GM Moves Up Release of New Trucks

[Arizona Slim]

Popular GM trucks set to roll off line earlier

December 8, 2005

BY ALEJANDRO BODIPO-MEMBA
FREE PRESS BUSINESS WRITER

General Motors Corp. has moved up production of its Silverado and GMC Sierra by 13 weeks in an effort to get the hot-selling vehicles to market quicker and increase cash flow.

GM officials said Wednesday that production of the trucks would be moved up to October 2006 and go on sale the following month as 2007 model-year vehicles.

Production of the full-size trucks originally was scheduled to begin in the first quarter of 2007, with the vehicles to go on sale as 2008 model-year trucks.

"We learned enough when we pulled production of the SUVs ahead to accelerate the launch of the pickups by 13 weeks to October 2006," Gary White, vehicle line executive for GM's full-size trucks, said Wednesday.

GM announced in March that it would move ahead, by more than a month, production on new versions of several large SUVs. The new Chevrolet Tahoe is expected to hit showrooms in January, followed by the Cadillac Escalade and GMC Yukon. Other new SUVs will follow in the second quarter.

White said pushing the pickup launch forward would allow GM to sell "tens of thousands of units" of the new trucks in the 2006 calendar year.

Continued... http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/a...512080528/1014

[ss02chase]

Cant wait to buy mine.

[tgagneguam]

That's a great photo, Arizona Slim.

As long as this does not compromise vehicle quality or drain engineering resources too much, this sounds like a reasonable idea.

[ATPeele]

Anyone know when the new models will be on display?

[SCCA1995]

This almost sounds like a desperation move by GM.

[Hoosier Red]

Sounds good.

[asim]

Yeah, when will these new models be revealed?

[GM_Fanatic]

Less time between their debut and when they hit dealerships too! Definitely a good thing.

[MittarFulgar]

Let me guess, they'll all have 6-speed transmissions, standard DOD, and get 27 mpg on the highway. And gasoline will sell for $1.25 a gallon.

[chevygurl72]

what about the avalanche??!! when are we going to see pics of that?

[sabonis11]

does this mean that the hybrid versions of the tahoe and yukon will be coming sooner also cause werent they supposed to be launched the same time as the pickups

[goblue1999]

Originally Posted by sabonis11

does this mean that the hybrid versions of the tahoe and yukon will be coming sooner also cause werent they supposed to be launched the same time as the pickups

The timing of the hybrid system is independent of the vehicle architecture itself. The hybrid drive is essentially a different transmission (among other things).

[01cavalier]

Im glad they are moving this up, really am looking forward to them being revealed!

[LAMRONH]

Originally Posted by tgagneguam

That's a great photo, Arizona Slim.

As long as this does not compromise vehicle quality or drain engineering resources too much, this sounds like a reasonable idea.

Exactly. Hope their tailfeathers are dry and these birds are ready to fly. Otherwise it's going to be some bad PR and bad karma.

[KingElvis]

Can't wait to see them during this auto show season. GM should promote the new short bed ext cab - it's their only meaningful change this year, and noboby else has it (i.e. 8 ft bed reg cab chasssis, but with EXT cab and 5 foot box). It's a darn good idea, since the ext cab is no more important to people than the bed - but it retains the easeir manueverability of the long bed reg cab.