GM Planning To Increase Heavy Duty Towing and Hauling Ratings

In the battle for power and performance bragging rights among heavy-duty pickup trucks, General Motors is already planning how to outmaneuver archrival Ford to claim the highest towing and hauling ratings in the segment. It could happen by next year, according to Jeff Luke, chief engineer for GM's full-size trucks.

During the past several weeks, GM and Ford have been playing a fierce game of one-upmanship as each has slowly revealed the awesome capabilities of their 2011 HD pickups.

GM went first, announcing towing and hauling numbers for its 2011 Chevrolet Silverado 2500 and 3500 HD pickups that beat comparable 2010 Ford F-Series F-250 and F-350 rigs. What was Ford's response? New best-in-class towing and hauling numbers for its 2011 Super Duty lineup that beat the 2011 Chevy Silverado (and 2011 GMC Sierra HD). Then, Ford upped the ante by also announcing segment-best power figures for its new 6.2-liter V-8 gas engine and new 6.7-liter Power Stroke V-8 diesel that beat GM’s comparable 2010 gas and diesel engines. Ford is still holding onto the gas engine crown, but GM just announced (you guessed it) best-in-class horsepower and torque figures for the 2011 6.6-liter Duramax V-8 diesel. Diesel engines are the heart of the HD market.

But GM says it’s not content to stop there. The 2011 Silverado and Sierra HD pickups feature all-new fully boxed frames and tougher suspensions and axles that give them headroom to up their work ratings as they gain confidence in the new platform and potentially make further structural or running gear revisions.

“There’s a lot of activity going on right now,” Luke said at the 2010 NTEA Work Truck Show. “It’s not difficult [to raise towing and payload]. The trucks are extremely capable, and we’re looking at a number of options. Any increase would probably come from both better confidence in the trucks and engineering changes. Whatever we do, we’ll be completely transparent.”

Could that happen in the next 12 months?

“That sounds reasonable,” Luke said.

What we’re not likely to see, though, is another giant increase in the horsepower and torque from the 6.6-liter Duramax V-8, says GM powertrain engineering manager Jim Minneker.

“We’ve stretched this rubber band pretty tight,” Minneker said. “It’s not going to happen in the short term.”

Even though 60 percent of the hardware for the 2011 Duramax diesel is new, the engine’s current architecture dates back to the 2001 GM Heavy Duty pickups.

Ford, however, appears to have plenty of performance headroom left in its clean sheet design 6.7-liter PSD V-8. We’re already hearing strong rumbles from sources that Ford is doing some planning of their own.

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