By Edward Niedermeyer
May 9, 2008 -
Big trucks have meant big profits for Detroit. Thanks to cheap oil, personal paranoia, a desire for an outdoor life that only the drudgery of daily commuting could provide, the fairer sex' natural desire to see ten miles ahead at all times and a federal fuel economy regulation loophole big enough to drive an Expedition through, The Big 2.8 managed to convince Americans that body-on-frame vehicles were just dandy for personal transportation. With gas price increases showing no signs of slowing, one of Detroit's biggest truck chassis addicts is looking at kicking the habit. Bloomberg reports that GM, yes GM, is developing a lighter replacement for its biggest SUVs (Yukotahburbelade) that won't tow jack shit rely on a heavier pickup-truck frame. This, according to "people familiar with the effort." (Familiarity breeds PR.) It should be said (and soon will be) that GM has been relying on the same basic Silverado full-size truck platform its "light trucks" since 1965. Even if truck-framed transportation isn't about to disapper overnight, at least GM has taken the first steps to beating its addiction to "easy" profits. It has admitted it has a problem.
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May 9th, 2008 at 1:12 pm
Just for comparison purposes, the 1960 Ford Falcon (unit body) compact six cylinder car (4 door) weighed in at 2317 pounds, but it was built of chewing gum wrap and spittle, a precursor to the flaming Ford Pinto of a decade later (and to think the Mustang was nothing more than a Falcon “in drag!”)
The 1960 Chevrolet Corvair (unit body) compact rear engine six cylinder (4 door) car weighed in at 2305 pounds (the aluminum engine helped a bit)
Chrysler’s 1960 Valiant (not Plymouth Valiant until 1961; it was its own brand in 1960) unit body, compact six cylinder 4 door sedan weighed in at 2635 pounds. This car begat the sporty fastback Barracuda which was born a couple of weeks before Mustang in April 1964.
May 9th, 2008 at 1:16 pm
Right now, unit body vehicles max out at 5000lbs for towing with the Ridgeline & Highlander. With some additional engineering work, it could get even higher, but that’s exactly the problem for GM = less profit, not the situation they’re looking for.
Damned if they do, damned if they don’t.
May 9th, 2008 at 1:16 pm
@ hwyhobo :
Has GM completely forgotten the concept of a station wagon? For vast majority of families, that is completely sufficient (and way more fuel efficient).
Unfortunately, they haven’t forgotten, the American public has. I mean, the Dodge charger was a pretty hot vehicle, and it was axed due to poor sales, while its uglier sibling the charger soldiers on. Now people want crossovers, nothing more than taller, uglier, less stable wagons, for the sole reason that they are NOT wagons. Mazda won’t offer a wagon version of its next Mazda6. You have to get the CX-7 instead.
May 9th, 2008 at 1:38 pm
AKM :
I think you mean the Magnum was axed.
May 9th, 2008 at 2:39 pm
Magnum had terrible marketing campaign from the start. It was aimed by Chrysler as the ultimate ghetto mobile instead of a solution for families. It was also styled toward the ghetto market. It also had awful fuel efficiency. All of that taken together doomed it.
As for the American public not wanting wagons, let’s look at Subaru Outback and Volvo V series. They are doing well because they are real wagons, not some bizarre contraptions that desperately try not to look like wagons (overweight “crossovers” come to mind).
May 9th, 2008 at 2:48 pm
starlightmica :
Right now, unit body vehicles max out at 5000lbs for towing with the Ridgeline & Highlander.
The unit body Grand Cherokee can be equipped to tow up to 6500 lbs, and the Cayenne or Touareg can tow up to 7700.
May 9th, 2008 at 2:51 pm
Right now, unit body vehicles max out at 5000lbs for towing with the Ridgeline & Highlander. With some additional engineering work, it could get even higher, but that’s exactly the problem for GM = less profit, not the situation they’re looking for.
don’t tell that to Chrysler that unit body vehicles max out at 5K. They’ll laugh at you. Liberty (diesel), Grand Cherokee, Commander, those full size vans that spanned Nixon to Bush, etc
and lots of European stuff is rated to tow over 5k.
May 9th, 2008 at 3:14 pm
The Jeeps are sort of 1/2 unibody 1/2 BOF. They’re built like a unibody but the metal “framing” on the bottom of the body is just like a traditional frame.
Imagine taking a BOF vehicle and welding the body to the frame. I believe Jeep called it “uniframe” when they announced the original XJ.
I suspect the Cayenne and Touareg are similar.
Regardless, you still need extra weight and structure for towing. You’re not going to magically get a 10K# tow rating from a car that weighs 3000#.
May 9th, 2008 at 3:27 pm
This is a non-issue. The so-called “half-ton” pickups from GM and Ford have been divorced from the HD pickups for several years now.
So, make the “half-ton” trucks to unibodies, and keep the 3/4- and 1-ton trucks body-on-frame for those who really need/want it.
May 9th, 2008 at 3:34 pm
And just WHY is it that BOF is bad? Maybe because it doesn’t kill nearly as many of it occupants as the popcan style does?