GM cancels next generation Tahoe and Suburban SUVs

With the current automotive industry crisis, the SUV segment took one of the hardest hits, sales dropping really fast. And the Detroit carmakers are being forced to cancel a lot of SUVs in order to keep going. Chrysler has already announced that the end of 2008 will also mark the end of the Aspen and Durango production. Earlier this month, GM has announced that they’ll stpo the production of Chevrolet TrailBlazer, GMC Envoy and Saab 9-7X SUVs in December. Now, through its vice president, Bob Lutz, GM has announced that it they’ve canceled plans for the next generation Tahoe and Suburban SUVs. Apparently, the $2 billion needed to completely redesign the cars and retool its assembly plants to build them is too much for GM right now, Inside Line reports.

The two models were scheduled to enter production in 2011 (together with next generation Yukon and Escalade), but slow sales (this year, Tahoe sales went down 30 percent) forced GM to take this decision. The carmaker didn’t say anything about the current models being continued until 2011 or canceled earlier.