By Mike Ramsey
General Motors Co. said it plans to offer a diesel engine option
in its forthcoming medium-size pickup trucks, the Chevrolet
Colorado and GMC Canyon.
GM's global vice president of Chevrolet, Alan Batey, said during
an analyst presentation that the company sees an opportunity to
reach new customers with a diesel offering in the medium-size
trucks. He said the new trucks, which will go on sale later this
year, will be 1,100 pounds lighter than the current Ford Motor Co.
F-150 pickup -- the top-selling pickup.
The trucks will be "extremely fuel efficient," he said. The
company hasn't said what the fuel economy of the new trucks would
be. The new trucks are slight smaller than the full-size Chevrolet
Silverado and GMC Sierra.
Until this year, diesel engines were the province of only the
heavy-duty pickups offered by GM, Ford and Fiat Chrysler
Automobiles NV. But Chrysler began offering a diesel on its Ram
1500 earlier this year and it already has been a hit. The Ram is
rated to achieve up to 28 miles per gallon on the highway, the best
rating for light-duty, full-size trucks.
Ford doesn't have plans to put a diesel in its forthcoming,
all-aluminum, 2015 F-150, which is roughly the same size as the Ram
and Silverado and Sierra. Instead it has reduced the weight by 700
pounds and will offer a 2.7-liter, turbocharged V6 to attain higher
mileage. GM, though, is hoping that the combination of a slightly
smaller truck, combined with a diesel engine, will appeal to a new
range of buyers. Nissan Motor Co. also has pledged to put a diesel
engine in its full-size pickup, the Titan.
"Our midsize truck will be 1,100 pounds lighter and we have a
diesel in it," Mr. Batey said, at a Bank of America Merrill Lynch
conference in New York Wednesday. GM has broken with the direction
of Ford and Chrysler. Executives believe they can capture more
buyers with three sizes of trucks, rather than just the full-size
and heavy-duty options that its competitors are using.
Separately, Mr. Batey said GM has begun repairing the first of
2.3 million vehicles recalled for a flawed ignition switch that
could accidentally turn off a car, cutting power to air bags, that
has been connected to at least 13 deaths. Mr. Batey said that GM
sales in the U.S. are "robust" and haven't been hurt by the recall
so far.
Write to Mike Ramsey at michael.ramsey@wsj.com
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