The GMC Denali Yukon is a pick-up truck in a sumo suit

The American truck invasion continues with the introduction of the genuinely huge 2.5-tonne, eight-seat GMC Denali Yukon. The only thing bigger than the car is its price.

Stephen Corby

One of the big selling points of this behemoth is that it can legally tow more weight than any other vehicle sold in Australia. Picture: Supplied

3 min read

12:00AMJune 05, 2025.

Updated 11 hours ago

The Weekend Australian Magazine

Like you, I find it hard to imagine that I could possibly be more manly. If you were to liquefy me in a blender – and I know some people who would like to – the result would be pure (but non-toxic) testosterone. And yet I recently managed to climb even further up Mount Machismo by towing something very large – using something even larger, the new GMC Yukon Denali – for the first time in my life.

GMC does not, in fact, stand for Giant Monster Cars, but it is forgivable to assume that because the brand (General Motors Corporation) has just launched here with this 2.5-tonne, eight-seat vehicle riding on 24-inch wheels. It’s basically a pick-up truck in a sumo suit. The only thing bigger than the Yukon is its price, at $174,990.

I wanted to ask whether the company thought now was the best time to be launching something so prototypically, in-your-face American into the Australian market, but I wasted my one question by inquiring whether President Trump would be forcing them to change its name from Yukon Denali to Yukon Mt McKinley.

One of the big selling points of this behemoth is that it can legally tow more weight than any other vehicle sold here, at 3628kg, which is one of the ginormous reasons that some Australians have already paid deposits for these staggeringly large machines, without ever having driven one, or even stood next to one and felt the gravitational pull of an SUV that’s the size of a small planet.

The only thing bigger than the Yukon is its price, at $174,990. Picture: Supplied

Yukon offers more interior space than a Japanese hotel room. Picture: Supplied

One can assume that a lot of these people have horses, polo fields and possibly fleets of more practical cars, and thus it made sense for us to be offered the opportunity to go for a drive with a 2.5-tonne horse float attached to show how capable the Yukon is at towing.

I don’t want to admit that I was terrified and, because my more hirsute colleagues were watching I couldn’t let on that I’d never attempted such a thing before, so I simply set off boldly, quietly praying that no reversing would be involved.

One of my fellow motoring journalists didn’t bother with the towing activity because he said the horse trailer was too light and the Yukon would do it too easily, but I did not find this to be the case. The only way I can describe the strange sensations experienced was to imagine that you are riding a skateboard down a hill and every now and then a giant hand just grabs the rear of the board and pulls it backwards. I asked an actual man if this was normal and he made grunting noises that suggested it was not.

Towing aside, the Yukon also offers more interior space than a Japanese hotel room, screens and headphones for the kids in the back and a central screen that looks like it was ripped off the front of a lobster tank in a Chinese restaurant, only bigger.

Speaking of vast, the Yukon doesn’t actually look as big as it is from behind – but front on, or seen through the rear-vision of a smaller vehicle, like a Ford Ranger, it is hugely intimidating, with a chin that’s bigger than Jim Carrey’s in The Mask.

Power comes from a surprisingly mellow-sounding but still hairy-chested 6.2-litre V8 that makes 313kW and 624Nm, and drinks heavily. We averaged 14 litres per 100km, which leapt to 22L/100km when towing. Wowsers.

Yukon doesn’t actually look as big as it is from behind – but front on it is hugely intimidating. Picture: Supplied

Screens in the back (for the kids). Picture: Supplied

Something this stupendous should be difficult and even devilish to drive but a lot of work has clearly gone into making it feel as premium and polished as its price tag would suggest. Yes, leave your braking too late and you’ll notice all that mass very quickly, but it actually steers effortlessly, handles OK and is surprisingly quiet, considering how much air it’s pushing in front of it.

On country roads, I genuinely didn’t hate it at all, but then we drove back into the outskirts of Sydney and some of those three-lane roads that were designed before the invention of the SUV and the American truck invasion, and I suddenly realised what it must be like for a properly obese human to attempt to squeeze into an economy-class seat. I spent a lot of time breathing in sharply and swearing.

I might think the GMC Yukon Denali is too big for anywhere other than Texas, but other Australians disagree, because more than 2500 people have expressed interest in buying one, and GMC has orders to fulfil (which involves importing these things from America and then paying a company in Melbourne to move the steering wheel over) all the way to Q3.

Chortle in disbelief if you will, I know I did, but GM reported that it has already converted more than 10,000 Chevrolet Silverado mega trucks at that Melbourne facility since it started offering those locally in 2020.

Now that’s a properly manly vehicle. Perhaps I should drive one.