[osbornk]

I don't think putting a diesel in the GM LD trucks would be as easy as some think. First, the 4.5 is old technology and I don't think it would be competitive with the newer generation engines. I think it would suffer when compared to newer engines with a lack of power and/or poor fuel mileage.

Also, I think the Ram is selling well because their trucks have a long history of having dependable diesels. On the other hand, GM's attempt to put diesels in their LD trucks suffered greatly because their first attempt was a disaster because of a problem engine. I know many will say that the GM fiasco doesn't matter because it was so long ago but many of us lived through the disaster or our parents did when we were young. We're still buying trucks and many of us will wait a few years after GM has a diesel before we will take a chance on one. We didn't wait the first time and we were badly burned.

 

[osbornk]

Ummmm are you confusing cars with trucks? Never heard of the Duramax?

You must be a young whippersnapper. When the 350 diesel was put in the GM pickups, the people here in the coalfields bought them by the boatloads. The mineworkers were familiar with diesels because they used and drove them hauling coal every day. It wasn't long before they were on tow trucks or broken down beside the roads or at garages and they were without transportation. Keep in mine, this was when the warranty was 12 months or 12,000 miles. The cost of constantly repairing the blown head gaskets and injector pumps was a hugh expense that led to many being repossessed. Some people sold them if they weren't repossessed or converted them to gas. That made them avoid the Duramax when it became available. Many avoided all diesels and still do. They live by "Burn me once, shame on you. Burn me twice, shame on me."

 

[osbornk]

Day late and a dollar short as they say. Ram is gaining sales by being bold and grabbing attention/headlines, as well as Ford with the aluminum body. I really like GM's trucks and I personally don't mind their overall evolutionary approach, but they don't have any revolutionary items (or at least their marketing team doesn't approach it as such (think EcoBoost marketing), to grab the headlines and be perceived by the average consumer as having a superior or equal product.

If GM goes with an aluminum body or adds a diesel, they will be seen a copycats because Ram and Ford have already grabbed the headlines. GM really grabbed the headlines with the original diesel in pick-ups but the same engine later grabbed headlines for a different reason. If GM had only gotten the original diesel right..........................................