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GM 2002-2005 Quadrasteer , Who's Next 2007- ?
More articles
below, Wards, Automotive News
It's a sad day in the towing world today. Quadrasteer
introduced in the first year of the GMC Denali in 2002,
has been canceled by GM. 4-wheel-steering is the best
advance this reporter has ever seen in bumper tow
trailer control, safety and handling as well as all that
for the vehicle and parking was amazing. I had one of
the original GMC Denali Quadrasteer on display at the
gate of the All American Quarter Horse Congress last
year. I've towed many trailers with the QS trucks and
Suburban. We towed a horse trailer up Pikes Peak, towed
two trailers at a time and barrel raced it.
Originally in 2002 when GM first introduced the
Quadrasteer, they had it priced into the truck's
standard features at $7000. Not that it wasn't worth
that much, but it was a price that kept sales down. It's
this price greed from GM that I blame on the down fall
of Quadrasteer. In 2003 when Quadrasteer was added to
more Chevy and GMC lines and the price was dropped to
$4995, dealers did stock them but, the QS option was
equal to a diesel option, again not inline with the
market. So in 2004, after the cat is out of the bag, GM
dropped the price to $1995, which is a bargain, but
dealers who ordered in the 03's at the $4995 price where
stung and didn't order many for 04. This lack of
national inventory meant many folks had to order their
Quadrasteer from the factory, many without even getting
a chance to drive one first.
 Four-Wheel-Steer
was a project at Delphi for approximately 10 years.
Handling, safety, towing, parking of the Quadrasteer
where intensely tested. Steering with all 4 wheels was
fully automatic, designed to automatically compensate
for car washes, backing, hard cornering with a trailer
and highway speed sideways lane changes. Quadrasteer can
also be shut off, and a tow mode to keep you from
turning into your trailer hitch.
I
was so impressed with Quadrasteer that I built a website
around it as
www.QuadrasteerClub.com with great response. Delphi
even sent their engineers to our forum to answer
detailed questions. (this was bold move). But GM has
sold less than 20,000 Quadrasteers from 2002 to 2005.
You can still buy a new 2005 Quadrasteer but ordering
them will soon be over. We've added a national directory
of the new Quadasteers left in the country to our
website.
Folks who own Quadrasteer love them, reporters call them
a cult. But it's hard to describe the difference they
make with a trailer. I considered them the greatest
safety option for trailering since the "weight
distributing hitch". But it's still possible to see
Quadrasteer on another truck brand. Nissan has expressed
interest in it as Car and Driver Magazine reported last
spring (2004). So if you are in the market for a towing
vehicle for a bumper pull horse trailer, I highly
recommend Quadrasteer. The Denali that I drove last
summer was rated to tow 10,300#'s.
 I
hope we do see Quadrasteer back in the future. We're
waiting to see what Nissan is going to do.
Our
staff debated how to break the news to our members.
First you're sad, then angry, now we're looking to the
future. Let GM know how disappointed we all are in their
lack of marketing and understanding how happy
Quadrasteer owners are driving these trucks and SUV's.
We will be offering a free classified section on our
home page for Quadrasteer trucks and SUV's for sale or
wanted to buy. Buy your Quadrasteer now, they will be
disappearing fast when the official announcement comes
from GM.
> GM to drop Quadrasteer option
> By Richard Truett Automotive News / February 16, 2005
> >
DETROIT -- General Motors is dropping
the innovative steer-by-wire steering system available
on its full-sized pickups and SUVs at the end of the
2005 model year. > > Quadrasteer won't be offered on
GM's new generation of pickups and SUVs due in 2006 as
2007 models. > > The technology, supplied by Delphi
Corp., has been offered on the Chevrolet Silverado, GMC
Sierra trucks and numerous big SUVs, such as the GMC
Denali and Chevrolet Suburban. > > Quadrasteer shortened
the turning radius of the trucks and made it easier to
back up with a trailer hitched to the vehicle. > > But
GM has sold just 16,500 vehicles equipped with
Quadrasteer since the system became available in 2002.
GM negotiated exclusive use of the technology from
Delphi. > > An industry analyst who tracks suppliers and
technology says the Quadrasteer system was excellent
technology that worked well. But it faced several
hurdles: > > * Quadrasteer was priced too high. When it
debuted in 2002, it was part of a $4,495 option package,
which was too much money for one option for many buyers.
> * Even when GM lowered Quadrasteer's price to $2,000,
it still didn't sell because dealers failed to
communicate to potential buyers the capability of the
system, according to the analyst. > * Because GM
wrangled an exclusive out of Delphi, the supplier was
not able to market the system to other automakers. Had
Delphi been able to sell Quadrasteer to more than one
automaker, the component costs would have come down as
Delphi realized savings from the economies of scale that
come with higher production. > > With Quadrasteer, the
rear wheels turned up to 12 degrees in the opposite
direction of the front wheels, enabling a full-sized
heavy duty Silverado or Sierra to turn a corner in a
tight 36.5 feet, a radius that is best on the market.
The Nissan Titan makes a turn in 45 feet while the
Toyota Tundra can turn a circle in just over 44 feet. >
> Such maneuverability makes it easier for a driver to
tow a trailer or boat or park in tight spaces. It also
improves high speed cornering by keeping the vehicle
more stable. > > A salesman at Huffines Chevrolet in
Lewisville, Texas, near Dallas, said few customers asked
about Quadrasteer, that it was a hard truck to sell and
that it wouldn't be missed. He said it catered to too
narrow a buyer, such as those who tow trailers. > >
Delphi spokeswoman Carrie Wright said the technology is
not dead and other automakers have expressed interest in
the system. But no contracts have been signed. > >
Wright said Quadrasteer can be adapted for use on cars.
"We are still very passionate about Quadrasteer," Wright
said. "Part of the reason is extreme consumer
enthusiasm. They're enthusiasm keeps ours high. We are
pretty optimistic about long term future of it." > > GM
isn't the first automaker to fail with a four-wheel
steering system. > > From the 1988-94, Honda offered
four-wheel steering on the Prelude coupe, but it did not
sell well. And in 1990, Mazda offered a similar system
on the 626. It also didn't catch on. > > Chevrolet
spokesman Mike Stoller says the division did promote
Quadrasteer in a variety of ways. He said a Chevrolet
survey last year asked potential truck buyers if they
knew about Quadrasteer. > > Stoller said, "It showed
that 78 percent of full-size truck buyers or intenders
knew what it was and just didn't want to buy it."
> > You may e-mail Richard Truett at [email protected]
> > <mailto:[email protected]> > > >
****************************************************************************************
GM Dropping Quadrasteer
By Tom Murphy and Brian Corbett
WardsAuto.com, Feb 11 2005
GM is phasing out Quadrasteer as an option on fullsize
pickups and SUVs. Take rates on the 4-wheel steering
system reached only 1.4% in 2004, GM data indicate.
General Motors Corp. will discontinue its Quadrasteer
4-wheel steering technology as an option on fullsize
pickups and SUVs by the end of the ’05 model year,
Ward’s learns, and the feature will not appear on
the next-generation GMT900 fullsize vehicles, which
begin production next year.
Quadrasteer, developed
by Delphi Corp., was an expensive option that was
extremely popular with a small number of buyers but was
not profitable.
GM dropped Quadrasteer’s
price to $1,995 last year.
The phaseout begins this
spring with the GMC Yukon XL and Chevy Suburban
three-quarter-ton SUVs, which will free up space at GM’s
Arlington, TX, assembly plant as it tools up for
production of GMT900 vehicles.
GM also will drop
Quadrasteer from its GMC Sierra and Chevy Silverado
half-ton extended-cab pickups and Sierra and Silverado
heavy-duty crew cab pickups. GM purchased a fixed number
of axles equipped with Quadrasteer. Once they are gone,
GM will sell no more vehicles with the feature.
In 2004, GM sold a mere
5,502 vehicles equipped with Quadrasteer – most of them
Sierra half-ton pickups, according to
Ward’s
data.
Data indicates
penetration rates for Quadrasteer on the Chevy and GMC
vehicles were 0.9% in 2002, 2.1% in 2003 and 1.4% in
2004.
Web chat rooms make it
evident Quadrasteer, which Delphi first delivered to GM
in 2002, has established a cult-like following.
The technology, which
provides compact car maneuverability in a fullsize
pickup, is proving popular with owners because it takes
the fear out of tight parking spots. It also is helpful
for hauling trailers.
Within Delphi,
Quadrasteer’s future appears in question, although the
supplier has attempted to sell the technology to other
auto makers as well.
Delphi has dispersed the
engineers who worked on Quadrasteer at a facility in
Saginaw, MI, which suggests future generations of the
technology will not be forthcoming.
GM dealers say they have
been hearing for more than a year that Quadrasteer was
being discontinued, causing many to stop offering the
option to buyers.
One dealer tells
Ward’s
that Quadrasteer will be available on a handful of
vehicles only for another month as a “last hurrah.”
However, the GMC dealer
says he has no plans to order more Quadrasteer-equipped
vehicles, because those he had earlier were difficult to
sell.
GM previously has
admitted it botched the rollout of Quadrasteer with
exorbitant pricing. It initially was packaged priced at
about $7,000 with a host of other features.
In 2003, the price came
down to $4,495, and a $2,000 rebate eventually was
offered, as well. Quadrasteer remained packaged with
other features.
In 2004, the option
price fell further to $1,995, with no rebates. Many
dealers, according to consumer chat rooms, were unaware
of the price cuts and dissuaded buyers from the feature,
saying it was too expensive.
At a 2003 automotive
conference in Traverse City, MI, Gary Cowger, president
of GM North America, took responsibility for
Quadrasteer’s rollout.
(See related story: GM Will ‘Repackage’ Quadrasteer)
“Quadrasteer was our
problem,” he said at the time, as GM was repackaging it
at a lower price. “It didn’t get the kind of penetration
we expected.”
The failure of
Quadrasteer marks the second time in less than three
years GM has discontinued a groundbreaking technology
following lackluster interest from consumers. In
September 2003, GM confirmed to
Ward’s
it was dropping its Pro-Tec composite pickup box after
only two years of production.
(See related story: GM Drops Composite Pickup Box)
While Quadrasteer and
Pro-Tec did not have any performance shortcomings and
provided significant benefits to consumers, the
technologies were high priced and difficult to market.
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