Continuing to diversify its truck portfolio, General Motors on Sunday showed off the second of its smaller trucks, the GMC Canyon, at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit.
GM is convinced that America’s love affair with pickup trucks is enduring. But consumers also want smaller vehicles that provide the same utility with less fuel.
“They are looking for something that is easier to live with, to park and maybe at a lower purchase price,” said Roger McCormack, director of Buick/GMC marketing for GM.
DETROIT AUTO SHOW: Big trucks, fast cars and more
GM is targeting the truck directly at the Toyota Tacoma and Nissan Frontier. Together, those trucks sell about 225,000 a year. But they are aging vehicles, needing redesigns and lacking the refinement GM claims the Canyon will offer.
Young truck buyers will be jazzed by the new GM offerings, said Karl Brauer, an analyst with car information company Kelley Blue Book. “The Tacoma and Frontier are neither impressive nor modern.”
Moreover, many truck buyers lean toward purchasing from a U.S.-based company, Brauer said.
The Canyon will offer the cargo and hauling that truck buyers want but with a quiet, comfortable interior and the latest phone and entertainment technology, McCormack said.
GM will offer two engine choices for the Canyon: a 2.5-liter four-banger that will produce 193 horsepower and a larger 3.6-liter six-cylinder that will provide 302 horsepower.
The towing capacity on the truck with the larger engine will reach 6,700 pounds. It will be able to carry a payload of 1,450 pounds. Four-wheel drive is available.
GM plans to offer a 2.8-liter turbo-diesel engine two years from now.
Although GM talks about the Canyon as a “smaller” truck, it is still pretty big. Today's smaller trucks are much beefier than the last generation of compact pickups, such as the tiny Hilux, a very plain and noisy vehicle sold by Toyota decades ago.
The Canyon will be classified as a mid-size truck. The basic crew cab version is 212.4 inches, 17 inches shorter than the full-size GMC Sierra. At 74.6 inches wide, the Canyon is about 5 inches narrower than the Sierra.
GM will offer three body configurations: an extended cab model with a 6-foot bed, a crew cab with a 5-foot bed and a crew cab with a 6-foot bed. With the tailgate down, the 6-foot bed can haul 8-foot-long items.
