Chevrolet launches new full-size pickup
Yours truly was one of a handful of journalists invited to a sneak preview of the new Chevrolet Silverado pickup in Dallas a couple of weeks before Christmas, and almost a month before its formal debut in Detroit.
I had a magnet in my pocket, just to check to see if GM’s ragging on Ford’s F-150 aluminum body was just so much smoke and mirrors.
As it happened, we didn’t even get close enough to the truck to find out.
Many more details were revealed earlier this week when Chevy took the wraps off the new truck for the general public at the Detroit Auto Show.
The body is, in fact, steel. Not to say that aluminum doesn’t play a major role in Chevy taking some 200 kilograms out of the truck, despite it being marginally longer and wider than before.
All the body panels that move — doors, hood, tailgate (which incidentally can be had with power operation) — are, in fact, aluminum, as are significant components in the suspension.
The rear springs are made of “carbon composite” (a $1,000 word which essentially means plastic), which saves about 10 kilograms.
No fewer than seven different types of steel are used in various places, to gain strength with minimal weight.
Six engine and transmission combinations will be offered, including a new 3.0-litre turbo-diesel. Some will be mated to a new10-speed automatic transmission.
Individuality is a key word in the pickup truck game, as every customer wants his or her truck to look just right.
For example, some want lots of chrome, some want just a chrome bumper, some want no chrome at all.
Chevy aims to please, with something like eight different trim levels to give maximum customer choice.
As with Ford, Chevy could surely build an entire year’s production of Silverado and never build exactly the same truck twice.
GMC announced prior to the show it would not have its Sierra version of the new truck at Detroit. It will debut later this year.