Is CarbonPro Everything GMC Claims?
With General Motors razzing Ford back in 2015 for optioning an aluminum truck bed to save weight, thus improving fuel economy, it couldn’t pull off a similar move without a sea of mouths wailing warnings of hypocrisy. GM has been playing catch-up with the Blue Oval’s full-size pickup since forever, always framing the GMC Sierra and Chevrolet Silverado as the more robust choice. The company even launched an advertising campaign to prove its steel truck bed was the tougher option.
When the General’s full-sized trucks underwent a weight-loss program of their own, it was decided anything that opened or closed should be aluminum while the bed absolutely had to stay high-strength steel. Otherwise, it would be guilty of the same mistakes it accused Ford of. Despite throwing shade at Ford’s claimed lack of sturdiness for over a decade, the aluminum-sucks angle has been reeled back immensely over the last couple of years. GM even attempted to wipe all evidence of a comparative rock-drop test from the internet, possibly because it’s finally decided to embrace aluminum itself.
However, there’s already an alternative to the high-strength steel GM currently offers — the CarbonPro bed available on the GMC Sierra Denali and AT4 — and the manufacturer has prepared another stunt show to test its mettle.
The advertisement strategy is a familiar one: General Motors takes the product in question to a testing facility, someone explains what’s going on, we get close-up footage of it outperforming the competition, and a staff member declares a winner (spoiler: it’s never not GM).
This time around the gang took a CarbonPro bed to a facility where it could be subjected to category 1 hurricane winds and debris flying at similar speeds. It started with bricks and boards, before making way for items that just look cool exploding in slow motion. As you might expect, the composite bed outperformed the anonymous competitor’s unit (Ford wasn’t explicitly named) by ending the test not looking like it had been assaulted with a pickaxe.
A staunch consumer advocate tracking industry trends and regulation. Before joining TTAC, Matt spent a decade working for marketing and research firms based in NYC. Clients included several of the world’s largest automakers, global tire brands, and aftermarket part suppliers. Dissatisfied with the corporate world and resentful of having to wear suits everyday, he pivoted to writing about cars. Since then, that man has become an ardent supporter of the right-to-repair movement, been interviewed on the auto industry by national radio broadcasts, driven more rental cars than anyone ever should, participated in amateur rallying events, and received the requisite minimum training as sanctioned by the SCCA. Handy with a wrench, Matt grew up surrounded by Detroit auto workers and managed to get a pizza delivery job before he was legally eligible. He later found himself driving box trucks through Manhattan, guaranteeing future sympathy for actual truckers. He continues to conduct research pertaining to the automotive sector as an independent contractor and has since moved back to his native Michigan, closer to where the cars are born. A contrarian, Matt claims to prefer understeer — stating that front and all-wheel drive vehicles cater best to his driving style.
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Since GM fabricated and lied about its tears in their testing of Ford's box and hid the tears in their steel bed, I can only surmise this is another fake news gimmick. I wonder why they didn't put this in a real bed instead of allowing it to dissipate energy while hanging?
GM should instead spend more money on improving the exterior and interior design of their trucks, which have been getting a lot of criticism lately. They seem to be in denial that Chrysler is now eating their lunch.