Autoblog

Report: GM to shell out $1B to update Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra

Dan Roth — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 15:29:00 EST

Filed under: Truck, Chevrolet, GMC, Design/Style

Chevrolet Silverado - Click above for high-res image gallery

While the current economic forecast includes much wailing and gnashing of teeth, it will eventually turn around. When it does, truck sales are likely to increase as truck-dependent industries look to replace their wares. General Motors wants to be right there on the tip of the spear with the most recently updated product. To that end, GM Chairman and CEO Ed Whitacre has given a McMahon-sized YES to redesigning the Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra pickup trucks. The effort is likely to ring up a $1 billion price tag.

While the Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra aren't exactly old (they were thoroughly redone in 2006), Ford and Dodge have revised their trucks in the ensuing time. While domestic rivals are the biggest competition for the Sierra and Silverado, Toyota's latest Tundra debuted in 2007, intent on mounting a serious challenge, as well. Only the Nissan Titan, enjoying a precipitous drop in sales lately, is longer in tooth. Things happen fast in truck-land. Full-size SUV sales are down and not likely to bounce back strongly, and new fuel economy provisos are coming on strong, too, but the need for working vehicles has merely waned, and General Motors is anticipating that a turnaround in industries like housing will spike truck sales. This proactive funding of a redesign will put GM's new wares in showrooms for 2012-2013.

Gallery: 2009 Chevy Silverado

[Source: Wall Street Journal]

Report: GM to shell out $1B to update Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 14 Jan 2010 15:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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REPORT: GM's next-gen SUVs to be body-on-frame (otherwise they'd be crossovers)

Chris Shunk — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 11:01:00 EST

Filed under: SUV, Truck, Cadillac, Chevrolet, GM, GMC

2009 Cadillac Escalade Platinum - Click above for high-res image gallery

The GMT900 platform is by far the highest volume chassis General Motors has here in the States, as it underpins the Chevrolet Silverado, Tahoe, Avalanche and Suburban, the Cadillac Escalade/Escalade ESV, and the GMC Sierra, Yukon and Yukon XL. We never had any doubt that GM would continue to build body-on-frame trucks in the future, but with demand for SUVs shrinking quickly, some thought the body-on-frame SUV would soon be a thing of the past. Maybe not.

Our friends over at Pickuptrucks.com are reporting that the next generation of the GMT platform will be produced by Magna International's Cosma in Canada and Mexico - and that new platform will underpin the next-generation of GM SUVs along with the GMC Sierra and Chevy Silverado. Pickuptrucks quotes Magna spokesperson Scott Worden as confirming that the next generation of GM's large SUVs will come with the body-on-frame architecture. This sort of chassis tends to add weight versus a unibody platform, but it also adds capability for towing and payload at lower cost.

We're not really all the surprised that GM will continue to build BOF SUVs, especially when considering that the General sold a combined 200,000 copies of the Suburban, Yukon, Tahoe and Escalade last month alone. And last we checked, these are still relatively expensive vehicles that bring in quite a bit of desperately needed profit. And if customers are interested in a family hauler with better interior packaging and fuel economy, we're sure GM dealers will be happy to get them into a Buick Enclave, Chevy Traverse or GMC Acadia.

Gallery: 2009 Cadillac Escalade Platinum

[Source: Pickuptrucks]

REPORT: GM's next-gen SUVs to be body-on-frame (otherwise they'd be crossovers) originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 24 Nov 2009 11:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Toyota Tundra fails to score five stars in NHTSA frontal crash test

Dan Roth — Fri, 16 Mar 2007 23:52:00 EST

Filed under: Truck, Safety, Toyota

Toyota's not having an easy time with the Tundra so far. It's been criticized for lacking a fully-boxed frame, the internet is alight with Tundra-hate, and now along comes the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Both Regular and Double Cab variants of Toyota's intended domestic-fighter were crashed by the agency, and both only managed four stars.

While a four star crash test rating isn't horrible, the Ford F-150, Chevy Silverado / GMC Sierra and Dodge Ram all have the strength to ring the 5-star bell and win the stuffed bunny. The likelihood of injuries in a Tundra could be up to 10-percent greater than the domestic brands because of its one-star deficit. The difference could also be as small as one-percent, however, so this news may not be as significant as it sounds at first blush. All we can really say with certainty is that the Tundra performs worse when crashed into a concrete barrier at 35mph than its competition.

No doubt the Tundra's performance in this test will again focus scrutiny on the truck's frame, which is not fully boxed like its competition. According to Mike Levine from Pickuptruck.com, the Tundra's frame is split into three parts and the front piece actually is boxed. However, the frame under the cab and bed are C-channel, and they are also affected by a frontal crash. As Levine told us, the rest of the Tundra's competition now has some ammo to aim back at the Tundra in their marketing efforts.

We expect that acceptance of the brawny fullsizer from Toyota will take a little while, and it may not come until the current generation Tundra is dead and buried, but when Toyota wants something, they don't mess around. They were up front in expecting the Tundra to receive five stars and a Best Pick from the IIHS, so don't expect this 4-star rating to last long.

[Source: Pickuptruck.com]

Toyota Tundra fails to score five stars in NHTSA frontal crash test originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 16 Mar 2007 23:52:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The Tide is Turning: GM Expects Q4 2006 Profit, Delays Earnings

Chris Shunk — Fri, 26 Jan 2007 11:06:00 EST

GM expects to turn a profit for Q4 2006 and is again restating its earnings for 2002-2006. It seemed just only yesterday when every analyst and armchair CEO had dire of predictions for GM. CEO Rick Wagoner's head was called for and bankruptcy pools were going around the offices. Things picked up in 2006 with the introduction of the GMT900 SUVs and pickups, and it looks like the corner may about to be dramatically turned with new product like Malibu, Enclave, Astra and CTS on the way. The news of the General turning a quarterly profit isn't all that surprising, but what's crazy is the latest earnings restatement.

If it seems like it's been happening a lot, well, it's because it has. Seven out of the last eight quarters have been accompanied by earnings restatements, which casts doubt upon any of GM's earnings statements, good or bad. One day we may wake up and hear that 2005 really was just a bad dream for GM and that they actually turned a profit. We kid. GM's now looking to share earnings results the week of February 5th.

[Source: Detroit News]

The Tide is Turning: GM Expects Q4 2006 Profit, Delays Earnings originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 26 Jan 2007 11:06:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Cadillac Escalade leading charge as gas guzzlers flourishing despite fuel prices?

Chris Paukert — Thu, 18 May 2006 11:32:00 EST

Filed under: Car Buying, Trends, Hybrid, SUV, Cadillac, Chevrolet, GM, GMC

Despite all the carping about gasoline prices these days, sales of Cadillac's new Escalade and their ilk are boomin' louder than the gigawatt stereos they often house.

So says MSNBC, which points out that despite post-Katrina price shocks and media outlets trumpeting hybrids and new small car offerings, U.S. consumption of unleaded hooch is actually rising. In fact, fully one-in-four new cars sold in America houses a V8 engine under its hood. SUVs outpoint hybrid sales 23-1. The 'King of Bling,' Cadillac's Escalade saw its sales jump a whopping 127 percent last month.

So what gives?

While it appears that MSNBC is basing its assertions about the surprising resiliency of SUVs squarely on the load points of General Motors' massively improved GMT900 trucks, it has a point. For all of the hype surrounding the newer generation of crossover vehicles and more fuel efficient body-on-frame SUVs, conventional cars and wagons with smaller displacement engines remain significantly better when judged by a fuel gauge. And yet a good portion of American consumers won't touch them, despite their inherently superior driving dynamics and often greater cargo capacity.

So... has the death knell of the SUV been prematurely sounded? Is the American motoring lifestyle inextricably linked to large, high horsepower vehicles? Or are GM's revised full-sizers riding a wave soon to reach the shore? Have your say in 'Comments.'

[Sources: MSNBC.com; Skeptically.org]

Cadillac Escalade leading charge as gas guzzlers flourishing despite fuel prices? originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 18 May 2006 11:32:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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