Finally: GMC Version of Forthcoming All-New Midsize Pickup Confirmed
GM finally announced what truck fans everywhere expected: There will be a GMC twin to this, the forthcoming Chevy Colorado midsize pickup truck. (GM photo courtesy PickupTrucks.com)
General Motors has finally confirmed what truck people everywhere suspected: Yes, there will be a GMC version of the all-new Chevrolet Colorado midsize pickup.
Though Buick-GMC Marketing Vice President Tony DiSalle refused to give a release date or model details in a conference call with the media, he reportedly understands the midsize market niche. In the conference call, several sources report him as saying:
“While we continue to make strong progress in fuel economy gains on our full-size trucks, we know that there is a group of customers who want the functionality of a truck but may not need full-size pickup.”
According to TheCarConnection, DiSalle did reveal that the new Canyon would be built alongside its Chevrolet Colorado platform mate at GM’s Wentzville, MO production facility, which will reportedly undergo reconditioning and receive upgrades to prepare for the job.
The move comes at a time when automakers have been increasingly abandoning the midsize pickup truck market in the United States, with GM ending production of the previous-generation Colorado/Canyon twins earlier this year, Ford shutting down Ranger production late in 2011, and Ram giving up on what some called the original “midsize” truck, the Dakota, in August, 2011. That has left only Nissan’s Frontier and Toyota’s Tacoma as the representatives of the smaller-truck brigade among a sea of full-size alternatives that get similar fuel economy and can be price-competitive (if not always options-competitive) with the smaller trucks.
The new GM midsize truck has been on sale overseas for a few months now, and recently performed favorably in a PickupTrucks.com shootout of Australian Domestic Market pickups– most of which would not be familiar to American truck watchers. Some sources expect it to go on sale in America in 2015 with a 3.6-liter V6 top-spec engine or a base four-cylinder, perhaps the turbocharged 2.0-liter found in the Cadillac ATS or the naturally aspirated 2.5-liter found in the base Chevy Malibu.
The new Colorado has already been on sale elsewhere in the world for a while, and this one did well in a shootout of Australian-market pickup trucks recently. (Photo courtesy PickupTrucks.com)
I posted yesterday that the first manufacturer to correct at least two of three pet peeves of mine in the truck market would be getting a serious look from me when the time came to replace my 2006 Ranger pickup. From the looks of things, I just might be paying my neighborhood Chevy/GMC dealer a visit. Who knows? Maybe if enough owners of aging small trucks do the same, Ford will feel compelled to bring over its global Ranger.
