New GM Interiors Will Set New Standard

Chevy-Silverado-interior II

Previous-gen interior above

The new interiors in the Chevrolet and GMC pickup trucks will be significantly upgraded and improved, says Helen Emsley, GM's interior director of design.

According to the Detroit News, Emsley says the trucks seemed to have a winning interior design about three years ago when there seemed to be a consensus between GM and non-GM truck owners. But she wanted to do more testing. The results produced even higher scores with some truck buyers, and changes were made to the gauges, the instrument panel and the bottom row of toggle switches. 

The article went on to say that GMC will use real aluminum inside its half-ton cabs and that seats will be offered in black, tan and gray fabrics that will last longer and resist staining. It is no secret the current-gen Chevy Silverado and GMC Sierra interiors have not held up, as they were originally designed to be more similar and consistent with their sibling full-size SUVs (the Chevy Tahoe and Suburban, as well as the GMC Yukon and Yukon XL). 

No word yet if either of the new GM siblings will be offering an upgraded high-zoot version of the Denali interior, which previously was the only premium package GM had to compete with the popular and profitable Ford Platinum, King Ranch, Harley Davidson or Limited packages, or the Ram 1500's Longhorn, Laramie or Laramie Limited. 

 

Comments

Though I'm curious to know what they are planning, I'll believe it when I see it.

I look forward to the new interior. From the spyshots we saw here awhile back it didn't look all that impressive though. Hopefully it was a scam or they changed it. Ford has had the King Ranch for like 13 years now and Chevrolet hasn't had anything to fight it with. Now Ford has the Platinum, Dodge has it's own Limited and both have a host of other packages. Chevy really needs to step it up this time because they missed the boat on this model.

They better do an excellent job as this was another area that I didn't like. My brother and a few friends with Chevy's that are similar in age to my truck prefer the comfort and layout of mine.

and that seats will be offered in black, tan and gray fabrics that will last longer and resist staining.

-That right there is big. I hate the cloth seats in my truck! They stain all the time from everything. And the lint they hold onto is a nightmare. I keep a roller with the sticky tape you use for pet hair just to keep my seats looking halfway usable. Whatever cheap fabric the used should be banned from all vehicles forever. A Denali in the Silverado would be good this time too. It needs that. I want leather in my next Chevy anyway.

Chevy and nice interiors do not belong in the same sentence. It's almost laughable. Good luck with that.

Chevy said the same thing when this came out and we all see how that ended. Like Lance said, I'll believe it when I see it.

seats, center console, doors, steering wheel, instrument cluster looks nice.. but damn it that dash ugly... it just looks... well.. flat.. 1980's?

@uh huh - the pic isn't of the new truck. It is the GMT900 interior.

Finally, GM is putting to bed the notion that their interiors are cheap plastic. I hear that all the time, and while it might have been true in the mid-90s, it's not true today. Great work!

I won't hold my breath, GM has never been great at interiors and they said they would be class leading last time, but then ended up looking like well a 1980's Buick.

Even though the interior of the Chevy's and GMC's of today are not as stylish as some would like, lets face it, looks are subjective, and every one is not going to like the same way any one thing will look like, and in saying that there is nothing at all wrong with the way these trucks look like inside and out, my truck is exactly what I like and 1/2 million folks feel the same way this yr alone, just like I dont like the looks of the tundra, some dont like the looks of the latest G/M trucks, there is something to be said of the materials used, but it works, and that is that, it seems like there are a lot more folks like the style of the American trucks, compared to the imports,either made here or abroad, the imports are sold on their reputations more than their looks, but the reputation of the domestics have risen very high as of late, but I have owned domestics for a long time now, and one toyota a long time ago, and I can honestly say the service in all have been fine, (with the exception of the ecco-boost), but it is my $$$. What GM does to the new trucks will have no relation on how the trucks work, that is all that matters to me!

more importantly than what it looks like, is it functional and does it have quality. my old 98 z71 used to shake and rattle at every bump. and the plastic was cheap and used to chirp. i know they have come a long ways, but my point still stands. and why does everyone complain about the interiors looks, is everyone clausterphobic?

Love how they copy Ram trucks design putting the shifter as a noob....can they try to come up with there own idea, Ram redesigns there interior and Gage's and everything then chevy copies them.....guess Chevy is looking up to Ram now not Ford

@DODGEGUY,

IT'S NOT A SHIFTER KNOB. Relax nobody is copying Ram, it's hard to emulate JUNK!

@Frank - I can see the recall notice now " Ram truck recall. Trucks crashing due to driver's tuning the radio. Driver's confuse shift nob with other dials".

Chev not copying anyone. Ford and Chevy 4x4 control dials are right of steering wheel. In this truck - below vent.

@DodgeGuy - all you Rambo Motard types need to realize that the long erect thing right of the steering wheel is the column shifter.
Nothing to fear.
I can tell from the quality of the Rambo Motard posts that they are used to playing with small nobs.
Ram is just giving you guys what you are used to using.

Hopefully it looks NOTHING like the interior pictured above.

GM, look at dodge and ford. Copy that then you have something that will compete.

@Dodge guy... obviously you dont have a clue what you are talking about... LOL that is the 4x4 control knob, and the shifter... well that would be the long lever on the right side of the steering wheel... and the fact that you think that this is the new interior (becuase they copied the ram shift dial/knob) says alot, as this is the 2007-13 lower level trim dash.. SLT, LTZ and Denali all have a signifigantly better looking dash... minus the 4x4 shift knob,auto climate control and the Nav this is the same dash in the work truck trim.

Toggle switches? I don't see a toggle switch in that picture. I see rockers and push button switches.

chevy never changes same oh junk year after year. chevy makes the ugliest vehicles and they are worthless

I guess we will all see what they are up to tomorrow morning when they unveil it. they are in need of some updates for sure.

Guys,
Check this video out. It's pretty cool. Chevrolet released it today.

http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/27671798

Let me know if you notice something out of the ordinary.

Sorry Dodge guys, but that shifter dial is dumb. It requires you to look at it to shift gears which will be annoying when up to or maneuvering a trailer. It seems very hokey.

In fact I find the console shifter in Fords a little annoying in that situation too.

Looks like a car dash to me...this must be the old.

@Gregory J. - I'm not sure exactly what you saw. 54 seconds into the video, the undercarriage shot shows the engine and exhaust routing. I haven't been under a newer Chev but the exhaust path looks different. Could this mean a turbo engine?

-3 lights flash on from the HID lights.
-The front chin spoiler sits very low.
-Bigger crewcab.
-6.5 box.
-telescopic camper mirrors.
-rear disc brakes

The instrument panel hump seems to be higher in this truck than in the spy pics.

@Gregory J - I forgot to mention:
1:35 there is an interesting tube outside of the frame.
1:54 into the video - the frame is different and there is an extra square tube frame along the top edge.

What have you seen?

The interior is why I bought my 07 Silverado, way better layout then a Ford or Dodge. And it seems we never hear anyone complain about a Tahoe interior. The real funny things is the door panel material and feel is just like the door panel on two woman at my work new cars, a Subaru and a Kia. Also they use the same black dash material with the brushed inserts. Its crazy they have both been in my pickup and made the comment on how close the material is.
So I think some people just like to complain. But Ford and Dodge people love to complain about things that really do not matter to them.

And I'm sure I'm not the only GM pickup owner on this site that really does not care what Ford or Dodge does now or the future. Nothing against them, both nice looking, good pickups. Smoked many of them at the lights.

Ford also has another trim line.
http://www.f150forum.com/members/gixx1k2-60119/albums/2010-f-150-bds-6-lift/41604-no-bailout-edition.jpg

I for one hope they come back with that classic 70's and 80's dash layout.

http://tinyurl.com/cr9l2uo

That will always look cool

Lou,
I also saw the tube outside of the frame. I can't think of what that could be. There isn't one under my truck. What could they run thru it? Testing wiring maybe? But the tube has barcode on it and what it seems like a part number or something.

The frame is almost unvisible from a side view. :52 sec

At :54 sec. you mentioned exaust routing being different. I noticed that too. What's weird about it is that it runs on the left side and the tank is on the right side. Mirror image? It seems like the truck just runs over the camera sitting on the ground.

At 1.04 they say 'Best in Class Towing'. Wonder what those figures will look like. They said it many times they will focus on performance not fuel economy.


Lou,
At 1.34 the entire truck goes airborne. SS in test?

Also noticed the truck has splash guards on front and back of rear wheel.

Front chin spoiler. I have one of those on my truck also. It seems low on my truck as well but never had any problems catching curbs. Very easly removable for off roading thou

Wouldn't you guys just want to tour some of those testing facilities? Or work there? Dream job.
It must be fun testing those vehicles.

I'm shopping for a new truck at this time, and I'm sure that nice interiors are a good thing, but I like to see a 2014 Silverado with an all-aluminum DOHC 32-valve VVT V8 under the hood and an eight-speed automatic coupled to it.

That holds a lot more of my interest than an old pushrod engine with a nice truck interior. Don't get me wrong, I think pushrod engines are fine for the Heavy Duty trucks like a 3/4 ton or 1-ton, but in the half-ton class I would like to see GM get on par with Ford if not the industry.

I looked at an F150 and RAM half-ton truck recently and drove a 2012 Tundra 5.7 Limited, and all of those trucks have nice interiors and the F150 and Tundra have really nice engines as well.

I'll take a modern engine like Tundra's or Ford's any day over a nice interior.

I'd rather take a reliable, efficiant, and powerful engine over any engine!
If engine is powerful enough, it wont bother me if it's a pushrod, but ugly interior will! don't matter what engine is.

How about a Dark Blue, Dark Brown or Dark Red Interior color?...I'm tired of the commercial "Gulag" Gray, and washed out Tan!!!...And a better selection of exterior colors would be nice...Take a look at the expansive Ford and Dodge pallete...My current Chevrolet truck is 4 years old, and will be looking for a new truck next year, if it's just the same old GM colors. I'll be looking elsewhere.

According to that video: More Power, More Efficient and Best in class towing.... Interesting.

Is a bench seat no longer a option or is the interior shown one of the seat arrangements?
Nice interior however.

(The article went on to say that GMC will use real aluminum inside its half-ton cabs.) That be nice, pretty much every one has nothing but color plastics. I like to see some type of metal used on the interiors like the old days.

Here's a sneak peak of the nose. Headlights look positively huge.


https://twitter.com/redriderbob/status/279186699177840640/photo/1

@Paul810 good find

Tube along the frame is just a wire harness with the typical plastic conduit shielding.

https://www.facebook.com/chevrolet

It looks ugly as heck.

Dave,
We all know you just like to disagree with anything Chevrolet.
Just give it up brother.

Gregory J. if you look hard you will see the muffler on the drivers side under the bed then you will see it under the passenger side under the bed but tailpipe is always out the passenger side... (different engines, turbo, diesel) and why is the crossmember for the t-case coverd with white shrink wrap?

The interior looks nice but why does GM always seem to ugly up the exterior?

Cheap crappy plastic and poor fit and finish should be the tagline! Are you serious? Ford's interiors are way more refined. GM needs a clue. I hate Dodge but even their interiors are better!

if it doesn't have the same room as the Ford truck, then I'm sorry. I have always had GM trucks, but I have purchased my first Ford a F450 and I'm not going back until I see GM offering the same or better interior space as the Ford offers

Can't GM do a better job than that on the interior? It still appears like cheap plastic and those vents look so 80's. Have the GM engineers even looked into a Ford interior?

i don't think the Chevy's interiors have been that bad, but the updates definitely boosts the standards.



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