Chicago Auto Show has this green theme. And Detroit's Big 3 wage war over other automakers is actually to prove that they are worthy of amassing praises concerning the production of environmentally friendly vehicles. But General Motors Corp. is putting more emphasis on the manufacture of green trucks.
At the prestigious auto show, GM will showcase two trucks and a crossover sport utility. However, the most captivating model, as anticipated, will be the Denali XT concept, a hybrid pickup truck. The low-slung muscular car-based concept which boasts of its green credentials will be displayed at the show this Wednesday.
GM's GMC brand has been tailored with a sophisticated expert pedigree. But in flaunting the Denali XT concept, the Detroit automaker intends to prove that are evolving with time. The venerable truck brand wants to prove that improvement never sleeps.
Warrack Leach, the Denali XT's lead designer, described it as a pickup for guys that pine for "a truck with badness but don't necessarily need a truck everyday." In other words, there are more things that the truck intends to offer. Fuel efficiency, improved power, better handling, superb ergonomics, and enhanced truck capabilities are just few of the features of the pickup truck concept.
The Denali XT's new 4.9-liter version of the automaker's V8 features fuel injection and active fuel management, which when mated with the two-mode hybrid system and E85 ethanol capability, delivers a 50 percent raise in fuel economy over similar small pickup trucks. Another milestone about the truck concept is the coupling of the automaker's two-mode hybrid system with an E85 ethanol-capable engine. The concept's new small-block V-8 features fuel-injection and active fuel management.
The truck is derived from the automaker's Zeta rear-wheel drive architecture that serves as the underbelly for the new Pontiac G8 sedan and the upcoming Chevy Camaro. It was designed and constructed by GM's Holden unit in Australia, where the notion of a modern truck that blends fuel efficiency, sports car handling and function, picture a weekend camping and racing across the dunes of the Outback - is more commonly embraced, reported The Detroit News.
Shoppers shift to small and fuel-efficient cars continues. As such, automakers are worried about the sales of their gas-sipping huge vehicles. GM was also worried. This is why the largest American automaker decided to tweak its truck DNA a bit rather than lose a significant slice of the market.
With the launch of the Denali XT pickup truck concept, the Detroit automaker aims to further burnish its truck DNA to lure event the generation Y of drivers.
