While Chevrolet was releasing the third and in our opinion, less interesting of the…rather tedious video trailers for its upcoming Corvette C7, GM allegedly sent scoop photographer Chris Doane this image from a service manual for the "Front brake cooling deflector kit installation", which he then posted on his Facebook page.
The drawings show the front end of the new 2014 Corvette, which features more prominent and larger headlamps than the current model along with a distinct hood scoop(s) and the front fender air outlet.
<data:blog.pageTitle/>
<data:blog.pageName/> - <data:blog.title/>
Whoever said that watching pickup trucks isn't fun, hasn't obviously witnessed a mechanical tug-of-war.
A group of young Americans who didn’t have anything better to do on what we assume to be a Friday night since the video was uploaded on Saturday, Dec. 15, watched two of their peers stage a tugging war at a parking lot with their trucks, a Chevrolet Silverado and a diesel-powered Dodge Ram Cummins.
The Silverado not only lost hands down, but the overzealous driver of the diesel Dodge truck took the Chevy for a foolishly dangerous victory run around the parking lot. Naturally, all hell broke loose once he stopped…
<data:blog.pageTitle/>
<data:blog.pageName/> - <data:blog.title/>
Full-size pickup trucks are an important segment to General Motors. That’s why its 2014 Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra models that were revealed ahead of their world premiere at the Detroit Motor Show in January may look similar to the outgoing versions, but they are quite different, and much more technologically advanced, under the skin.
GM’s new full-size trucks underwent more than 6 million miles of durability testing at the Milford Proving Ground, over the deserts and mountains of Nevada and across the frozen flats of Ontario. That’s equivalent to 240 trips around the earth. In addition, the trucks will accumulate more than 7 million real-world miles during final testing, bringing total test miles to more than 13 million.
That’s because, as executive chief engineer for full- and mid-size trucks Jeff Luke said, “Don’t let the work boots fool you. Truck customers are among the most discerning and demanding in the business”.
Almost two-thirds of the cabin structure, the main rails and key cross members of the frame are made of high-strength steel in order to improve rigidity and keeping weight down, while new shear-style body mounts help absorb body movements for a more relaxed drive.
Move over Ram and F150; this is the new artillery that GM is bringing to the pickup market. The all-new 2014 Chevrolet Silverado is soon to make its official appearance and CarScoop is giving you an early sneak-peak illustration, based on the many prototype models caught on camera.
The current Silverado has been battling it out strongly since 2007, only finishing as bridesmaid to Ford's F-150 on the sales charts, which is one thing for certain that GM would love to change.
The outgoing model has arguably been wearing the bridesmaid's tag when it comes to styling too; sure, it's reasonably appealing with its modern and rugged clothes, but doesn't push any design envelopes. Being a fresh slate for the 2014 model year, Chevrolet is changing this and gunning Ford, Dodge and Toyota head on in the pickup design stakes.
The new all-duty hauler expands on recent GM design themes with it's blunt square-ish and rounded sheet metal pressings. The front is more brash thanks to it's detailed chrome grill (with honeycomb inserts) and headlight surrounds, which incorporate more sophisticated projector headlights and turn signals.
We've seen this play before and before that and before that, but it never gets old: Chinese automakers replicating vehicles from western automakers. One brand that keeps popping up on our cloning radar is Jianghuai Automobile, more commonly known as JAC Motors.
It's latest accomplishment is the JAC 4R3 pickup truck that makes no attempt to hide the fact that it's a styling copy of the Ford F-150. Of course, as with other Chinese doppelgangers, the similarities begin and end with the appearance as it's too costly for automakers to extend the cloning to the mechanical hardware.
The 4R3 will reportedly make its debut at the Beijing Motor Show in April and will then go on sale in China where it will be offered with a 2.8-liter four-cylinder diesel engine pushing out 108-horsepower and 240Nm (177 lb-ft) of peak torque.
And the claws are out! Chevrolet makes no apologies for its new commercial on the Silverado pickup truck that will air during the first quarter of Super Bowl XLVI on Sunday.
Set in a post-apocalyptic world that draws on the Mayan predictions, the ad shows a group of friends that made it out alive and who all happen to be Silverado owners.
Once they assemble, they notice that one of their buddies didn’t make it to the meeting point – the missing friend happens to own a Ford…
You can take a look at Chevy's "2012" Super Bowl ad in the video after the break.
It seems like US carmakers are beginning to worry about the rising inventory of their big pickup trucks. For example, General Motors has an inventory of 122 days (or 4 months) of its Chevy Silverado and GMC Sierra according to a report from Reuters, or 50% higher than the typical industry inventory of 80 days.
But GM isn’t the only automaker in distress. Chrysler, Toyota and Ford also are behind their projected sales, with 93 days inventory for the first two makers and 79 days for the third respectively.
With the global market showing faint signs of recovery, 2010 was a good year for Chevrolet. The American automaker managed to shift 4.26 million vehicles worldwide or an average of one vehicle every 7.4 seconds. The brand’s share of global sales grew by 0.35 points as it accounted for about 5.8 percent of all vehicles sold worldwide. According to GM, Chevy was the only Top 5 manufacturer to increase its total market share last year.
Larry the Cable Guy might disagree, but trying to perform a crazy jump / stunt in a beat up Chevrolet Silverado pickup truck on a dirt track, doesn't sound like a sane idea. Fortunately, this brainless daredevil had mother luck on his side when he used his truck to dig a hole in the dirt ramp. Watch the video right after the break.
General Motors is expanding a previous recall concerning a faulty rear-axle cross pin to include another 26,751 SUVs and trucks from the 2011 model year. The first recall was issued in late December and concerned approximately 1,260 Cadillac Escalades, Chevrolet Avalanche and Silverado 1500s, and GMC Sierra 1500s, all from the 2011MY.
The U.S. auto sales numbers for 2010 are out and once again, Ford's F-Series pickup truck has been crowned the best-selling vehicle of the year, a title which it has held for 34 years in a row. According to Autodata Corp., the Dearborn-based brand moved 528,349 units of its F-150 light-duty and F-250, F-350 and F-450 heavy-duty trucks in 2010, recording an impressive increase of 27,7 per cent over 2009.
The Chevrolet Silverado took second place with 370,135 units, or some 158,000 less than the F-Series. Sales of GM's pickup truck were up 16,9 per cent from the previous year.
Despite Toyota's recall debacle, the Camry finished third overall earning the title of the best-selling passenger car in the States with 327,804 units, posting an 8.1 per cent drop from 2009. The Honda Accord and Toyota Corolla followed in fourth and fifth positions respectively.
Reuters is reporting that major automakers are tirelessly working on reducing the weight of future generation pickup trucks, in order to meet stricter fuel economy standards without sacrificing key abilities, such as power, payload capacity or towing capability.
Until 2016, when the new mandates take effect, manufacturers must reach an average fleet economy of 35.5 mpg (6.63 lt/100 km), while light trucks will have to return around 30 mpg or 7.84 lt/100 km. Given that around 50 per cent of vehicles sold in the U.S. in the first 11 months of the year were light trucks, it’s clear that the likes of Ford and GM have to act fast.
General Motors is recalling close to 100,000 vehicles in two separate campaigns. In a posting with the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration [NHTSA], GM said the first recall affects almost 96,000 Cadillac CTS sedans from the 2005-2007 model years over concerns that some of the vehicles have a condition in which repeated flexing of the passenger sensing system mat in the passenger seat may break the connection. The company said that if this occurs, the sensor may not detect the presence of a front seat passenger and will disable the air bag.
Next up on our motor show calendar is the biggest tuning event of 2010, the SEMA gathering in Las Vegas, and like every year, GM will be there with a huge display of vehicles. This time, the General is video-teasing some of the Chevrolet models that will descend on the Las Vegas convention center next month including several Corvettes, Silverados and you guessed it, a boat-load of Camaro builds. Scroll down to watch the clip.
