New GM Pickup May Have French Twin
Spy Photography by Chris Doane Automotive; Story by April Fursten
PickupTrucks.com has learned that engineers from GM’s new European partner, Peugeot, have been assigned leading roles in the development of the next full-size Chevrolet pickup truck.
“Many of us aren’t happy about this change,” a veteran Chevrolet truck chassis development engineer said. "They may as well badge the beast as the Silveradeaux," one long-time engineer was overheard saying, but also requested not to be named.
And they might do just that, if the French engineers have their way.
The new pickup development team is operating under the code name Cavelier, as in Rene-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle, the French explorer considered to be the first European to explore the length of the Mississippi River. In 1682, La Salle named the Mississippi river basin Louisiana to honor his benefactor, King Louis XIV. LaSalle also explored much of the Great Lakes region.
The similar-sounding Cavalier was the name applied to a compact Chevrolet car produced from 1982-2005.
“Don’t worry,” another source within Chevrolet said. “There’s no relationship between that Cavalier and this truck. Well, except for part of the powertrain.”
Peugeot brings its advanced diesel-engine technology to the new Chevrolet full-size pickup. Three years ago, the French automaker won the 24 Hours of Le Mans endurance race with a 908 prototype powered by a 5.5-liter, 12-cylinder diesel engine that provided 730 horsepower and nearly 900 pounds-feet of torque. However, that engine will not be adapted to the Chevrolet pickup project.
Instead, the basic Silverado/Silveradeaux will be equipped with Peugeot’s 1.4-liter four-cylinder diesel to power the pickup’s front wheels. For buyers who need the grunt of four-wheel drive, a second 1.4-liter diesel also will be mounted within the engine bay, but with a driveshaft to the rear wheels.
With a single engine and front-wheel drive, engineers believe the new Chevrolet pickup will be rated as high as 38 mpg in city driving while providing 800 pounds of cargo capacity and 1,200 pounds of towing capacity, both records for French-engineered vehicles.
When equipped with the second engine, fuel economy may drop to around 27 mpg, but cargo and towing capacities would increase by as much as 45 percent.
Comments
Article is dated Mar 31!
Oui, oui. 26+ mpg. GM wins again.
Awesome April Fools! You ALMOST had me until I read the part about the dual diesel engines.
Little joke. Remember the one about Ford last year or maybe the year before. Some ones needs a tv show.
LOL!
that thing looks horrible
im glad its just a joke or this would totally destroy watever loyalty GM might have left.
Haha April fools putc!
You shouldn't of mentioned the 1.4 litre engines. The idea is to string people along. Nice photoshop. It does look better than the current Silverado ;)
I love the name of the author, quote "Story by April Fursten".
Had me going until, I read about the second engine.
Have a good April Fools everybody.
Great April Fool's joke!
Don't underestimate Peugeot's engineering abilities, they had a had in the development of the 6.7L Powerstroke!
LOL... Silveradeaux ... Silver-RAD-Doh
I pitty the Fool.. on April 1st.
@Lou,
April seems to publish a lot of articles this time of year. Does the new Pickup have Moet bottle holders as well?. Perfumed seats?
If it's an April Fools Joke, why does Peugeot have the truck on their website?
Pssst, Chris...
The license plates in Europe are a much different size and shape.
I saw this coming. They got me a cupel years back with the ford GM partnership article were they said they were going to share the same diesel motor and put it in both the silverado and F-150. But they haven't got me since but there's always next year.
Hardly anyone picked up on the name PowerMax from the joke 2 years ago. A combination of Powerstroke and Duramax. Keep these April Fools jokes coming, even now that we are expecting them, we still want them. A Peugeot pickup! lol!
Ah man...
Peugeot is one company that could probably make that magic happen.
A better april fools joke would be saying that Toyota's Tundra is finally fuel efficient, doesn't have a frame that flexes like tin foil, and finally has good hooks on the bumpers!
haha. of course bob would believe this. He'll be talking about chevy's new 38 mpg truck now on every article.
Yeah...this is not a joke!!! google gm and peugeot and, you will see on march 1st they confirmed a "GLOBAL RELATIONSHIP" sounds like a monopoly as usual. so is the same for Dodge Ram owned by mercedes. American taxes are apparently playing world capitalist at gun point nice this sounds constitutional I'm sure it's for our safety as bureaucrats & politicians say heehee nope guess again gentleman! can you say $$$$$$$$ and your taking care of the bill how patroitic!!! I'm sure this won't end like the european union and greece....
That was awesome! Off to church.. Happy April everyone! Even you bob.
LOL !!
Bet the GM fans thought it was true ! And the Toyota boys are jealous because their trucks are inferior (Toyota fans are always under the April fools joke as they drive inferior Toyota's) !
Looks better than the real truck!
The grill kind of looks like a early 50s Vette. I would be surprised if someone came up with a grill kit like this. Good April fools joke.
Didn't know you could make a GM look even worse
April fools day , besides toyota allready beet them to the punch
oy vey!
A diesel in their new half-ton would be great. I guess Isuzu don't want to play the halfton game with their duramax so GM had to look elsewhere for help. Ford engineers can build diesel engines, GM... well.
I have something that is not April Fools! Met a man near Cleveland Ohio at a Ford dealership that had a 2011 Ford F350 with 109,000 miles on it with a blown engine. Dealer wanted $15,000 to replace engine with no help from Ford at all even though the truck was only 9000 miles out of warranty. Not a happy Ford owner at all and he lives in Atlanta Georgia with not many options to consider. He was towing an rv when the engine blew up on the Ohio turnpike. One thing for sure, he will not be a repeat Ford truck owner. Ford loses again!
Who knows what happened to that Ford, but $15,000 to replace an engine (no doubt a rebuild) is just plain nuts. And it isn't just Ford, all these new pickup truck diesels cost about that much to replace. I just replaced a 6.0L in an older Chevy HD (lots of hard miles) with a factory GM rebuilt. Whole job came to less than $4500 and that includes a bunch of extra parts like motor mounts and hoses.
A diesel in their new half-ton would be great. I guess Isuzu don't want to play the halfton game with their duramax so GM had to look elsewhere for help. Ford engineers can build diesel engines, GM... well.
Posted by: Jackalope | Apr 1, 2012 2:03:27 PM
the 4.5 duramax all gm built in house for the half tons they just need to upgrade it for emissions and get their butt in gear throw them in the half tons.
@johhny doe. The diesels FORD are introducing in the Transit, will be a lot cheaper as a substantiational number have been sold already. That would not be the case with the 4.5 engine.
Yay I'm so excited!!! *sarcasm*
@Greg, you seem to be a Ford hater so what where you doing at a ford dealership, where you met this guy, he might not be telling you the who story either maybe he did not do a proper oil change and did not put the oil filter or cap back on correctly. At work we have a snowblower with a 12l cat motor that seized up after they struck a post with an oil filter and caused all the oil to drain out thats 10k worth of 12l short block new. I dont see how its 15k unless there is alot of labor costs accociated.
you seem to be a Ford hater so what where you doing at a ford dealership, where you met this guy, he might not be telling you the who story either maybe he did not do a proper oil change and did not put the oil filter or cap back on correctly. At work we have a snowblower with a 12l cat motor that seized up after they struck a post with an oil filter and caused all the oil to drain out thats 10k worth of 12l short block new. I dont see how its 15k unless there is alot of labor costs accociated.
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