Despite Chrysler, Ford and GM’s home country has an everlasting passion for pick-up trucks, it’s a very safe bet to assume that not all of their buyers really use all the potential they can offer, whether for hauling or towing stuff. Most of them don’t even need a pick-up truck at all, but they still buy them and at their full-size variations. And what would be the reason of that? Some will point liking their typical characteristics, such as the imponent looks or the powerful engines, but others will give a more obvious answer: today, in United States there are only full-size and heavy-duty new pick-ups. Since Chrysler and Ford dropped theirs as part of the plans to survive the crisis of 2008, GM decided now would be nice to give this market another shot.
For those who aren’t too interested in the car world, the new GMC Canyon is the latest result of a global project whose first appearance was made three years ago. That car was the Thai Chevrolet Colorado, which soon debuted in Brazil as S10 and in Australia under Holden. The following release was Isuzu D-Max in 2012, featuring some styling tweaks, and last year the North-Americans’s time arrived. Their Colorado brought much deeper changes, including exclusive industrial processes and powertrain options, and this was the “sister” on which GMC based itself to create Canyon’s second generation. In other words, the latter two share more between themselves than with any of the other trucks. Specially the willingness to steal buyers from the full-size pick-ups.
But if you think Canyon is just a copy of its Chevy counterpart with a more expensive price tag, you’re wrong. The new car takes inspiration from its GMC sisters, which makes it very elegant. Such big chrome accents help the front to look strong, while pairing it with the small, rectangular headlights leads to think of a reduced-scale Sierra. Like in most similar cases, the sides remained pretty much untouched, but the rear fascia received some elements of its own: the tailgate follows the lights’s shape, whose red section reminds of a telephone. Canyon will offer extended and crew cab options and two engines at the beginning: a 2.5L four-cylinder of 193 hp and a 3.6L V6 with 302 hp, always with a six-speed automatic transmission.
Besides, Canyon goes further with Colorado’s attempt of making compact pick-ups as sophisticated as their full-size siblings. Between standard and optionals, the new GMC’s equipment list can include heated leather seats, rear-bumper step, damped tailgate, power driver’s seat, infotainment system with 8” LCD touchscreen, 4G LTE connectivity and iOS integration and the All-Terrain package: similar to Colorado’s Z71, the latter adds on/off-road tires and an exclusive suspension tuning. After the official debut at the last Detroit Auto Show, Canyon will hit the streets this year’s third trimester. Later, the pick-up is expected to receive the options of diesel engine and manual gearbox.