GM: "We told ya so on small pickups"

[LittleLebowski]

Article on the GMC Canyon/Chevy Colorado's success and the rebound of small to mid size trucks. I cannot stand GM for their quality in the 90's but this truck has me tempted. It would be a done deal if I could get the V6 with a stick shift but they do not offer that.

http://www.autonews.com/article/2015...emplate=mobile

That's how many of the pickups GM was estimated to have sold this year through October, surpassing experts' full-year sales estimates in just 10 months. (IHS Automotive had pegged 81,000 for all of 2015.) They're getting snapped up nearly as fast as they arrive, with virtually no incentives. And customers tilt younger, more highly educated and more urban than Chevy's other pickup buyers.

So far, Reuss and other GM execs are entitled to a collective "told ya so" on one of the industry's most closely watched gambits in recent years.

Skeptics wondered why GM thought consumers would want a smaller pickup. After all, customers had been voting with their wallets for more than a decade (the market for smaller pickups has shrunk by nearly 80 percent since 2000).

The success of the Colorado and Canyon suggests buyers simply weren't being given enough compelling reasons before to consider a smaller pickup. Chevy reconfigured the Colorado as a feature-packed lifestyle vehicle for surfers and cyclists, with wireless connectivity and an Apple CarPlay infotainment interface. The Canyon was given the same goodies but with a brawnier look to appeal to more traditional pickup buyers.

[farscott]

I find it funny how the market for small pickups has shrunk by 80 percent since 2000. Partially that is because the Big 3 pretty much stopped updating and then making small trucks. The small trucks were and are in high demand as I learned when I sold my 2008 Ford Ranger to buy a 2014 Fusion. I sold the Ranger for $2300 less than I paid for it, and it had well over 75,000 miles at the time of sale. There is plenty of demand for a good small truck but not many offerings. I still miss the my 2001 Ranger with the five-speed standard. That little truck averaged 25 mpg while allowing me to handle most of my hauling needs. Occasionally I would borrow my FIL's full-size C/K.

And I am still waiting for the four-cylinder diesel that was supposed to go in the now-cancelled North American Ranger. Or for Ford to redo the Ranger platform that dates back to the UPN-105 design effort of the early 1990s. The fear is that Ranger sales would cannibalize the larger and much more profitable F-series sales.

[MGW]

It's hard to beat Toyota for a small truck. I wish they weren't so damn expensive although my '05 Tundra has a lot of years left in it.

I wish they would figure out a way to put their small diesel in one. I would be okay with them pulling a Vdub to get it done.

[LittleLebowski]

It's hard to beat Toyota for a small truck. I wish they weren't so damn expensive although my '05 Tundra has a lot of years left in it.

I wish they would figure out a way to put their small diesel in one. I would be okay with them pulling a Vdub to get it done.

GM does have a diesel small truck now, just in case you want to look beyond Toyota. I understand if you do not.

[JodyH]

There is no "beyond Toyota"...
'02 Taco for life!

[JDM]

There is no "beyond Toyota"...
'02 Taco for life!

And here we see the most important post ever made on this forum.

[babypanther]

I miss my '01 double cab Taco daily.

[JDM]

The only purchase I've ever made in my life that actually mattered was in October of 2012. I bought a 2000 five speed 4WD 4Runner with 50,110 miles on it. I intend to drive this truck until it is in pieces. Small pieces.

[Peally]

If I ever buy a vehicle off a lot it'll be a medium truck. I simply have no real need for a full size.

[Dagga Boy]

Those are all really cute......maybe I'll get one for my daughter.