9:46AM EST December 13. 2012 - PONTIAC, Mich. -- General Motors shows off its most important new vehicles today, the overdue 2014 Chevrolet and GMC full-size pickups.
Delayed by GM's visit to Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization in 2009, their re-do now must be strong enough to compensate for the lag. From GM's view, they simply must be that good; the alternative is unthinkable.
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The full-size Chevy Silverado and GMC Sierra are the company's biggest sellers and biggest earners, and they run head-on into Chrysler's updated 2013 Ram and Ford's F-150, updated in 2011, freshened for 2013 and heavily advertised the whole time. Both have challenged GM's aging trucks for sales and market share.
"This (launch) is incredibly, crazy-important for GM.. These trucks will have to hit it out of the park," says Rebecca Lindland, veteran auto industry analyst at consultant IHS Automotive.
Normally such marquee machines would make their public debut at the Detroit auto show next month. But that'll be the stage for another GM redesign, the seventh-generation Chevrolet Corvette. The concern within GM is that Corvette's star would have outshone the financially vital trucks at the show.
Thus, the introduction at the Michigan Motion Picture Studios here a month ahead of the show for these trucks, the crew cab models of which go on sale in the second quarter as models. Pricing wasn't announced.
What the trucks compared with rivals is notable:
-- No eight-speed automatic transmission to match the Ram's. The GM trucks have six-speed gearboxes. Properly executed, a transmission with more speeds, or ratios, can provide better acceleration, better mileage and a more refined driving feel.
-- No obvious equivalent to the F-150's EcoBoost turbocharged V-6 premium engine, which has more power and slightly better fuel economy than the F-150 5-liter V-8.
But GM redone trucks have jumped pretty far forward. It's trio of new truck engines all have fuel-saving direct fuel injection, cylinder deactivation (running on half the cylinders under light load) and lightweight aluminum construction instead of cast iron. Such features can be a big deal -- more power, better mileage, fewer emissions.
Hoping to identify these truck engines as truly modern, the line is being called EcoTec3 and bestowed with the auto industry's favorite designator, "all-new."
The EcoTech3 engines continue the displacements familiar to GM truck fans: 4.3-liter V-6, 5.3-liter V-8, 6.2-liter V-8. The V-6 gets variable valve timing in addition to the other upgrades. The V-8s already have it. GM says horsepower, torque and fuel-economy ratings will be announced early next year.
"Truck buyers won't say, 'I'm not going to buy that truck because it doesn't have an eight-speed automatic'," or some other specific feature -- as long as it performs well overall, says industry watcher Jesse Toprak at TrueCar.com.
And good news for GM: "Those trucks have loyal buyers," he says. "From our perspective, (GM) will have to try hard to mess up."
The most obvious changes for the new GM trucks are more-dramatic styling and revamped, upgraded interiors. Outside, squared-off bulges around the wheel wells resemble the look of the successful GMC Terrain two-row SUV. Inside, a big touch screen in the middle of the dashboard on most models catches up to what designers are doing inside cars and SUVs.
And that what truck buyers want, says Jeff Luke, GM's executive chief engineer for full-size and mid-size trucks. "Don't let the work boots fool you. Truck customers are among the most discerning and demanding in the business."
Less obvious, but arguably more important changes in the new trucks:
-- A chassis redesigned for less noise, more comfort, better handling. Mark Reuss, president of GM's North America unit, says pickups often are or double as family vehicles and should be refined enough to fill that role gracefully, as well as handle truck tasks.
-- Changes to the cargo bed to be more useful and durable.
-- Bigger rear doors on crew-cab models so rear seat users can enter and exit easier. GM had fallen well behind rivals in rear-seat room and ease of use.
-- A bigger cargo box available on crew-cab models. In addition to the nominal 5 1/5-ft. bed standard across the industry on crew-cab trucks, the new GMs also will offer a 6 1/2-foot bed. While new to GM, it's not unique among full-size pickups.
The list of improvements in the new trucks is long, which figures to only compound GM's task of trimming an overstock of unsold 2012 and 2013 trucks, 183 days worth at the end of November or more than twice the normal supple. And if GM fire-sales those to make way for these upgraded 2014s, it could end up cutting way into the pool of potential buyers. for the new trucks Many will opt to buy the current-generation trucks at big discounts rather gambling that the new ones will be sufficiently better to justify higher prices.
The overstock's threat to the new models "is unfortunate," Lindland says. "It would be catastrophic if these (2014s) don't sell well. You can't overstate how important these trucks are to GM."
GM built up inventory intentionally to ensure it wouldn't run short during production downtime to revamp factories for the 2014s. But it overshot as rivals began heavy discounting, soaking up truck buyers, and as GM simultaneously was trying to wean itself from huge pickup incentives in order to boost profits.
An analysis by Edmunds.com shows that Chrysler jumped Ram incentives 48.9% in the year that ended last in November. Ford incentives on the big F-series rose only.8%, Meanwhile, Edmunds.com says, GM cut its incentive spending on pickups 4.8%.
Edmunds.com says it still took an average 95 days to sell a Ram, as of November. An F-series took 81 days. And GM pickups sat for 101 days before selling.
Now, GM says it'll go back to heavier discounting more heavily to help dealers clear the glut of unsold Silverados and Sierras.
Analysts such as Toprak say the simplest solution, but one out of GM's control, would be an improving U.S. economy. "A lot of buyers of full-size trucks are small businesses, and they're not feeling a recovery yet," he says. "There's still some hesitation" about buying new trucks.
But if the housing market continues to creep back, and other signs of recovery are visible, "pent-up demand, and businesses generally feeling better about things, will bring a lot more into the market for $40,000 trucks," Toprak says.
But even if all that works out, GM's new pickups also face wall of competition around the corner to bring those buyers to its showrooms.
-- Ford is expected to launch a fully redone F by 2015 that is likely to make extensive use of aluminum to cut weight and improve mileage.
-- Toyota's Tundra will get a 2014 update that could include engines similar to Ford's EcoBoost V-6. The currently moribund Nissan Titan is due for replacement about then that aims to be more carefully targeted to U.S. mainstream truck buyers. And both are considering offering diesels in their standard-duty trucks. Neither has a line of heavy-duty pickups, and the HD models sold by the Detroit 3 now are the only place buyers can go if they want diesel pickups.
Some buyers would like the better mileage and longer life-spans of diesels without having to pay the higher prices for heavy duties, and without having to put up with the less-refined personalities of heavy-duty pickups.
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