DeeCandyBar
08-06-2006, 09:36 PM
GM Moves Up Truck Launch
The new Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra will both will reach the showrooms this fall ahead of the new light truck from arch-rival Toyota.
Gary White, GM vice president and vehicle line director for GM's light-duty trucks and SUVs, said last week that GM executives originally thought the new Toyota truck would reach the market during the fourth quarter of '06. Thus, GM pulled ahead production of the full-size trucks by 13 weeks and production will now start in early October, White said. "It's ready to go," he said. GM's Oshawa and Fort Wayne plants will begin building the new trucks by early October while its Pontiac plant will start production of the new heavy-duty versions of the Chevy and GMC pickup trucks in January.
Toyota now says the replacement for the Tundra, built at a new plant in San Antonio, is tentatively scheduled to reach dealers in January of '07.
Rick Wagoner, GM chairman and chief executive officer, said that in the past it would have been unheard of for GM to pull forward a program as large and as complex as the introduction of the new pickups by three full months. GM plans to launch all truck variations over a five-month period. The last time GM launched a new pickup in the late 1990s, it took two years to roll out the different variants.-
The new Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra will both will reach the showrooms this fall ahead of the new light truck from arch-rival Toyota.
Gary White, GM vice president and vehicle line director for GM's light-duty trucks and SUVs, said last week that GM executives originally thought the new Toyota truck would reach the market during the fourth quarter of '06. Thus, GM pulled ahead production of the full-size trucks by 13 weeks and production will now start in early October, White said. "It's ready to go," he said. GM's Oshawa and Fort Wayne plants will begin building the new trucks by early October while its Pontiac plant will start production of the new heavy-duty versions of the Chevy and GMC pickup trucks in January.
Toyota now says the replacement for the Tundra, built at a new plant in San Antonio, is tentatively scheduled to reach dealers in January of '07.
Rick Wagoner, GM chairman and chief executive officer, said that in the past it would have been unheard of for GM to pull forward a program as large and as complex as the introduction of the new pickups by three full months. GM plans to launch all truck variations over a five-month period. The last time GM launched a new pickup in the late 1990s, it took two years to roll out the different variants.-