GM's Colorado/Canyon Pickups' Lackluster Sales: Down 7% as Tacoma is up 7%

[PeterPuck]

Originally Posted by tama z71

If you believe the S-10 was better, honestly and truely, go smash your head in a drawer for an hour, ...

Nobody here suggested that.

Seriously, dude. Learn to read.

[GM-Joe]

I'd like to see it grow a litt;e, to a real midsize truck, then have the next gen TB, H3, H4, Jimmy, and finally bring one of those tiny compact trucks from Brazil and then you have a three pronged attack.

As gas prices rise, I believe a smaller and more full efficient model is needed.

And yes, both small trucks look cheap from the outside as well. They need to Butch it up a little, like the Toyoda, but keep it sporty and lean like it is.

[tama z71]

Originally Posted by Peter Puck

Nobody here suggested that.

Seriously, dude. Learn to read.

Originally Posted by AndrewGS

...The old S-Trucks were better at everything and did it in much better style...

what now?

[GMCdriver]

I had a 2003 Sonoma CrewCab 4x4 w/ 4.3 & Auto that I drove for 4 years.
About 8 months ago I let it go and got a 2007 Canyon CrewCab 4x4 Z71 w/ 3.7 & Auto.

The dash was softer on the Sonoma but I don't sit there often enough to actually care.
The Canyon let me order a bench in the front of my CrewCab while the Sonoma wouldn't.
My Canyon has bettered my Sonoma in almost every way.
So far(just about 11000km now) my gas mileage hasn't been any better but the engine is so much stronger that I am having a hard time not driving the ever-living hell out of it.
Seat of the pants comparo - the 4.3 hits harder in the first 1000rpm off idle and the 3.7 dominates the rest of the rev range.

[ZvetteGuy]

make the truck more like it's full-size siblings and give the consumer more offerings... a 4-cyclinder... a 5-cylinder... and shoehorn that 5.3 v8 in there too... then possibly a small diesel variant of the D-MAX (call it the Baby Duramax or something) with a interior redo and some cosmetic changes to the truck and I am sure that the sales would pick up and stay up... but, there isn't much offered with the Colorado/Canyon conpared to the Silverado/Sierra... (reg cab, ext cab, crew cab, 4.3 v6, 4.8 v8, 2 5.3 v8's, 6.0 v8, 6.6 Duramax and not to mention the 3 bed choices and now with 2 interior choices).... Come on GM... put some focus on the mid-sizers.... my mom wants a Colorado Crew and I want something that I can be proud of when she pulls up to the JapTrucks....

[redimpss5]

I love the way the Colorado looks outside, but I hate the way it looks inside!! Please redo!!

[ScottS]

Originally Posted by Ming

Problem with these trucks as I see it is not the engines many people whine about. A friend and I (he's a compact truck guy, not a full-size V8 type like some of the critics who'd never buy a compact truck anyway) on a recent test drive agreed the coolest part of the Canyon was the Inline-5. Plenty of young "sport truck" guys around this part of Texas bought the gutless wonder 2.2L OHV in the S-10 without complaining (much). It's that when you get inside the Colorado/Canyon you're treated to a plastic cheap-fest that makes it hard to justify the price on the sticker. If these trucks were selling for S-10 fire-sale prices, they'd be doing a heck of a lot better. But since they're not, one has to wonder why GM has ignored the interior appointments for years now and not given them a significant upgrade. Ask the Koreans at Daewoo to design an inexpensive but attractive interior for them, since Detroit's GM and Isuzu couldn't get it right. Heck, the Aveo's interior looks 10 times better, and you can get two Aveos (@ $12,130 MSRP) for the price of one of GM's compact pickups ($25,365 MSRP)! The only answer can be that GM isn't particularly motivated to sell many of them because they don't make GM a huge profit. And that's unfortunate, because Toyota is more than willing to take up the slack as the Tacoma's percentage gain this year is the GM pickups' loss. Someday GM will wake up and find that the only markets it still holds a respectable place in are big trucks, crossovers and SUVs. And they'd better hope that gas prices and CAFE leave them alone, or they'll follow Isuzu's truck & SUV-focused decline into obscurity.

Definitely. I think the exterior is reasonably attractive. The motor options aren't bad. I understand a base interior in a pickup, but I do not understand not offering an upscale interior as an option anywhere in the line. When we got rid of the Bravada, I was open to considering a small crew cab, but it took about 10 seconds sitting in the most expensive Canyon to figure out this is not going to make the wife happy after having a Bravada. A late 90's Bravada/Jimmy/S10/S15/Blazer has a much better looking interior than what's offered to us now 10 years later.

[racy]

Originally Posted by camaro_freak

no brainer... they simply under-delivered on this truck redesign... but I'll give GM more gusto then Ford who continues to let the Ranger wither on the vine.

Perhaps it isn't too late for GM to save this segment instead of abandoning ship.

Odds are strongly in favor of GM abandoning ship, and bailing out of yet another failed experiment. If GM can't get it right the first time, they quit.

I'd really like to see GM get serious in this segment and take on Toyota and Nissan. But the chances of that happening are bleak.

I truly believe GM has the ability to attack Toyota on their own turf - small trucks and compact cars. But GM doesn't seem to want to get into that fight. They like to take the easy win. Problem is, there aren't any easy wins anymore. Even the bread-n-butter truck arena isn't safe.

[AndrewGS]

Originally Posted by tama z71

If you believe the S-10 was better, honestly and truely, go smash your head in a drawer for an hour, drive both trucks back to back for a change, then go tell people what you think. The S-series trucks were GARBAGE, and remain so, even compared to the colorado and canyon. Haters

I owned a 2000 GMC Sonoma Ext. Cab with the 4.3L and the ZQ8 suspension for four years. I drove a new Colorado Reg. Cab with the 3.5L and ZQ8 suspension for about twenty minutes when they first hit the dealers as I was thinking about trading, but from the test drive I saw no reason to give up my more comfortable, better-looking Sonoma. Not long after that I rented a Colorado Crew Cab Z85 for a couple of days and I didn't care for it at all. Not to mention my Sonoma had a 6,200lb. tow rating while the Colorado only had a 4,000lb. rating. At the time I occationally pulled a 5,000lb. boat at my grandparents' lakehouse, so the Colorado would've been iffy at that task.

[KUZCO]

where do i start, seeing that the trucks look like they have down syndrome and they cost as much as a silverado and looks like they were designed by a fourth grader, the front on the colorado looks like it came off another truck and to anybody who owns one of the ugly ass trucks i offer my condolences, if that wont work then blame the UAW cuz we make too much.

[genjy]

So much for that sacred truck buyer loyalty mumble jumble.

[racy]

Originally Posted by Ming

The only answer can be that GM isn't particularly motivated to sell many of them because they don't make GM a huge profit. And that's unfortunate, because Toyota is more than willing to take up the slack as the Tacoma's percentage gain this year is the GM pickups' loss. Someday GM will wake up and find that the only markets it still holds a respectable place in are big trucks, crossovers and SUVs. And they'd better hope that gas prices and CAFE leave them alone, or they'll follow Isuzu's truck & SUV-focused decline into obscurity.

Exactly. But will GM actually wake up? That's the question. Its taken GM twenty years to wake up to the Camry. GM doesn't have 20 years leeway anymore. I also agree on the interior design for these trucks. It is embarrassing.

[Ultimate1]

the Colorado has too many bad things going for it. The predecessor was ,for lack of a worst word, crap. That doesn't give buyers confidence to buy this colorado and give it a chance, Me and another former S truck owner included.

GM brought the truck out to market with a low powered 5 cylinder... they were bold in using a 5 cylinder but not bold enough in not ensuring it had plenty of grunt to call attention.

The interior is a memory of cheap GM interiors (Though its actually not as bad quality wise).

No matter what GM does to this truck now, its chance came and went. Car Review magazine don't care about mild updates like the increase in displacement or a better interior. It should have had one from the beginning to ensure its success and GM has no one to blame but themselves.

[asim]

This is sad. GM can't even fully compete well in ALL truck markets, just the full-size light duty and heavy duty ones. GM really needs to put their full-size skill into a small package to sell as the Colorado and the Canyon.

[guitarlix]

Not hard to figure - the competition (Tacoma and Frontier) are far superior products.