New
GM Heavy Duty Trucks are Heavy Duty Ammo for General Motors
Chevrolet Silverado 3500HD
GMC Sierra 3500HD
During
the design of the new Heavy Duty pickups from GM the truck design
team performed extensive customer research into what buyers wanted
in a heavy duty truck. The new HD trucks had to offer the looks of
big truck, a great driver and passenger environment, affordability,
and absolutely have the best powertrain and payload capacity possible.
Make no doubt GM has raised the benchmark with these new pickups by
apparently fulfilling nearly every wish. The 2001 three-quarter and
one-ton Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra offer promises of dramatically
increased performance and efficiency across virtually all measurements
when compared to the competitors trucks, though appearances may leave
something to be desired.
Exterior
& Interior
Both trucks
shown during the press introduction were very late cycle prototypes
and not official production vehicles, as such the appearance of
the trucks may yet change slightly. That said, it will take a trained
eye to spot the differences in appearance between the light and
heavy duty trucks from GM. Certainly they are much more subtle in
differentiation from the light duty trucks than the Ford F-150/250
is from the SuperDuty. The
HD Silverado sports a subtle 'power bulge' in the hood and a revised
grille with a larger bow tie and horizontal chrome stripe. The HD
Sierra looks even more similar to its light duty counterpart with
the only real difference seen in a slightly tweaked grille, lower
skirting, and 'nostrils' in the bumper added for the diesel. Both
models stand taller than their light duty siblings and will be available
with two box types - standard fleetside or 'dually' for those heavy
towing needs.
The Silverado
shown had a composite bed - the fenders and outer tailgate panel
were made of RRIM (reinforced reaction injection molded) materials
and the one-piece inner panel and the inside of the tailgate used
structural reaction injection molding (SRIM) materials. Only the
2001 model year half-ton Silverados HDs will have the composite
bed option, it will not be available on the Sierra. Because of the
molding flexibility of the composite materials used in the rear
fenders expect GM to capitalize on it in the future with new, custom
features designed to meet special needs (perhaps similar to the
Hide-N-Side).
An interesting
side note about the composite bed in general. The bed has been tested
in temperatures from -40F to 170F and in places ranging from Nova
Scotia to phosphate mines in Florida over a two year period. GM
claims that wear and tear are every bit on par with the standard
steel bed we all grew up with.
The future
will see increasing differentiation in appearance between the Chevrolet
and GMC trucks as GMC strives to take on more of the work truck
marketplace.
The interior
of the Silverado and Sierra HD trucks appears to be almost identical
to the light duty pickups. They also appear quite similar to
one another in layout, though the GMC had an additional console
in the front. One noticeable addition is the Tow/Haul Mode button,
first offered in the 1999 model year HDs (more about this on
page 2). The Silverado shown had a cloth interior and the Sierra
had leather. It remains unclear if this will 'flip around' as
GMC seeks to be known as a work truck, though we are quite sure
that leather will also be an option on the Silverado.
