NSAP Rants: New Silverado Opinions

[nsap]

NSAP Rants: New Silverado Opinions
June 12, 2006
By: NSAP
www.gminsidenews.com



Okay, so today we got our first glimpse of the upcoming all-new Silverado. Like with everything else, everyone had an opinion of the design; good and bad. All of those opinions have also brought upon a lot of discussion about whether it’s new look will hurt sales. This type of pre-mature discussion tends to always happen when a spy shot of a new product comes out; I guess spy shots bring out ALL of the “armchair” analysts in this community. I’m tired of it.

Let’s get one thing straight here; we have seen pictures of ONE truck. We have yet to see the interior, any close-up’s, any other trim levers, or even a picture with the hood completely shut! Yet, we have people already declaring it isn’t going to sell worth a **************** and the Ford folks have already marked it as a failure (surprise, surprise eh?). The exact same thing happened to the HHR when spy shots of it were released. Tons of people had it pegged as a failure, and look at it…it’s one of the hottest vehicles on the market.

A few months ago we all saw a spy shot that GMInsidenews bought of the Silverado interior. While that was the actual interior found the new truck, that was not the ONLY interior that is available in the truck. There is a separate interior that is not at all like the one photographed for the higher-up models (LT, LTZ, Z71). The interior we saw was the one that is for the WORK TRUCK models, and even the interior photographed was not in production trim. Look closely and you’ll see that none of the dash had any graining, the production dash has graining.

As for the new shots that came out today, well, I personally think the they did an excellent job with it. I’m not in the market for a Silverado, nor am I personally a fan of the styling, but GM did a good job with it. Here’s why; the design of the 900 Silverado is an evolution of the original GMT-400 Silverado. If everyone will recall, that generation was one of the most popular Silverado’s ever. It looked good, wasn’t over-done or bland. It just looked like a Chevy Silverado should. The 2007 has this.

To those of you who think the new Silverado is “fugly” and uses too much chrome, I say this; wait UNTIL YOU SEE MORE TRIM LEVELS! Look at current products on the market, design cues vary from trim to trim. We have no idea if the LTZ, LT, or even LS will have the chrome grille and large fender flares. Another thing to consider is that pictures mess with the mind. As GMI member Chevy_Rules was just telling me, the first photo made the truck look weird, but the new angle makes it look good.

My guess is that the new Silverado is going to sell better than 70% of the people on this site think. Because that 70% is basing a vehicle’s sales on DESIGN ALONE. Yeah, whatever. The packaging, powertrains, and features on these new trucks are going to be what moves them (just like every other market segment). Not to mention that the recent announcement of the Saturn Aura pricing indicates GM is serious about pricing vehicles correctly. I’m sure that will carry-over to the new Silverado.

Long story short, keep your sales predictions to yourself until we see more of a product. No one cares what you think when you say “Oh, Ford doesn’t need to worry now!” That’s a dumb thing to say when we have seen a few pictures of one truck.

[ChevyRules]

100% agree with you NSAP, and BTW, there is a s at the end of Chevy_Rules. :p

[TahoeMikeZ71]

I agree with you nsap. I think people should wait for the official pics and option levels before they say anything.

[61695]

Looks good from here.

[CobaltSScrazy]

good points nsap. i'm optimistic about the silverado / sierra but like you say, we don't know almost anything else about the truck aside from the exterior design of ONE version of it (a crew cab of all LMAO) with aluminum rims. can someone post a gmt400 for comparison?

[griswold44]

We got a picture of the new Silverado??

[ChevyRules]

Originally Posted by CobaltSScrazy

good points nsap. i'm optimistic about the silverado / sierra but like you say, we don't know almost anything else about the truck aside from the exterior design of ONE version of it (a crew cab of all LMAO) with aluminum rims. can someone post a gmt400 for comparison?

http://www.executiveauto.com/images/...96Chevy_01.jpg

And Gris, yes we did. Here is the better angle of it

http://www.autospies.com/article/ind...&categoryId=12

[Corr69]

I'm on board as well. Especially without that hood closed, you can't get full opinion of the front end. We have to wait for GM's pictures, and to see it in person to make our full assesment.


And besides, I've always thought Crew Cabs with the really short box is the ugliest confiuration you can get for a pick-up. Almost as bad as a long box regular cab.

[JazzyChef]

I think that you left out the "Design" part in addition to why people buy vehicles. The shift in the way people buy cars is changing, people look at a car as an expensive accessory that's why people buy Luxury or sports cars. You wouldnt' spend an extra $30,000 on a Cadillac STS for packaging, powertrain, and features if you knew you could buy the same thing in an Impala for less. I think that design still plays a major part in if a vehicle sells.

I don't like the angles of the truck pictures.. and so far that's why I don't like it. The truck is trying too hard to be a Titan, at least so it seems. I'll stick with the Avalanche until i see better photos or different models of this truck.

[CobaltSScrazy]

Originally Posted by Chevy_Rules

There you go. Very similar as you see.


http://www.executiveauto.com/images/...96Chevy_01.jpg

thx, there IS alot of similarity with that truck. i didn't realize those sold very well? i thought they were "alright, but nothing special" can someone posts sales figures compared with the f-series? I wouldn't know where to look. srry.

[jmonte345]

Isn't the point of posting the pictures to get a discussion going? Of course some people are going to love it and some are going to hate it so why care what other people think? The whole point of a forum is for people to give thier opinion.

If you don't like people to comment on just a few pictures then don't post them until GM officially releases all the specs and pictures of the truck. Easy solution to the problem.

[hotrod747]

No, opinions need to be heard! If the design is not what potential buyers want, the powers that be need to hear it. It may not be what they want to hear. Also, if this particular trim level is only one of four, then they may need to reconsider this one. It is better heard sooner than later. I am in the market for a full- sized truck, and after seeing this, I'm going to go ahead and get an '06 before they are all gone.

[dreadnaught1181]

While I am not a fan of trucks, I think the new design is an improvement over the current Silverado.

[nsap]

Originally Posted by JazzyChef

I think that you left out the "Design" part in addition to why people buy vehicles. The shift in the way people buy cars is changing, people look at a car as an expensive accessory that's why people buy Luxury or sports cars. You wouldnt' spend an extra $30,000 on a Cadillac STS for packaging, powertrain, and features if you knew you could buy the same thing in an Impala for less. I think that design still plays a major part in if a vehicle sells.

You're confusing design with image. People who buy luxury cars and sports cars are buying them (generally) for their IMAGE, not design. If someone wants a good design, they could easily buy a $20K Solstice over a $50 BMW.

[61695]

Originally Posted by hotrod747

No, opinions need to be heard! If the design is not what potential buyers want, the powers that be need to hear it. It may not be what they want to hear. Also, if this particular trim level is only one of four, then they may need to reconsider this one. It is better heard sooner than later. I am in the market for a full- sized truck, and after seeing this, I'm going to go ahead and get an '06 before they are all gone.

Seeing these pics tells me it's pretty much a done deal. Way to late to make major changes now.