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General Motors Believed Ready to Announce Commercial-Truck Venture With Navistar

18K views 59 replies 29 participants last post by  ChrisGinNC 
#1 ·
From Forbes:

With the nation’s steadying economy accelerating demand for all manner of commercial trucks, the truck-production landscape is evolving – and revolving – as former partners and rivals scramble for position in what is projected to be a boom period for truck manufacturing.

Industry sources believe General Motors is close to announcing a new partnership with commercial-truck stalwart Navistar International
http://www.forbes.com/sites/billvis...istar/?utm_campaign=yahootix&partner=yahootix
 
#5 ·
This is interesting. When GM decided to get out of the medium-duty truck business, it almost finalized a deal with Navistar to hand the business over to Navistar. The trucks would continue to be sold as Chevrolets and GMCs, but manufacturing sales and service would have been handled by Navistar. I am happy to see GM and Navistar consummate the relationship this time.
 
#15 ·
After that fell through, the Terrastar was introduced by Navistar International to take the market share GM was abandoning.

I'm 90% sure that the new Chevrolet trucks from this deal will be based on Duramax/Allison powered Terrastar designs. Ironic in a way, since GM already had pretty solid class 4, 5 and 6 trucks until 2010.

I'm not sure if these will be called Silverado 4500, 5500, 6500, and 7500 or not, but I would like to see a 4500 series Silverado pickup if possible.
 
#7 ·
Oh boy. This and the next gen Duramax and GM can pull a Ford move by using 1 engine and variants of it to power class 2-5 or maybe 6 and 7 trucks just like Powerstroke.
 
#11 · (Edited)
The van-thingy is a different league.

Ironically, Navistar/IH once sold some Nissan cabover trucks in the late 1980s-early 1990s to replace the aging Cargostar series. They dropped it from their line-up due to declining sales.
http://www.amazon.com/1990-International-Truck-BROCHURE-Navistar/dp/B005POSNGO
http://www.redpowermagazine.com/forums/topic/28517-navistar-or-nissan-built/
http://www.ebay.com/itm/131057210207

Back in time, the old International Scout had an optionnal Nissan diesel engine
 
#10 ·
Kinda sucks that they left Fort Wayne a few years back. Would have made for some good opportunities with their (old) R&D center being in the same town as the Fort Wayne Assembly.
 
#21 ·
See, I told you. :p:
 
#17 ·
I wouldn't be surprised if Navistar got some GM gasoline engines out of this deal. I figure the next gen. Duramax could also replace the MaxForce 7 V-8 currently in the TerraStar and DuraStar. Best guess is Chevy (not GMC) will get a GM powered version of the Terrastar to sell in class 4/5. It will be interesting to see if the truck comes with the TerraStar cab, a Silverado cab, or possibly even the old Kodiak cab.

Class 6 trucks were also mentioned, so it would seem a Chevy version of the DuraStar may be in the works as well.

There was a lot of talk about this late last year on 'thedieselplace.com'.
 
#20 ·
I assume this will be similar to the Blue Diamond partnership they shared with Ford offer the last 10-15 or so years. Navistar/IH provided the frame, while Ford provided the cab and power for the F-650/750 trucks.

I assume it'll be a TerraStar with the possibility of a DuraStar frame with a GM designed (Chevrolet only) cab and Duramax and GM gasoline/CNG power. Allison transmissions are used by IH and Ford (in class 6 and larger trucks) anyway, so they'll probably get the beefier Allison 1350 RDS used in the TerraStar already.
 
#27 ·
It won't be the 6.0L.
 
#39 ·
Yes, It would have.

Now they use the old International R&D center parking lot for overflow Silverado and Sierra from the plant. Last fall the entire lot was full for months with hundreds, if not thousands of trucks.
 
#42 ·
I hope for GM sake they have GM cabs instead of International cabs , the last International truck I drover last year had about 130,000 miles and it felt like a million miles , the quality was horrible , Freightliner is 100% better .
 
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#43 · (Edited)
So Ford splits with Navistar, taking its next Medium Duty trucks and power trains in house
passes up shared low cost Mexican production to bring production back to the USA,

and no one thinks to ask why Ford is doing that and opening the door for
GM to take their place with Navistar...Interesting.....

I have to wonder if it's easier to do your own truck rather than deal with Navistar?
Clearly, the answer differs for Ford and GM....
 
#45 · (Edited)
So Ford splits with Navistar, taking its next Medium Duty trucks and power trains in house
passes up shared low cost Mexican production to bring production back to the USA,
The craptastic 6.4L engine hurt both companies. It was made in Huntsville, Alabama. That motor was an embarrassment for Navistar and it is being phased out as the Maxforce. Ford no longer brands the 6.4L as the Powerstroke.

BTW, the Terrastars are the most likely to be the basis of the new Chevrolet trucks, and they are are manufactured in a large facility in Ohio.
 
#44 ·
My understanding was that Ford did everything they could, to turn around Navistars quality. This included spending huge amounts of money on testing equipment and training for them.

We see how that ended.

I wish GM well with the new money pit............... I mean, Navistar. :D
 
#46 · (Edited)
My understanding was that Ford did everything they could, to turn around Navistars quality.
The 6.4L was just a bad design all around....and it replaced an incredibly problematic 6.0L motor. They just couldn't keep up with Cummins or General Motors/DMAX...both of which had to make significant changes to meet new EPA regs themselves.

Even the de-tuned commercial grade 6.0L and 6.4L "VT" motors from Navistar had a long list of issues to overcome. Ford actually sued Navistar to recover costs to handle some of the warranty claims. The two companies settled out of court and ended their cooperative agreements earlier than expected.

The Maxforce motors will likely disappear soon from Navistar branded products as EPA regs tighten. A lot of them use Cummins motors now.
 
#47 ·
I guess I am happy to see this (it gets me a GM medium duty), but I really don't think they need IH to field a medium duty truck. I have been looking to replace my 05 5500 but there really has not been anything to replace it with. I looked at the Terra Star but there is no way in hell I will own a 6.4 engine. So we have been getting along with the 5500 which is getting long in the tooth and needs to be replaced. So if the truck is based on the Terra Star but with GM drivetrain I think that is a start. IH trucks (current) have a reputation of somewhat crappy build quality. I hope they do this right. I honestly wish GM would just do it themselves and leave IH out of it. That ridiculous SCR denial, about bankrupted the company, I am really not sold on the stability of IH or their mindset.
 
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#55 ·
I would rather see GM turn a plant over to Isuzu and let them build medium duty trucks for both GM and Isuzu. Navistar and Ford parted ways due to excessive warranty claims that Navistar was unwilling to cover on the powerstroke. Ford pulled the plug on Blue Diamond shortly after the settlement. Why would GM sign a deal with Navistar knowing all of the quality issues that they have? I drive for a living and there is very little good I can say about International trucks. I am in a 14 Pro Star Plus now and it's rough riding and loud inside. Lots of quality issues going on for a new truck with 85,000 miles now. Engine lights, wind noise because of bad weather stripping, steering that pulls to right. The location I work out of has a 2010, 2011 and 2014 with same steering problems, two now fixed and one to go.

Isuzu has a good reputation abroad and good products to offer. Isuzu lacks a conventional, but shouldn't be to much work for GM to supply a cab for a conventional medium duty truck. Any chance GM can bring back the 8.1 big block for medium duty use? It is a great engine for that application.
 
#59 ·
It is looking like a network of Chevy Commercial Truck dealers will be created, many likely being old Chevy/GMC medium duty dealers. They ought to go ahead and combine all the Isuzu dealers into that network as well. Back in the day, it always seemed to be that most of the Isuzu cabovers running around were the Chevy and GMC versions. Stands to reason, there were a lot more GM dealers. You know, if GM plays this right, they could give Ford a very rough time in a few years..........
 
#60 ·
I'd think they'd just bring the old GM Medium Duty dealers back into the fold.
 
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