While its target market is down under, these massive GMC Yukons could easily be imported over here too.
For anyone in Malaysia who thinks that their Land Cruiser or Range Rover just isn’t big enough, there is good news as the GMC Yukon will soon be available in right-hand drive. Set to arrive in its primary sales location of Australia and New Zealand in 2025, there is nevertheless really no reason as to why any enterprising parallel importer could just not ship one over here for anyone who really wishes to have the biggest thing on the road this side of an articulated lorry.
Now just for those who perhaps may have not heard of the Yukon before, this particular 8-seat GMC SUV bridges the gap between the Chevrolet Tahoe and Cadillac Escalade in General Motors’ full-sized SUV portfolio. All three however share the same platform, which incidentally also underpins the equally-massive Chevrolet Silverado pickup that is sold down under in right-hand drive form.
Set to be remanufactured from left- to right-hand drive in Melbourne by the Walkinshaw Automotive Group, these GMC Yukons will apparently be sold in a single Denali luxury specification. Further details however regarding this 8-seat SUV bound for Oz however are unfortunately still skint at present, with more information only arriving closer to its local launch.
To that end therefore, it remains unknown as to whether short or long wheelbase variant of Yukon will be offered in Oz. Though it is worth highlighting that even the smaller version of this GMC SUV is already to be a whole 32 cm longer and 67 mm wider than the already massive new Land Cruiser, while the XL trim comes in at about half a metre longer than a Hilux at 5,720 mm bumper to bumper.
It also remains relatively uncertain as to what exactly will be powering this massive SUV, but there are rumours for these Yukons bound for Australia to only be packing a good ol’ 6.2-litre LS V8, instead of the 3.0-litre inline six-cylinder turbodiesel also available for the Denali in the States. Power and torque figures for said eight-pot in the US-spec GMC are currently rated at 420 hp and 624 Nm, with drive being to be sent to all four wheels via a 10-speed automatic transmission.
And looking further at the US catalogue for these Yukons meanwhile, it is likely that these massive 8-seater GMC luxury large SUVs sold in Australia will be bedecked in authentic wood trim detailing, heated and ventilated front seats, a heated steering wheel, a 10.2-inch touchscreen with wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, a 12-inch digital instrument cluster and a 18-speaker Bose premium sound system. Said Denali trim in the States are also distinguished externally by a custom chrome mesh grille up front, a selection of polished and machined alloy wheel options down the side, in addition to quad-exhaust tips poking out of its rear.
As for speculation with regards to its pricing on the other hand, the Yukon Denali currently retails from $75,000 (RM 350,000) in the States. Given the inevitable markup incurred from its conversion to right-hand drive however, it is therefore expected for this GMC SUV to cost around AUD$200,000 (RM 600,000) when it eventually goes on sale down under.
Slap on the associated import costs and taxes associated with bringing it over here and it would likely take in the ballpark of RM 1.5 million for anyone to have one of these Yank tanks in Malaysia. Though while having not done the proper math for it yet, it might actually work out for this massive Yukon Denali to still be cheaper ringgit-per-volume-wise than most other luxury cars sold locally…
