General Motors plans to bring all-new mid-size pickup trucks to the U.S. market in 2014, according to statements made by GM North America President Mark Reuss at the Dawda Mann Automotive Industry Breakfast at the SAE World Congress in Detroit, as reported by The Detroit News, USA Today, and other media outlets. When contacted by Automotive Fleet, GM confirmed Reuss' statements and the company's plans for the new pickups.
His comments follow GM announcements from 2011 on plans to bring a new version of the Colorado to the U.S. and from late 2012 to build a vehicle to replace the outgoing GMC Canyon.
GM confirmed that Reuss said the vehicles aren’t direct replacements for the Chevrolet Colorado and GMC Canyon as they are entirely new vehicles. The company also confirmed that they may get new names due to their all-new designs but that GM hasn’t yet made a firm decision about this change.
GM ended production of the current generation of Chevrolet Colorado and GMC Canyon pickups, which were built in Shreveport, La., in 2012.
According to GM, Reuss said one of the pickups will be part of the Chevrolet brand and will be more of a “lifestyle” vehicle targeting consumers. However the other pickup, planned for the GMC brand, will be designed around a more traditional work-oriented duty cycle.
In addition, GM confirmed that Reuss said the new vehicles will feature improved powertrains and fuel economy over the most recent generation of Colorado and Canyon pickups but that they would not share powertrains with the automaker’s full-size pickups.
GM plans to build the new pickups at its Wentzville Assembly Plant in Missouri, according to Reuss' statements.
