GM should
be quite satisfied with two major underbody enhancements it has made to
the Silverado and Sierra for 2003.
First, a
brand new Class II electrical architecture is standard for 2003 and brings
significant electronic and maintenance benefits to the full size trucks.
Woychowski describes the new system as "able to multiplex signals
down a single wire versus having multiple discrete copper wires."
The architecture is able to support the sophisticated power management
needs of the HVAC and infotainment systems, described earlier, while at
the same time reducing the number of wires in the trucks. For example,
the number of wires in the doors has been reduced from 40 in 2002 down
to 16 in 2003. Less wires means less maintenance vulnerabilities over
the life of the truck and a lower cost of ownership.
Quadrasteer
is the second major underbody enhancement, available on both Silverado
and Sierra 1500 extended cab and 1500HD crew cab pickups, though it first
debuted exclusively on the 2002 Sierra Denali. It effectively reduces
the turning radius of an extended cab full size pickup to just larger
than that of a Saturn two door coupe, Quadrasteer independently turns
the front and rear wheels in the same or opposite directions depending
on the speed and driving situation of the truck.
"The
acceptance rate of Quadrasteer is as high as any other technology GM has
ever introduced", according to White. "With this technology
GM has a two year head start over the competition." The only cost
associated with system, aside with the $1500+ price, is that Quadrasteer
currently forces an increase in the rear width of the truck but, according
to White, "sometime in the future there will be no width penalty."
With all
of the new enhancements to the Silverado and Sierra it might be possible
to forget that these aren't totally new trucks. But GM is smartly leveraging
the assets and factory tooling already in place to make these modifications
for 2003 at less than 10% of the cost it took to get the T800 pickups
to market in the first place. This is the type of action the Big Three
might have avoided in the past, instead choosing to count their sales
figures until the next brand new truck was released. Those days are a
thing of the past. In this rapidly changing market, enhancements like
this are going to become business as usual.
2003 Chevrolet
Silverado and GMC Sierra production begins in the third quarter of 2002.
