The transition to the 2014 Chevy Silverado is moving rapidly with new models shipping in a few weeks.
General Motors’ big switch is in full swing as it brings out its new family of Chevrolet pickup trucks.
The GM assembly plant in Silao, Mexico, is already building the 2014 Silverado Crew Cab, and should begin shipping them in next few weeks, GM executives said this week.
“We’re putting them through some extra quality gates to make sure they’re ready,” said Chris Perry, GM vice president of Chevrolet Marketing, adding the Silverado accounted for 24.3% of Chevrolet’s sales in the U.S. last year.
The Silverado LT Z71 is part of the 2014 lineup.
Chevrolet expects to begin the advertising blitz for the new truck later this summer, Perry said as he discussed the new truck during a media drive in Texas. In addition, GM is planning to put the new truck on display at events such as Indianapolis 500 at the end of May and at the big country music festivals in Nashville, Tenn. and Austin, Texas, GM spokesman Tom Wilkinson said.
Perry, however, noted the change in Silao is only one element of the big changeover, which also involves converting two other plants, one in Fort Wayne, Ind. and another in Flint, Mich., to building next generation of new pickup trucks.
Meanwhile, the Flint and Fort Wayne plants continue to build the 2013 version of the truck even as they prepare for the changeovers, GM officials said. GM won’t begin building the 6.2-liter engine that will be offered in the 2014 Silverado until sometime in the fourth quarter.
“It’s all carefully phased,” said Perry, who noted GM also plans to offer a double cab and a regular cab version of the new Silverado. Analysts estimate the pickup truck sales still account for a substantial portion of GM’s profits and are critical to the company’s financial success.
The new 2014 model year double cab goes on sale in the third quarter followed by the regular cab a month to 45 days later.
The complicated changeover has left GM with a large inventory of unsold truck on dealer lots around despite relatively strong sales and generous incentives. “We probably have between 90 and 100-day supply,” Lloyd Biermann, the Silverado marketing manager. The inventory level is about where GM expected it to be through the transition, adding GM expects the inventory of 2013 models to diminish as the changeover moves forward into the fall.
Jeff Luke, executive chief engineer for GM truck lines, said come autumn GM also expects to start offering a glimpse of the new large sport utility vehicles, such as the Chevrolet Tahoe and Cadillac Escalade, that are based on the pickup truck’s basic architecture. The SUVs will debut next year as will GM’s new mid-sized pickup truck designed specifically for the North American market.
(Click Here to see the spy shot of the 2014 Chevy Tahoe.)
The redesign of the Silverado and GMC Sierra are among about 20 new vehicles GM is bringing out this year as company makes a major bid to recover a piece of the market share it lost over the past decade.
The last major change in GM’s pickup trucks came in 2006 for the 2007 model year. At that time, GM put the big SUVs ahead of the pickup trucks. This time around, however, the pickup trucks are taking precedent.
(Chevrolet saddles up new Silverado tor 2014. Click Here to read more.)
The 2014 Silverado sits on an all-new chassis and both the trucks exterior and interior have been completely redesigned to compete more effectively with trucks from Ford Motor Co., the segment leader, and Chrysler, which has gained market share in the past couple of years.
The standard engine in the new Silverado is 5.3-liter V-8 engine, which is also new and will get 23 miles per gallon in highway driving, Luke said. Ford’s 3.5-liter, six-cylinder turbo F-150 gets 22 mpg on the highway while a flex-fuel version of the vehicle gets 23 mpg, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.