answer, as is so often the case, is profit. It's much easier for GM to rake in money hand over fist by rejiggering the trucks, crossovers and SUVs that it would already be developing for Chevrolet and making them a bit more luxurious and *ahem* "Professional Grade" with new grilles, badges and unique packaging for GMC.
While it may sound like we're being cynical, we totally approve of GM's fullsize SUV strategy. The least-expensive way to get into the fold is with the Chevrolet Tahoe, which starts at $45,595 with a 5.3-liter V8 engine and a cloth interior. Bumping that same Chevy to LTZ trim and its $59,995 sticker price lands a much nicer leather-clad interior and more techno-bells and whistles than you can shake a stick at. But it still looks like a Tahoe, and it still comes with the smaller 5.3-liter engine. Or, you could do what we'd do: Walk into your GMC dealer and take a look at the Yukon Denali. Here's why.
Driving Notes

Safety group pans GM’s new Marketplace in-dash shopping

When it comes to our cars, is the Internet of Things a godsend? Or a hidden menace that will create more problems than it will solve? On the same day General Motors announced it will equip newer-model cars with its in-dash Marketplace e-commerce app, a prominent safety group was shooting it down. National Safety Council President Deborah Hersman tells Bloomberg the technology will only contribute to distracted driving and hurt efforts to stem the tide of rising auto fatalities, which grew 5.6 percent to more than 37,000 in the U.S. in 2016. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says distracted driving was responsible for 3,477 fatalities and 391,000 injuries in 2015, the most recent year for which it has data. "There's nothing about this that's safe," Hersman told Bloomberg. "If this is why they want WiFi in the car, we're going to see fatality numbers go up even higher than they are now." Marketplace, developed with IBM, will allow drivers — or more often, one hopes, their passengers — to order coffee or food, find gas stations and reserve hotel rooms from their dashboard screens. The technology is set to be uploaded automatically to nearly 1.9 million GM vehicles model-year 2017 and later that are equipped with WiFi hotspots and compatible systems. By the end of 2018, about 4 million Chevrolet, Buick, GMC and Cadillac vehicles will be equipped with Marketplace. The app will debut with a limited number of participating retailers, including TGI Fridays, Shell, Exxon Mobil and Starbucks, with more likely to join later. Online retail giant Amazon is also partnering with automakers such as Ford to bring e-commerce capabilities inside the car through its Alexa personal assistant. While convenience is nice, one other thing is becoming clear as the IoT wedges its way into our cars: It's taking aim at some decidedly first-world problems.Related Video: Image Credit: GM Buick Cadillac Chevrolet GM GMC Technology Infotainment in-car entertainment marketplace e-commerce