TRUCK INDUSTRY
GM touts fuel efficiency
General Motors, preparing a redesigned Chevrolet Silverado to begin selling this quarter, said the new pickup will have better fuel efficiency than Ford’s turbocharged V-6 truck while costing the same as its outgoing model.
The 2014 Silverado with a 5.3-liter V-8 engine and two-wheel drive will get 23 miles per gallon in highway driving, the Detroit-based automaker 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. A flex-fuel 5-liter V-8 F-150 gets 21 mpg on the highway.
The redesign of the Silverado, and GMC brand version sold as the Sierra, are among about 20 new vehicles GM is bringing out this year to renew a lineup that was considered to have grown stale following the company’s 2009 bankruptcy reorganization. The company’s U.S. market share fell to an 88-year-low in 2012 as Toyota’s sales rebounded, helping overtake GM to retake the title of world’s best-selling automaker.
The fuel efficiency of GM trucks is key as it continues to compete against Ford.
Sales of Ford’s F-Series, which was redesigned in 2008, have made it the best-selling vehicle in the U.S. for 30 consecutive years. Ford has continued to outpace the Silverado and Sierra as customers have shifted to Ford’s more efficient smaller engines. The outgoing Silverado, for example, got 20 mpg, according to the EPA.
The new GMC Sierra, a pickup based on the same mechanics as the Silverado, will also get 23 mpg on the highway, GM said separately. Both the Silverado and Sierra will get 16 mpg in city driving, the company said. Versions of trucks equipped with four-wheel drive will get 22 mpg on the highway.