Does the GMC nameplate need to exist?

Ah, the question in the title is one of the more painful ones for me as it relates to GM's current situation. To the objective observer, the answer is a clear "no!"; GMC doesn't have any truly distinctive vehicles, and the nameplate means little to the vast majority of truck and SUV buyers. In fact, its existence may very well be preventing Chevrolet from snatching the light-truck sales lead. But I retain a lot of affection for the brand, and it's not just because I currently own a GMC. I basically grew up at a GMC dealership where my dad worked as a service manager, back when the company built medium- and heavy-duty trucks such as the Astro and General that were stuffed with big two-stroke Detroit Diesel powerplants. Many of their light-truck customers drove the larger stuff on the weekdays, so there was a special attraction to the brand that just didn't exist with Chevrolet light-truck products. There were also products such as their FWD fiberglass motorhomes, a real innovation in the 1970s. Nowadays, GMC serves as some sort of intermediate step between Chevy and Cadillac truck products, and the simple fact that Caddy sells trucks is clue enough as to how the market has changed. Maybe it is time for the brand to pass on into the night, but it'll be sad to see this chapter of General Motors history coming to an end.