William Maley
Staff Writer - CheersandGears.com
September 24, 2012
Sometime this month in Las Vegas, GM executives showed Chevrolet dealers the next-generation Silverado.
Dealers who saw the new Silverado say the design is evolutionary.
"It's not a major change for an all-new model, but it'll be much bolder looking and have a lot more features," says Tom Durant, owner of Classic Chevrolet in Grape-vine, Texas.
The next-gen Silverado will be about three to four inches taller than the current model and have a brawny look. Extended-cab models will get rear-doors. Dealers say this move will help sales of extended-cab models. Crew-cab models will see an increase in rear legroom and a optional 6 1/2-foot bed.
Dealers were also told that the Silverado would be getting a high-end luxury model called the High Country.
"They said it would have a Western flair and unique leather. They basically said, 'If it's on the King Ranch, we're going to have it,'" a dealer told Automotive News.
Dealers have been clamoring for a luxury model of the Silverado for awhile to better compete with the Ram and F-150. However doing the luxury model of the Silverado does put GM between a rock and hard place since there is a luxury model of the GMC Sierra. However Dave Sullivan, a product analyst at research firm AutoPacific says offering the a luxury model of the Silverado won't cause a shift of GMC buyers to Chevrolet. Sullivan goes onto say the the move of offering a luxury Silverado can help move up the brand.
"A higher-end Chevy gives GMC the ability to move up. And Chevy can also move up. There's no reason GM's volume pickup brand shouldn't have something to go up against" the premium offerings of Ford and Ram.
GM didn't reveal any powertrain information for the next-gen Silverado.
Source: Automotive News, 2 (Subscription Required)
William Maley is a staff writer for Cheers & Gears. He can be reached at [email protected] or you can follow him on twitter at @realmudmonster.
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