But in the wake of cycles of expected and but multi submissions, the highest quality properties will do was G8 ST? That’s the and cr properties began with! Now we feel all inexpensive and used, fancy GM considered how properties got prepared to use the occurence all along. Whatever, it may be in posession of court as the king of awesome in your local Pontiac dealer’s showroom in late 2009 as a 2010 model. The 74-inch cargo bed and 3,500 lb towing capacity would make it easier for you to haul supplementary as opposed to just recently ass, even though the V8 is planning to definitely facilitate which nicely.

[Source: GM]

The sells serves to commence at $22,170 for base tendencies amidst the gradual cab, $26,225 for Quad Cab patterns and $32,530 for Dodge’s first-ever Crew 1500 models. Opting for a top-end Laramie Ram Crew 1500 4×4 is able to market value you $44,140, that is on par investing in a larger number of top-of-the-line competitors based on information from Ford and GM. Engine choices add a altered 390-horse 5.7-liter HEMI, that should assist the quickest Ram to bring in it to 60 mph in tinier as opposed to six seconds, additonally a 310-horsepower 4.7-liter V8 and an anemic 3.7-liter V6 amongst just recently 215 horses on tap brings up the rear.

[Source: Chrysler LLC]

It’s been heard multitude of decades as of Ford survive offered a Lightning version of its F-150 pickup truck but it looks as if it’s similar to it would fast strike again. In spite of plummeting dealings of big trucks, a high-performance variant of the new 2009 F-150 might launch later on their fall, possible at either SEMA or the Los Angeles Auto Show. Ford indicated a thought version of an SVT F-150 in 2004 the never assembled it to production. In March 2007, SVT’s Jamal Hameedi imparted upon us who a high-performance truck was underneath development.While participating in the Ford Racing Invitational media drag racing worry their weekend, SVT declined to get any larger amount of some as opposed to “a new SVT truck is coming” and “later the fall.” When pressed, he did acknowledge who it is established on the big truck platform and which is was unrelated to the so-called Raptor truck. An clear am sure should be an F-150 powered by the GT500 engine. Since the GT500 at this moment uses the cast-iron truck block, it may be an easy installation. Whether it should use two or five wheels to deliver all the torque is unknown, but subsequent to my have endeavoring to put GT500 gas dropped presently weekend, hopefully it’ll use all four.

Update: After hearing based on information from somebody at Ford and speaking to Mike Levine on PickupTrucks.com such a new truck can something like undoubtedly not be labeled a Lightning. In thing according to Mike, the current new truck is impending to be the new Harley-Davidson F-150.

[Source: Ford]

While the U.S. is in regards to to get its mainly taste of two-door, rear-wheel-drive, car-based pickups in the craft of the Pontiac G8 ST (official and cr a great deal TBD), Australians experience continued enjoying these kinds of things, referred to as utes, for decades. While Holden introduced a new version of its Commodore-based ute the preceding year, Ford has recently gotten almost to meeting the problem amongst its new Falcon-based ute. And you recognize how who means: Ford vs. GM cage balance in Koala Bear country!

Pickuptrucks.com has pitted the Holden SS Ute and Ford XR8 Ute, both top-shelf sports models, against every further in their Ultimate Sh-Ute-Out for the ages. For as similar as these kinds of utes are in levels and power, we got surprised to discover how unique properties very are. The Ford ute, for instance, is thought a good amount of of a workhorse as opposed to the Holden and hence persists in to use a leaf-sprung rear suspension alternatively of an IRS want the Holden. Apparently it is the a great deal more truckish of the two, as distinguishable by its separated cab and bed judged against to the clean one-piece design of the Holden. Both cases tested use big V8 powerplants, but the XR8’s Boss V8 was a good amount high-tech judged against to tried-and-true Gen IV pushrod.

Being who Pontiac is just about to embark on re&wshyp;selling the Holden Ute in the U.S. as the Pontiac G8 ST, right now comparo is a fantastic Beginner’s Course in the good earth of Aussie utes. And who knows, if the Pontiac G8 and G8 ST turn over well, the current may recently be the urging Ford needs to bid the Falcon stateside sooner as opposed to the next-generation model. Check out the gallery of insanely cool high-res shots based on data from the comparo below, courtesy of Pickuptrucks.com, and hit the source to was reading the comparo based on data from create to finish.

[Source: Pickuptrucks.com]

Granted, many of the names will be duplicates. And many of the names will be completely unusable, whether they’re owned by other companies or just plain inappropriate. It’ll take Pontiac a good long while to sift through them all, and while the carmaker won’t reveal what names were submitted or which of them are being considered, a spokesman for the GM division did confirm El Camino was one of them, although it remains to be seen if GM can or will use a defunct Chevy name on a Pontiac vehicle. Meanwhile, although the public voice will be taken into consideration, Pontiac is safeguarding itself against an Alfa MiTo-type backtracking by noting that, in the end, the company’s marketing gurus will have the last say.

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Bob Lutz may have been confused when he told GoAuto that GM would be unveiling a GMC unibody pickup concept based on the rear-wheel-drive Zeta platform at this year’s New York Auto Show in late April. Sources close to Jalopnik claim that the vehicle will actually debut nearly a month and a half earlier at the 2008 Chicago Auto Show, press days for which begin on February 5th. The source also claims that the GMC unibody pickup will be entirely unibody, and not have a chassis grafted onto the back like the Holden Crewman, the vehicle to which this concept pickup has been most closely compared.

All that’s fine and good, but ever since Lutz mentioned the car-based pickup, we’ve had a tough time imagining what it will look like. Lutz said it would have four doors, be low to the ground and feature very masculine GMC styling cues. The only other totally car-based pickup with which we’re familiar is the Honda Ridgeline. Now we can’t get the image of a lowered Ridgeline wearing GMC badges out of our head.

Fortunately, GM Inside News forum member MonaroSS has come to our rescue with these photochops of what the GMC’s unibody pickup could look like. The images are based off of the Holden Sportwagon, but the roof has been raised, the rear end swapped out for a bed, bulging fenders added and the front profile has a definite GMC shape. We much prefer conjuring an image of this vehicle in our heads than the aforementioned mutant Ridgeline, at least until we meet the pickup in person at the Chicago Auto Show.

Check out more renderings of the GMC concept by MonaroSS in the gallery below.

[Source: GM Inside News, Jalopnik]

Our friends over at Pickuptruck.com have learned that Pontiac will debut a production-ready ST pickup at this year’s New York Auto Show in late March. The Pontiac ST pickup is based on the Holden VE Ute that recently debuted in Australia, and since development of the vehicle consists mainly of grafting the Pontiac G8 front clip onto the Holden VE Ute, the business case for the vehicle is a no-brainer. What did stand between the Pontiac ST pickup and production was the U.S. exchange rate between the Australian and U.S. dollar, but apparently the difference isn’t as bad as once thought and the price of the ST won’t be out of reach for its target market. Pickuptruck.com also learned that, despite previous reports to the contrary, the Pontiac ST will be offered with a 256-HP V6, as well as a 361-HP V8. The reason is because plans for a Pontiac G8 Sportwagon that would have been powered by a V6 have been cancelled, so the Pontiac needs to offer both a V6 and a V8 for the ST pickup to balance out the effect it has on GM’s CAFE rating.Don’t all these unibody pickups in GM’s product plans get you thinking? If we were to consult some tea leaves, we might draw the conclusion that GM is considering transforming its small pickups into an all-unibody lineup. It’s pure speculation on our part, but to debut two unibody trucks in one auto show season makes us go hmmm…

[Source: Pickuptruck.com]

Though the production version of the HUMMER H3T four-door pickup is not supposed to be seen before it debuts in a couple weeks at the 2008 Chicago Auto Show, images of the baby HUMMER truck have appeared early in the latest issue of Truck Trend magazine that’s apparently on some newsstands and in some mailboxes already. That’s because scans of the pics have hit the interweb, giving us an early and unofficial look at the truck.

Captions reveal that the HUMMER H3T will be available with a large number of dealer-installed accessories, including hardware for tying down your ten-speed or securing your (small) motorcycle and storage toolboxes, while GM’s familiar bedrail system will be standard. There are reportedly storage bins built into the walls of the bed’s plastic liner, and while they’re no Ram Box, should be big enough to hold small items like tools and gloves.

We’ll have to wait until we arrive in Chicago to tell you more, but we weren’t even supposed to know this much, so it’s all gravy, baby.

[Source: hummerguy.net]

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Next month in Chicago, GM will finally pull the wraps off the 2009 HUMMER H3T pickup that’s received an unceremonious early debut today thanks to Truck Trend. Built on a modified version of the H3’s basic architecture, the H3T’s 134-inch wheelbase is a whopping 22 inches longer than the 111.9-inch wheelbase found on its SUV sibling. Like the regular H3, both the 3.7L 5-cylinder and 5.3L V8 are available, the latter a part of the top-level Alpha trim. The H3T is a real truck with a separate bed, and is sized in-between the Canyon/Colorado and Silverado/Sierra. By comparison, the short-bed H2 SUT has the same basic dimensions as its enclosed stablemate and relies on an Avalanche-like midgate to create more cargo room.

No such problem exists with the H3T, whose cargo area has standard bedrails as well as additional storage compartments. As you’ll see in the enclosed gallery, it can haul a dirt bike with no problem, and when equipped with the V8, it has a maximum towing capacity of 5,900 pounds. Two suspension packages will be offered, one oriented towards off-roading and another that’s biased more toward on-road use and trailering. Inside, it’s no different than the regular H3 in terms of comfort and instrumentation, and the rear seat of the crew-cab H3T flips down to provide an additional flat cargo space when necessary. Having driven both flavors of H3 as well as the H2 SUT, the H3T (particularly the Alpha) sounds like it might just be the pick of the litter, offering the best balance of power, comfort, and practicality to go with its off-road credentials. We can’t wait to try one out for ourselves.

[Source: GM via Pickuptruck.com]

Jim Press thinks that there’s an emerging market for small, fuel efficient trucks. You know, the kind of trucks his former employer, Toyota, used to build. Press put in 37 years at Toyota, and he saw the evolution of the HiLux into the Tacoma, which is no longer the diminutive hauler it once was. Press owns a second home in Thailand, and observing how trucks are used in that country leads him to believe that there’s a worldwide need for a small, versatile pickup. Dodge’s Dakota saw its sales drop by one third between 2006 and 2007, and Press thinks that’s likely due to buyers shifting to crossovers.

There’s not a whole lot of incentive to buy a midsize truck right now – they cost nearly the same as an entry level full sizer, the mileage is only marginally better, and the size differential isn’t that great. We can recall two Dodge concept pickups of the recent past that we think buyers who miss the small pickup market might take a liking to. First, there’s the 2006 Dodge Rampage Concept, which packed a lot of utility in a small footprint. Then there’s the 2002 Dodge M80 Concept, one of the few Chrysler concepts that got a great reception but wasn’t produced. Put the M80 into production on a unibody platform with some unique powertrain options, Jim. Trust us, you won’t be sorry.

[Source: PickupTruck.com]

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