GMC first launched the Denali luxury trim in 1999, and has sold millions of examples.
If you’re shopping for a “luxury” truck or SUV these days, the lines have blurred thanks to virtually every brand offering a high-end trim, and even a trim above that — like your Platinum and your Limited, or your Limited, your Limited Longhorn then your Tungsten. It’s all gotten a bit crazy as automakers (and especially the big three) chase more and more of your dollars. That trend really got rolling in the late 1990s and early 2000s, though, as Ford introduced the “King Ranch” trim on its F-Series trucks and GMC introduced “Denali” on the Yukon SUV. Fast-forward 25 years, and GMC is celebrating the Denali sub-brand’s success with a limited edition package for the revamped 2025 Yukon Denali and Denali Ultimate.
Even without a special package, the latest GMC Yukon Denali is a proper luxury SUV in its own right, to the point where you really don’t need to step up to a Cadillac Escalade. General Motors has spent the last two decades cultivating Denali as its own brand, and has sold more than 2 million examples of Denali-branded trucks and SUVs since 1999, on the first-generation Yukon GMT400. This year, the automaker says the highest trim accounted for 30% of its retail sales.
Per GMC: “The Denali brand, named for the tallest peak in North America, has become so widely recognized that is commonplace for customers to simply refer to their vehicle as a ‘Denali’.” (For reference, the native Koyukon people have referred to the mountain as Denali for centuries, while the U.S. officially recognized the peak as Mount McKinley between 1917 and 2015.)
This specific 2025 GMC Yukon Denali 25th Anniversary is a limited-run package, restricted to 3,000 examples globally. As we’ve come to expect from these special options, it’s essentially an appearance package that adds gloss black 24-inch wheels and center caps, a black mesh grille and illuminated GMC front emblem, black nameplates and badging and black mirror caps. GMC showed what the package looks like on a Summit White Yukon to show what all you get, but the package does not seem to include any bespoke “25th Anniversary” badging.
It’s also worth noting that much of the package content is already available on the $1,495 Denali Ultimate Appearance Package, while the 24-inch wheels are a $3,398 standalone option. This limited edition does, however, bring all these goodies to the standard Yukon Denali. GMC did not mention specific pricing for the 25th Anniversary Package, but it will probably add a few thousand dollars to the Yukon Denali or Denali Ultimate’s MSRP based on prices for the existing appearance options.
