GM To Produce Aluminum Body Pickups, Secures Alcoa and Novelis As Suppliers

The Wall Street Journal today announced that GM is planning on producing aluminum-bodied pickups for the next generation Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra, due for 2018. This comes on the heels of Ford moving the 2015 F150 to an all-aluminum body, with around 97% of the body structure being aluminum (Including the load floor of the bed), which Ford claims has saved 700 pounds off the curbweight of the F150. GM plans to weld panels together as opposed to Ford’s riveted and bonded aluminum panels, to seek further weight savings.

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Alcoa Responds To The Aluminum F-150 Story
We received a note from Alcoa, a supplier of aluminum, regarding our story on delays with the next Ford F-150. Alcoa’s Monica Orbe sent us this noteWhi…
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  • Daniel J How is this different than a fully lifted truck? I see trucks rolling off the lot with the back lifted already, and then folks get the front lifted to match. Are there specific "metrics" at how high they can and can't be? The example shown has the truck's front lifted more than normal, but I've seen these around here where the backend is dropped and the front end is at a regular height.
  • Theflyersfan I think color is FINALLY starting to return to car lots. After what seems like over a lost decade of nothing but shades of gray, whites, and black, I'm seeing a lot more reds and blues creeping into luxury car lots. Except Audi and Volvo. They still have at least 6-8 shades of gray/silver. But they at least have a nice green. Honda and Acura seem to have a bunch of new colors. And all carmakers need to take a serious look at the shades of red seen at the Alfa Romeo lot and tell themselves they want that because that looks amazing.
  • Bd2 Well, it's no Sonata, no does it have the panache of the Optima.
  • Teddyc73 "eye-searingly"?
  • Teddyc73 I applaud anyone who purchases a vibrant, distinct or less popular color. We need these people. Our road ways have turned into a dreary gloomy sea of white, black, silver and greys, most with the equally lifeless black wheels. Mr Healey is guilty of contributing to this gloom apparently. It looks like a black and white movie across the nation when grouped with our grey houses with grey interiors. Totally dull and lifeless. And what is with this awful hideous trend of dull grey with black wheels showing up everywhere? It's on everything. Just awful. Come on people! I'll keep my Ram 1500 with it's deep rich sparkling Western Brown paint as long as I can.