Chevrolet Aims to Make Trucks Handsomer -- WSJ
January 16 2018 - 2:02AM
Dow Jones News
By Mike Colias
This article is being republished as part of our daily
reproduction of WSJ.com articles that also appeared in the U.S.
print edition of The Wall Street Journal (January 16, 2018).
DETROIT -- For decades, Toyota's Camry sedan has been a best
seller even though critics and even company executives described
its exterior as conservative, bland or boring. Designers at
Chevrolet were sick of hearing those same things said about their
Silverado pickup truck.
General Motors Co.'s main brand this weekend is revealing the
first new Silverado -- its top-selling U.S. vehicle and among the
highest-margin products in the auto industry -- in more than five
years. Tyler Moffett, the 32-year-old designer who hand-sketched
the design, already has heard comments that the truck has a
"squinty" face, even a steely, Clint Eastwood look.
"I love that," said Mr. Moffett, who grew up around Chevy trucks
owned by his dad's forestry business in Virginia. "It looks
serious, almost sinister, but still looks like a face of
experience. Like the most experienced farmer in the world, or
something."
Even as electric cars and autonomous vehicles gain increasing
attention, auto makers are set to show off new pickup trucks at the
Detroit auto show, which kicks off this weekend with media preview
events. GM rivals Ford Motor Co. and Fiat-Chrysler Automobiles NV
will show off new engines and body styles to keep an edge in a U.S.
pickup market that represents 17% of overall sales and substantial
portion of Detroit auto makers' profits.
Pickups routinely sell for more than $50,000, with interior
features and technology rivaling the highest-end products from
luxury makers. The average price of Ford's aluminum F-150, for
instance, is a segment-leading $45,000 even with incentives
factored in.
Car designers are known for using colorful analogies to describe
the lines and forms that go into a vehicle's look. The appearance
of the new Silverado has gotten outsize attention inside GM. When
executives last took the stage to unveil a new Silverado, in late
2012, the design was widely panned as staid.
Early in the planning for the new truck, GM's head of product
development, Mark Reuss, would often pop into the design studio in
suburban Detroit unannounced. "Guys, you can't go far enough," Mr.
Reuss said, according to lead exterior designer Rich Scheer.
In an interview, Mr. Scheer said he wanted "a departure" from
the boxy, geometric lines that characterize the current Silverado.
The new truck was designed to look "lean, muscular, sculpted." He
pointed out one crease in the sheet metal that plunges downward
from the front fender into the driver's side door. "It almost looks
like a muscle being pulled through," he said.
Subtleties like that might seem trivial to a non-truck buyer.
But pickup-truck owners are known as among the most loyal and
passionate of buyers. Car-research site Edmunds.com says 72% of
pickup truck buyers stick with a truck -- by far the highest
loyalty rate in the car business -- and most are fiercely loyal to
brands. Many families identify as Chevy or Ford or Dodge families,
going back generations.
That means GM's designers had to balance their desire for a more
striking design against the risk of alienating longtime
customers.
"God forbid if it looks anything like a Ford," Mr. Scheer
said.
The stakes are high. Silverado generates billions of dollars in
profit annually. Additional profit from other products that will
use the truck's same basic frame and underlying components --
including the GMC brand's version and SUVs like the Chevrolet
Suburban -- combine to contribute the majority of GM's global
annual profit, analysts estimate. GM earned $12.5 billion in
operating profit in 2016.
Write to Mike Colias at Mike.Colias@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
January 16, 2018 02:47 ET (07:47 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2018 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
General Motors (NYSE:GM)
Historical Stock Chart
From Apr 2024 to May 2024
General Motors (NYSE:GM)
Historical Stock Chart
From May 2023 to May 2024