Automotive Trends

The upcoming 2024 Chevrolet Silverado EV has the potential to be one of the key vehicles that helps transition the industry towards electrification. With Ford’s full-size F-150 winning the sales crown decade after decade, the electrified trucks likely have the best chance of success to sell in large volume. Taking a significantly different approach than Ford’s F-150 Lightning, the Silverado EV shares pretty much only the name with its conventional internal combustion counterpart. Plenty has already been written about vehicle range and how the F-150 and Silverado EV stack up towards one another. What we’d like to focus on is what a dramatic shift this EV’s styling is for Chevy trucks.  Read more…

Chevrolet surprised us with a reveal of the 2019 Silverado even though we are still a couple weeks away from the North American International Auto Show and it is still only 2017. If there are any surprises with this design it is that the bowtie brand continues to gravitate back toward its milestone 1988-98 truck design. The two tiered grille remains, but the body sides appear to attempt some stylistic connection to the passenger car line within the brand. This is the new Trail Boss trim so it will be interesting to see what variations in the styling are featured among the typical myriad of trim levels. Read more…

Tweaking the Silverado Recipe

The recipe to building pickups used to be an easy one. Add a powerful engine to a well-baked frame that can haul a lot of stuff while towing a trailer safely and you could reliably find some farmers or tradesmen who would keep coming back for another serving every few years. But palates have changed and increasingly the stuff pickups are tasked with hauling is passengers, which is the only way to explain why the Silverado we just sampled does a convincing job of a luxury sedan with an open trunk. How else can you explain the need for LED lights, wireless phone charging, ventilated front seats and an 8″ touch screen in a pickup? Those are some flavorful modifications to a basic recipe. Lucky for you, dear readers, your AT Editors are always hungry and willing to sample the best a company can cook up. Read more…

“All New!  Sensibly Sized!” 

It happens to nearly every automaker. It begins by offering a successful car in a relatively standard package. When it comes time to replace that model in the automaker’s lineup the call goes out to make the next model have more interior space, more cargo room and more power. That newer model becomes more successful than the first. Subsequent generations continue the pursuit of ‘more is better’. Then, gradually and almost without notice, buyers start to wonder “what if there were a vehicle just a bit smaller, more nimble, more compact, and more efficient than this?” The automaker responds with an “All New!  Sensibly Sized!” new model that slots in where the original model was once targeted. This is the story of the 2015 GMC Canyon and its near twin, the Chevrolet Colorado.  Read more…

Ever since splitting off from Dodge in 2009, the Ram team has been working hard to establish itself as a stand alone brand. The new Ram Rebel furthers that cause. There is no mistaking this truck for anything but a Ram with its enormous lettering on the tailgate that reminisces of the days when pickup trucks had their brand names stamped into their tailgates. The grille ditches the long standing Dodge and Ram crosshair grille with a turned lower lip that looks oddly similar to a 1955 GMC truck (trust us, the similarity is uncanny). It may borrow its looks from an old GMC truck, but the Rebel borrows its names from a couple of old AMC products. Don’t be fooled by its overtly off road appearance; Ram isn’t attempting to go head-to-head with Ford’s ambitious Raptor. In fact the Rebel is available in 4×2 or 4×4 configurations. The Rebel utilizes FCA’s naturally aspirated 3.6-liter Pentastar V6, with air suspension, 33-in tires, factory lift kit, skid plates and tow hooks as standard. Since the Rebel borrows the Ram Power Wagon’s wheel arches it becomes apparent that this pickup is not meant to be a fully unique product, but rather one that offers a series of features in a tidy off-road package. Offered only as a crew cab model with the 5-ft. 7-inch bed, the Rebel gives one the choice of ugrading from the V6 to a 5.7-liter HEMI. Though much is borrowed on the Rebel, it seems there is a cause for this truck: off-road style.

The big guns don’t get any bigger than the F-150. Just consider that it’s been the best selling vehicle in America for decades and represents a majority of Ford’s profits through the years and you’ll understand why it’s absolutely critical that Ford deliver an outstanding lineup that will last 6-8 years against relentless competition. Ford has done just that by pushing the boundaries of manufacturing to make nearly all of the F-150’s body out of aluminum contributing to a massive 700 pound weight reduction compared to the outgoing model. With more high strength steel in the chassis Ford will deliver a more efficient truck that offers even greater capacity for hauling and towing. Powertrain engineers were also hard at work developing a new 2.7-liter Ecoboost V6 to slot in as a mid-range engine above the naturally aspirated base V6. Although power output was not announced, Ford assures us it will compete favorably with competitor’s small V8s while returning far better mileage. The interior hasn’t been overlooked either with improved materials, helpful new apps on the infotainment system to aide in towing and off-roading, and an enormous glass roof to bring an open, airy feel to the crew cab interior. With handsome new looks derived from last year’s Atlas Concept we expect Ford’s big gun to keep firing with all barrels.

Big Ol’ Honking Pickup Truck

     We tried to lead with something more insightful, but that is pretty much the best way to describe the third-generation Toyota Tundra. It’s big. Very big. Every aspect of it seems purposely designed to out-scale the domestic competition once and for all. In fact, I don’t think the pictures do it justice (and I took the pictures!) It almost has the look and feel of a three-quarter-ton Ford Super Duty. It’s as if Toyota overshot the half-ton class and landed in a five-eighths-ton class of one. Clearly this Tundra makes up for Toyota’s last two half-hearted foray’s into the full-size pickup realm with girth to spare. But there is more to being a successful pickup truck than size. Has Toyota done their homework? Read more…

Eat My Soot-Free Ammonia-Treated Exhaust!

       Talk about your one-up! Starting this week Ford will step out from behind that shadow the General was casting with its 6.6L Duramax V8. Ford’s new 6.7L V8 PowerStroke turbodiesel says I’ll see your 397-hp and 765 lb-ft of torque, and raise you to 400-hp and 800 lb-ft of torque. Ah, horsepower wars at their finest! Read more…

     Years ago, new pickup trucks had incredibly long life cycles. Ford, Chevy and Dodge would come up with new designs, then let them age for nearly a decade before they made any major changes.
     Truck makers don’t have that luxury anymore. Read more…

Slick Sierra

    We feel sorry for the Dodge salesman stuck peddling Ram pickups in today’s market. Aside from some small updates along the way the Ram hasn’t had much to write home about since the current generation debuted with the famous Hemi V8 back in 2001.
     Sure, the sales guys can still say our truck has a Hemi, but the window sticker says it’ll require 13 miles per gallon in the city and 17 miles per gallon on the highway. That’s pretty thirsty in today’s world of $3-a-gallon gasoline. Besides, even if a prospective customer can overlook the thirsty engine and tired styling there’s no getting past the interior, which is a rolling exhibition of the plastic automakers should never use. It’s really rather awful. Read more…