Everybody who obsesses over automobiles knows that the redesigned Chevrolet Silverado is a hideous monstrosity with a disgustingly small four-cylinder engine as its base powerplant. At least that’s the gist among automotive journalists. While yours truly doesn’t understand how anyone could claim that GMC’s new Sierra boasts the more-attractive mug, both ended up with mildly disappointing interiors and a ride that’s not quite on par with their domestic rivals — especially the Silverado.
Shade has been thrown and the public has responded by buying fewer full-size trucks from Chevy, forcing it to give up its second place sales ranking to Ram. However, General Motors seems to think the issue has been overblown and only represents a temporary setback.
“Given our limited availability, we deliberately launched with a really high mix in trims,” GM President of the Americas, Barry Engle, told Automotive News earlier this month. “But as we get broader availability and get the full portfolio out there, we’ll be just fine.”
That translates into increasing annual capacity of heavy-duty models by 40,000 and the 1500 by 20,000. In fact, the automaker recently announced it would be investing $150 million into Flint Assembly for just that reason.
However, General Motors doesn’t actually need those pickups to take its number two sales slot back from Ram because it technically never lost it. Assuming you take the Sierra into account, the General is still holding onto its silver medal. But Fiat Chrysler’s truck division is still out for blood. Average incentive spending for the Silverado and Sierra have been about $500 less than Ram throughout 2019 but $1,500 more than the Ford’s F series, which remains America’s best-selling pickup.
From Automotive News:
Ram has beaten the Silverado in nine of the past 10 months, according to U.S. sales estimates from the Automotive News Data Center that have been validated by GM’s quarterly reports. The Ram has outsold the Silverado by 36,619 since the latest Silverado 1500 hit dealerships in August and holds a lead of nearly 22,000 five months into 2019.
Including the GMC Sierra 1500, which was also redesigned at the same time, GM’s full-size pickup share was down 3 percentage points in the first five months of 2019 compared with the same period a year earlier.
With the Sierra, GM remains in second place in the full-size segment, behind Ford Motor Co.
But GM executives insist the shake-up in a closely watched battle with major image and profit implications isn’t a sign of trouble. They say the trucks’ launch is going as planned and that GM is focused on profits, not market share.
“We’ve got a plan,” Engle said. “We’re in this for the long haul.”
That certainly sounds like low-grade chicanery but Engle noted that GM also hasn’t been selling its redesigned pickups to fleet customers in significant volumes and has only just started rolling out HD and lower-priced models. While the wording makes us wonder if the automaker just wants to downplay this whole thing, it also makes a decent counterargument. Ram may not have the mojo to beat GM or even Chevrolet on a longer timeline, especially not if people keep buying pickups with High Country and Denali at the end of their names.
[Image: General Motors]
What, me worry?
Poised for a comeback = poised for 0/84 financing and discounts of $20,000+
There’s a reason why the RAM displaced the Silverado; when similarly priced and equipped the 2019 RAM has better ride, better handling, better interiors and better content than the 2019 Silverado.
My best friend is still in the process of buying a new 4-door halfton truck. His wife prefers the 2019 Silverado. He’s gravitating towards the 2019 RAM. I went along as he test-drove both the Silverado and the RAM.
I am still steering him towards a Tundra because of my own excellent experiences, and all this has him undecided and delaying his purchase until the 2020 models come out. He already knows how the Tundra rides and handles — he borrowed mine enough.
Were I pressed to buy a new halfton today, it could be a toss-up between the Tundra and the RAM, with the RAM having the smoother ride and the Tundra the better engine, 10.5-inch ring gear and refined 6-piston floating calipers.
I just went through this process about 6 weeks ago. Looked at just about every new domestic truck on the market (Ram, Colorado, Silverado, Ranger, and F-150). I can echo highdesert in regards to the Ram and it is what I put my hard earned dollars towards.
The Silverado was a huge let down in terms of refinement and features vs. price. I did like the Colorado but prices were not far off from the Ram and the interior/ride and overall NVH blew it out of the water.
The F-150 was a runner up and might have been in my driveway had Ford been equal price wise. As everyone knows, Ford does not need to throw $$$ at them to make them sell. Had I planned to keep this truck more than 3 years, the aluminum body here in the great white north and the overall power vs. MPG with the 2.7 ecoboost may have won over the Ram’s better ride and interior.
The Tundra is a relic from 2006 – nothing on it is better than the new Ram. It came out swinging in the mid 2000’s, got KO’d and Toyota stopped pouring money into it because it was a lost cause.
We have a new Silverado and Sierra in our company fleet. Both are LT or equivalent trim levels. I don’t like the looks of either one of them. The 2016 Silverado in the fleet is much better looking to me anyway. My personal 2009 Silverado crew is a cleaner design in my opinion. And my 94 Silverado ext. cab looks better than any of them.
Yes! Make Chevy great again! Bring back the 94 style Silverado. I’d love to find a clean, gently used one for a reasonable price. They are out there but the problem is I dont want to spend 6-8 thousand for a 20+ year old truck.
Meanwhile, at the GM design studios executives are hurriedly reviewing proposals for the accelerated refresh…
I honestly think, and nobody can convince me otherwise, that GM went full d’bag on the design assuming their customers wanted something as obnoxious as possible. I am pleasantly surprised that some dont. Maybe some people truly want a truck for practical reasons and not just to be a menace to society. I love having my faith in humanity restored at times. Warms my heart.
In the past when profit was low: We’ll make it up in volume.
Now, since volume is low: We’ll make it up in profits.
The Bulgemobile came to life… as a truck!
That truck is so ugly it’d make a freight train take a dirt road and I ain’t lyin’.
Up here, Rams rust through on the wheel arches in just a few years. Losing to those guys is a real fail.
Hate to say but they all do. In fact the big trucks all rot at a pace that makes sprinter vans look rust resistant. At lease the steel truck anyway. The alum ones just randomly shed paint.
My 99 S10 lasted 15 yrs in N. Indiana before rust through. These recent Rams look to be about 20% of that.
A few years is being dramatic. My neighbor is full of trucks from the late 2000s to brand new and I see plenty of similar vintage Chevys rusting out the rear wheel wells as bad as the Rams. Ford’s aren’t immune to it either although they seem to rot faster along the rockers and cab corners vs the wheel wells.
A few years is being dramatic. My neighborhood is full of trucks from the late 2000s to brand new and I see plenty of similar vintage Chevys rusting out the rear wheel wells as bad as the Rams. Ford’s aren’t immune to it either although they seem to rot faster along the rockers and cab corners vs the wheel wells.
Nothing rusts faster than a GM truck here in MN, even late model ones – although 09-14 Ford Crew cabs come close. Hard to find one of those with clean cab corners. That generation of F150 seems to rust really fast.
RAM’s rust too, but have been much improved since about 2009. RAM has included wheel well liners on their trucks for several years now and that’s been a big help.
A little wheel lip or tailgate lip rust is just cosmetic.
The Chevrolet Frame Rust(TM) problem is freaking EPIC. Last I heard they still hadn’t gotten away from wax-coating the frames instead of something as advanced as within the last century.
But, y’know, frames are so hard to see it’s hard to rag on them…
If auto journalists think that their criticism of the styling of this truck makes a material difference to its sales, I think they are out of touch.
I just got done reading the article on Automotive News a few minutes ago. The AN story has a small graphic depicting the Silverado slide of 170,00 units vs. Ram since 2015. Those numbers represent a huge swing. That ain’t no remedy that fleet sales or more Trail Boss trim levels will fix.
A couple weeks ago, I wondered why Mary Barra was making a significant photo op over a $150M investment in the Ft. Wayne plant? I punched some numbers.
Comparing GM’s annual sales to the $150M investment is literally like my company talking about an investment in a used, 10-year old forklift! Today’s story about the Silverado sales slide explains why the big deal about the Barra photo op.
Interesting perspective. It would be nice to see a greater percentage of assembly coming out of the Ft. Wayne plant instead of out of Old Mexico.
I hear Ford thinks it’s gorgeous and is thrilled with Chevy’s sales position
“We’ve got a plan”
Translated: “Our designers are working on a new nose for this beast. Will be available next year.”
Trust the Plan. apparently Q is now in charge of GM Marketing
On one hand, any plan coming out of Ren Cen has got to be closely aligned with the “16 year plan to destroy America.”
OTOH, it’s a safe bet you’ll see a new Silverado before you see Hillary in an orange jumpsuit or Obama claiming his Kenyan citizenship.
It’s a face only a blind mother on LSD could love. How does one take a rolling box and beat it with such an ugly stick?
It’s the Sloth from Goonies.
6.2L as $500 option across the entire spectrum of trucks and I’ll believe it, anything short of that is another dumb GM move that will make the situation worse as usual.
Do they upsize the transmission and rear axle with the 6.2? I’d guess the mfg cost difference in between the engines (vs the 5.3) is trivial.
You know you speak of that rear end and you may be right, I can’t remember offhand but it rings a bell. Trans I believe is different but my understanding is that they plan to put everything on that 10 speed so it would be moot at that point.
You can only sell junk to people for so long before they learn and stop buying, even among the morons who pass for people today.
Is that front end a joke? It looks like the Family Truckster from those National Lampoon movies.
Yes! The double tiered headlights, nailed it
When car execs or politicians claim the other side is doing something nefarious, you can bet they were planning to do the exact same thing and were disappointed in being second. When they make excuses, out comes the misdirection portfolio of unctuous executive statements with fake confident stances at the mic and painted-on smiles all around.
They need to figure out how to give a modern truck the looks of the old C/K trucks.
Wow, just realized their best looking truck was over three decades ago. Yikes!
Just saw my first one on the road today. Horrid. Bring back the squarebody!
Dubious excuse making. I see truckloads of these every day coming west from Fort Wayne toward Chicago and there is a healthy mix of high and low trims on the transporters. Unless they mean to tell me that all the High Countrys go east and south, then I’m skeptical.
CobraJet and Hummer are spot on.
Many truck buyers want a beefy V8, without having to pay $50k (MSRP, before haggling and rebates). Ram offers that.
As to GM’s public comments, they come across as legit—and self-serving. Time will tell.
As noted, Ram has been growning–mostly at GM’s expense. That trend is hard to reverse. And now there are THREE Ram plants–eventually the 3rd one will run right. (GM has three also).
BUT, if GM’s transaction prices are that much higher, GM is in a better place. I’m skeptical of this data though—how good is it? I bet Ford’s transact prices are higher. But then, Ford’s truck cost more to make (Turbo; aluminum). I think they offer no useful benefit, but I’m not a truck person, and the market seems to approve, as Ford is now solidly number one. I remember when GM (Chevy PLUS GMC) used to outsell Ford. It really wasn’t so long ago….
So, GM has the best engines–but overcharges for them. All the trucks are ugly now–in my opinion at least–the last one that I liked where the 2007-13 Chevy, but still it was not a Ferrari by any means.
I guess the big question is: How much truck-making capacity does each of the Detroit three have? What percent do they each use? Whoever is doing 100% or more is doing the best.
Aluminum bodies will affect future used prices. A 10 year old aluminum F150 will be higher priced than a rusty 10 year old GM – and it will move off the lot faster.
You’ll see a lot more aluminum used in other brand trucks soon. First GM mocked the tailgate step, then they made one too. Good ideas get used by all.
On one hand, it isn’t an attractive vehicle.
On the other hand, 400CI V8.
Eagerly awaiting Ford’s 7.3 numbers…
Count me among those who bolted. When it came time to trade my ‘15 Silverado, that new design sent me packing to Ford.
Since no one else has said it fact is Ram has posting the numbers they are thanks to a two truck strategy. They have the Classic they are giving away cheap. They have boosted the new truck numbers by pushing them out as used trucks. They have offered big incentives for dealers that purchase the trucks for their loaner fleets and then another payment when they put them up for sale as used in a month or two. https://www.autonews.com/sales/behind-rams-big-month-7500-payout-dealers-buy
GM has been limiting fleet sales as they ramp up so that is behind some of their loss which Ram is happy to pick up with their Classic.
POS Hideous Rolling Dumpster Fire filled with lowest cost bidder Chinese parts!
Guangzhou-Guadalajara Silverado Chinesium edition!
Ford F Series has 88% USA fabricated parts and is assembled in the USA, and is superior in looks, interior quality, work abilities, exterior quality, durability, reliability, ride quality, ergonomics, performance, serviceability, etc, etc, etc than Chinarado/Mexirado.
RAM has 78% USA fabricated parts and is assembled in the USA, and is superior in looks, interior quality, work abilities, exterior quality, durability, reliability, ride quality, ergonomics, performance, serviceability, etc, etc, etc than Chinarado/Mexirado.
Guangzhou-Guadalajara Motors (GM) has the balls to brag about how much Chinesium-grade parts it
puts into its decontented/hollowed out, overpriced POS Mexirado/Chinarado, shafting its core customers, and now they’re bringing out LAME A$$ excuses as to why RAM is killing them (and will continue to eat their lunch for many years).
Guangzhou-Guadalajara Motors (GM) is in melt down mode with it losing market share at a rapid clip in the two areas that kept the lights on at the RenCen, pickup trucks and SUVs; GM now has total $hit pickup trucks and SUVs.
Mary Barra is a total loser who has been allowed to skate this far only because she’s a woman.
“I don’t give ’em Hell, I give ’em the Truth and it hurts like Hell”
Harry Truman
“Guangzhou-Guadalajara Silverado Chinesium edition!” <<—- this ✔
"Mary Barra is a total loser who has been allowed to skate this far only because she’s a woman." <<——cold. hard. truth.
Speaking of “melt down” mode, my friends 6 month old F 150 did just that a couple of weeks ago on I 20 just west of Fort Worth…no warning, no prior issues or odors that may have signaled a fire…it simply burst into flames behind the driver seat…proof that aluminum bodies do melt…
His replacement truck is a 2500 Ram…
One of the Ram assembly plants is in Mexico (is it Saltillo?).
Has been for a while.
“than the Ford’s F series, which remains America’s best-selling pickup”
The F-Series is not a pickup.
And GM should be terrified. The new Ram 1500 is, by far, the best pickup sold today. It makes the Silverado/Sierra and especially the F150 look like wooden lumber wagons. Same for the HD models.
“The F-Series is not a pickup.”
Riiiiight….
Show me a window sticker for a 2019 Ford F-Series. Show me a repair manual for a 2014 Ford F-Series. Show me a parts list for a 2008 Ford F-Series.
I’ll wait.
Is a hair still a hair when it’s split, or does it become a demi-hair?
Song remains the same. The Silverado is a “series” too, except every truck in the series goes by “Silverado”.
Ram too. And it’s “F-series”, not “F-Series”.
Ram is an excellent truck (series), and disappointed GM fanboys hate Ford. So there’s Ram.
If Ram stepped it up a bit, (quite a bit), and built exclusively in the US, Ford would be in some trouble. For now, just cannibalizing hell out of GM is good.
F-Series.
Repeating it endlessly doesn’t make it so, No one but you is calling “F-serie” a single truck or only one class.
By the same, no one is claiming “Silverado” or “Ram” are each just one truck or class.
So what part of “series” don’t you understand? What about “TV series”? Is that just one episode?
Would you stop sniveling if they changed it to F-group?
They, as is Ford, are moving their truck plant back to the USA…Ram will be built at their old Hamtramick, MI plant that is undergoing massive updating…
GM can easily redesign the ugly front end but fixing the poor ride quality is probably not in the cards. Given that most customers use pickup trucks as family vehicles will place this truck out of consideration.
This reminds me of three middle school boys standing around with a tape measure.
GM has long been expected to mail it in on everything that isn’t a truck, and they do, but when did they get so half-assed about their bread and butter? The GMT900 was a clear step up over Ford and Dodge of 2006-08. The K2xx was at least competitive out of the gate. This new one doesn’t have a single gotta-have-it over its own predecessor let alone the real competition and it’s an absolute eyesore to boot.
Well, I really like that multi-function tailgate that GMC offers.
The GM trucks aren’t attractive but I honestly don’t think they are any worse looking than the Ford, Ram, Toyota, or Nissan. It’s just an ugly vehicle segment right now IMO. My biggest problems with the GM offerings are the price-inflating option packages and the 6.2L paywall (along with the overall weakness of the volume 5.3L versus the competition).
Was just behind somebody in a mid-1990s Silverado. Had a sticker in the window saying it had done 100,000 miles. Is this an accomplishment for GM?
If this was a mid-’90s Silverado it was a GMT400 and 100k miles is about 1/3 of the expected lifetime (excluding the body rotting off from corrosion in the salt belt). I’d call it an expected accomplishment.
My 94 Silverado has 200,000 miles. I’ll admit that at 150,000 miles, the engine developed some clatter on start-up. It was running fine, but I wanted to have it absolutely reliable so I had the GM dealer drop in a new crate 350 engine. The transmission and rear end have never been touched. In fact it still has the original shock absorbers.
Where I live winter salt use is not an issue. The truck has no rust anywhere and the original paint is still good. It is kept in the garage.
I like the Silverado style. The problem is that it should be 80-90% the size. The Trail Boss in particular looks great, except the entire truck looks like a monster.
Beyond that, wasnt it here at TTAC a post or discussion that GM was bragging they figured out how to get basically double the margin of Ford on their new trucks?
Well….apparently it shows. Good job guys. You didn’t even get 1 year of fooling the customer. Bravo. Apparently all they have to do is get in one (terrible interior) and take a test drive (bad ride) and they’re off to the Ford or RAM store where at least your money gets you a superior vehicle instead of pleasing GM’s financial department.
Really, I’ve said it many times. I want GM to do well. But I honestly can’t believe how often it feels like they are sitting pretty, on a gold mine, have the opportunity to make an impact and instead lay down a bunt. All car companies make errors as they go along, but with GM it just seems like they aim for just-not-quite-good-enough, and then nail that target every time.
Cadillac is another good example. I swear Cadillac still has a name, even after 40 years of mostly poor product. Bring out a CT6 flagship and its nice, but not a Cadillac. I don’t work at GM but I honestly believe with that brand they could easily get away with an uber-expensive, decked out to the 9’s fanciest everything interior, superb V8 engine etc and people would snatch it up. The world loves Cadillac still…they just want a genuine Cadillac.
Anyway, point being is that now that they’ve apparently carved/cheapened out their passenger car line (we have big margins tho!) now the trucks are up to bat.
I’m a long time truck buyer, and I’ve gone through 5 Diesel Super Duties and 2 F150’s in the last 15 years.
My last F150 was a 2017 Lariat…I sold it after 90 days because the seats became too much to live with. 30 minutes and I could barely walk. They were as hard as a brick, and my 5 minute test drive didn’t trigger me. Ford trucks had always been very comfortable to me, and I wasn’t expecting anything to be different on my 2017.
I had an upholstery shop take the seat apart to add foam…and it’s obvious that when Ford decided to take weight out of them with the aluminum bodies they also included thinning down the seats. Maybe 1/4″ of light foam on top of the heated seat plastic grill.
I say this to point out why I think RAM is doing so well. I recently went truck shopping, and no-kidding the RAM interiors are TEMA to GM’/Ford’s Soviet era Eastern Bloc sea of gray plastic. The RAM Rebel interior is amazing.
Plus, the RAM seats are incredibly comfortable. It’s easy to see which company is spending money the right way. Unless you are blinded by brand loyalty or have major local dealer issues, RAM wins hands down.
For me, the Tundra is ancient, and doesn’t do well in current crash tests. Plus I’ve had 2 friends that had new Tundras with major failures while towing small trailers. (one had ring gear failure in diff. the other a broken piston ring)
I tried out a new Titan. They have the “Zero-Gravity seats” which felt pretty good but not as good as the RAM. The Titan also has a better warranty, which I guess they really need. But, I can’t deal with the way they look. It’s like there were 2 design committees, one for the front half of the truck and one for the back half. For me, a fail.
I never thought I would see the day that I would rank an FCA product #1 in anything truck related, but that day is here for me.
A friend of mine got his wife a Ram Rebel a couple of weeks ago, and it’s great. A big step up over the GM trucks, mid and lower trim anyway. My last truck was a 2003 Ram 1500 4×4 and I loved it. It’s still running around fine, but there is a pretty heavy amount of rust on it. The guy who bought it after the trade in says it’s not had any major issues with the exception of a water pump going bad at 110K and then again at 150K miles. Original engine, transfer case and the same rear end that was replaced at 7k in 2003. I miss that truck every winter.
This is about the ugliest truck ever made. The new Ram just looks a lot better with a better interior. This is coming from a long time Chevy owner whose parents owned several Chevrolets as well. At the very least improve the front of this truck. Ram deserves the No 2 spot over the Silverado, they earned it.
I think GM and Chevy executives are drinking some bomb ass kool aid or something of a strong denial drank because the Silverado has the worst looking interior out of the Ram and F150. It’s like Chevy doesn’t care to out do itself not blow away its competition. I’m not really a GM fan persay, I do love their old stuff from the 40’s-60’s when they truly were an innovative company and built quality vehicles, but in the last 30 years, GM continues to build “just good enough vehicles” while it’s competition surpasses them with each new generation.
The only platform that they built that was actually really good was it’s Epsilon II platform which consists of the current gen XTS, Impala and Lacrosse.
As a current owner of a 17 Impala it has been a great car so far. No issue or anything negative to report. But I believe it’s still the best looking and driving sedan Chevy has made in decades and that’s why I bought it.
The Malibu is crap, with a cheap interior and a stiff ride, and that stupid auto stop start feature sucks since you can’t turn it off.
The Cruze is also garbage, my GF has 2012 Cruze and the head gasket blew at a 120,000 miles, it has all kinds of cooling issues with the engine.
And coolant continues to disappear even after the head gasket was replaced and other components. I had a Colorado as a work truck from my previous job, also another cheap quality crappy truck with that puny 4 banger that struggles to go up hills. Hard plastic interior, that creaks and easily gets scuffed up.
Hopefully GM realizes it’s half ass attempts at everything it does and gets trashed in sales. Only focusing on SUV’s and Trucks just like Ford is a really risky business decision that I personally feel will hurt the company in the long run. I can see why they pulled out of the sedan market, there cars are simply not competitive. Sure they’re a lot better compared to what they were making in the 90’s- early 2000’s, but the competition is building better cars especially the Koreans which honestly are making better looking cars that are very attractive and stylish while GM is designing these cookie cutter cartoon looking cars and horrifying trucks.
Even as a die hard Cadillac fan, I am extremely frustrated and disappointed with what Cadillac is currently doing. It’s all bad.
nice post, good read. thanks!
The one thing GM got right was the new Impala and the Lacrosse but one is being discontinued and the other is already discontinued. Both cars are excellent. The Chevy Colorado is a decent truck even with all the plastic in the interior. This new Silverado is a huge disappointment for such an important product to GM’s bottom line.