A Pair of 2004 GMC Envoy XUVs: Inside GM’s Retractable Roof And Midgate SUV – Why Are You Not Hauling Tall Things?

CC Spotting never stops. It never takes a holiday either. Fantastic unassuming finds are out there to be captured in everyday runs to the post office, work, grocery store, or on the bike trail for some exercise.  Yesterday was Christmas day, and we were making the usual cross county trek to my family homestead and the quiet day trip offered the opportunity to get a glimpse at a fairly rare and odd vehicle these days, the short lived and well touted but under-selling 2004 GMC Envoy XUV. Not only was there one of these under-bought, under-loved, and under-sold GM machines on this trip, there were TWO! It led me to the question: Why are you not hauling tall things?

I don’t think I have ever seen one of these on the road being driven ’round these parts. Rarity is one reason, there are not many to find, and they are always parked. Why is this duo of GM SUVs not hauling more tall clocks, furniture, and refrigerators? A few of these GMC Envoy XUVs had been captured ages ago and written about here before on CC (links below). I figured I would toss in two more for fun and maybe take a deeper look into what went into these hybrid-bodied machines.

As said, I came across 2 of them on our trip. First, is the white one that has been over at Geiger & Sons Plumbing for a long while now. With the truck derived transmission and power plant(s) installed in these SUVs I doubt their lack of movement is motivation. The issue, as I surmise, is likely frame rust (this is Western Pennsylvania, by the way), a rotted brake line, or even more likely, the wiring/switching/motorization of the tailgate/roof/midgate Sections has some malfunction or failure. All can be easily sorted in my opinion with the right mechanical skill, knowledge and time.

Whatever the reason, this XUV is not being driven, and thankfully for us, it is not in the scrapyard yet.

The second XUV is only a block from my parents’ place and may be in driveable state, but seems to have a pretty well established spot at this property outside on the inclined driveway. I like the probably optional chunky 3 spoke wheels.

The discussion of these retractable roof GMC’s will undoubtedly take us back to the Studebaker Wagonaire. It is arguably the pioneer of the consumer market hybrid-bodied enclosed cargo vehicles. The Studebaker’s retracting roof somehow had a much more elegant way of retracting the roof into the car’s internal structure to turn the wagon’s closed body into a pickup truck-like bed cargo area. For our featured Envoy XUVs, GM used an Inalfa-designed roof panel. It is clunky from a design perspective and it retracts above the steel roof, using big, chunky chromed plastic tracks to mimic the ubiquitous factory optioned roof racks of the day.

The movable roof panel itself seems to be made from a similar type of plastic that we often see in the cladding on the 2002-2016 SUVs of the day. No sexy moon glass here for your moving panels like we often see today as luxury installments on high end cars with Inalfa-sourced moveable roofs.

Hmm… what do we have here Trax?... No. Tracks hidden in what looks like a roof rack of sorts. Astute observers will also note the rear quarter panel window and sheet metal are different on the XUV from both the GMT360 Envoy and the GMT370 EnvoyXL.

The retracted roof hikes up a bit and then is electrically pulled/pushed(?) forward above the rear doors.

These ride on the GMT360 platform, which shared badges with the Buick Rainier, Chevrolet SSR, Chevrolet TrailBlazer, Isuzu Ascender, Oldsmobile Bravada, and even the Saab 9-7X, Of the rather rare 9-7X, I spotted a copy a few weeks ago and Paul wrote a FrankenSaab article about it.

The GMT305 XUV Variant of the GMC Envoy shared much of its underpinnings and wheel base (129.0″) with the far better selling Envoy XL, which had 3 rows of seating and space for 7 passengers. GM partnered with Inalfa Roof Systems Inc. to build the retractable roof bits for the XUV in a facility that Inalfa built specifically for the production of this vehicle (at a cost of over $5,000,000) near GM’s Oklahoma City assembly plant.  Inalfa lost big and closed the plant in the summer of 2004 before the Envoy XUV production had ceased.

You may better know Inalfa’s work on more modern cars with full length retractable glass roof panel, like this Lincoln:

All of the approximately 26,140 Envoy XUVs were built at the GM Oklahoma City facility between September 2003 and January 2005. Here are approximate yearly production totals which show how GM missed the mark with this product 2+ decades ago.

• Oct – Dec 2003: 13,479
• Jan – Dec 2004: 12,347 (with 2 months of no production reported)
• January 2005: 314

By Valentine’s Day 2005, the Oklahoma City Plant had switched production to the 2005 Envoy Denali XL.

As can be seen, the buying public was not lining up for a full tilt 4WD XUV with a retractable roof that sold for around $40,250 (equivalent to $69,000 in 2025 money). The 7 passenger version XL, or the much more budget friendly 5 passenger Envoy with 2Wd with the base inline 6, far outsold the XUV for 2004. GM’s internal projections were to have ~45,000 XUVs produced in 2004, which would have been roughly 1/3 of ALL Envoy production for that year. Instead, the public just bought and dressed up their ho-hum Envoy or Envoy XL as they wanted –and pulled a small trailer with it when need arose.

Let’s explore some of the options the public missed out on with the XUV. The unassuming tailgate on the rear harks back to many of the Ford and MoPar wagons of my childhood. It has an open to the Right -OR- Flip Down feature, at last! YESSSS! Thank you, GM.

Using the right opening feature does not require the rear window to be down:

Opening the gate to the bottom requires a turn of the key to lower the window (possibly also operated by a driver’s position switch):

Let’s take a closer look at the mid gate. This fancy door is essentially another station wagon-style rear tailgate in the middle of the vehicle. It could stand up as you see here, with the window up (in yellow) sealing the “bed” to the outside elements, dirt, water, dust, etc., just like a pickup truck:

Or the window could be electrically lowered via a control switch inside, then the mid gate was lowered forward after clearing the passenger seats to the front, allowing for a longer multi-mode cargo space.  The vehicle could be driven with the tailgate up or in the fold-down position, á ‘la pickup truck:

The plastic-clad bed area had no upholstery or fabric surfaces; the interior carpeting ended under the rear seats. The flap you see in the picture below is for the drains:

The plastic clad bed area has many tie points, high and low, for securing cargo. When the flap is lifted, the easily washable area shows the built in drains for a quick clean with a garden hose or at your local car wash.

So that leaves us with one question… Is it a truck or an SUV? We may never know. GM was teasing potential buyers in 2003-4 with the XUV’s concept, saying it was both. Maybe it was a TruUV?

But trucks do not have right swinging gates… Just saying.

I applaud GM for trying this out. It could have been a winner if the public wanted or was ready for something like this. Maybe it would have fared better in Europe or Australia? But this is America! Land of the Giant Trucks, which GM builds lots now. Well, even back then.

I will leave you with some final shots of this duo, two Western Pennsylvania Envoy XUVs. First from the rear:

From the front view, the XUV looks like a regular GMC Envoy, mostly:

Now, anytime you see that odd tail gate/tail light / rear hatch/roof /rear window on your favorite GMT 360/370/305 variant sitting in a lot or driveway, you might have a bit more appreciation for this quirky GM thing like say the Saturn SC2 or the EV1. I know I do!

 

Related CC Reading

Curbside Classic: 2004 GMC Envoy XUV – And Whose Bright Idea This Was?

GMC Envoy XUV – Extra Unsaleable Vehicle