GM's new 07 truck design

Discussion in 'Concepts | Press Photos | Rumors' started by CK5, Apr 1, 2005.

  1. CK5

    CK5 WhooHoo! Administrator Moderator

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    http://www.thecarconnection.com/index.asp?n=178&sid=178&article=7703

    Soo, this upcoming design (not that you can tell much by the pics) which will also be the 08 truck design needs to be a hit for GM or it could spell more trouble. My question is, do you feel this new design will have the wow factor like GM is promising or do you think it will simply be another yawner? :popcorn:
     
  2. CK5

    CK5 WhooHoo! Administrator Moderator

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    Well, since no one is talking, :doah: I don't think the new design will be radical or away from the old design at all, it may be all new but it will still carry the old style, but thats just my opinion.
    They also could pull a Dodge and simply borrow their mid-size trucks grill, which would be the Colorado and Canyon, this still would not be anything major like GM is promising.
     
  3. Shaggy

    Shaggy TRC Staff Moderator

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    I hope that they go away from the angry chinaman look and make something that's burly looking without trying so hard to be burly looking, if that makes sense. So long as it doesn't look like the Colorado. :doah:
     
  4. PermanentMarker

    PermanentMarker TRC Staff Moderator

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    At the risk of sounding too PC, because I'm really not... For some reason I really don't like the term "angry chinaman" used to describe the looks of the Chevys. What if someone described the Ford look as a "Humpbacked Mongoloid", or the Dodges as a "Nervous Pollock"?

    Not sure if it's because I own one.
     
  5. Shaggy

    Shaggy TRC Staff Moderator

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    Yeah, it's because you own one. Besides, "Humpbacked Mongoloid" has a nice ring to it. "Nervous Pollack" not so much, but maybe "Syphlitic Midgit" would work.
     
  6. RJF's Red Cummins

    RJF's Red Cummins TRC Staff Moderator

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    But.....it kinda does look like an angry chinese guy though..... :D :doah:
     
  7. CK5

    CK5 WhooHoo! Administrator Moderator

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    They really need to come up with a "home run" on this design as it is one of the few vehicles that are proffitable for them. But, the only thing lately from GM that has any wow factor is a few of the new Caddy's like the STS-V which is very bold looking, all their other cars look like a cavilier. :confused:
    I have read a few "rumors" written from people inside GM that have seen it and word is that most of them did not like it, so maybe thats why we haven't seen a non-disguised unit yet, they may still be trying to change a few things?
     
  8. BadDog

    BadDog TRC Staff Staff Member

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    Looks to me like an oversized Colorado or something. IMO, they will undoubtedly screw it up just like everything coming from GM in the last few years. They really had IM(biased)O a good looking truck in '01 and '02, but that "angry china-man" (which I do like and find it very descriptive of the look) Avalanche front just does not cut it in any way for me (sorry, just my opinion). In fact, knowing that it was coming is exactly what pushed me into buying mine in the year-end clearance because I knew there was no way I could ever stand to look at the new front for the next few years.

    Frankly, most of GMs new stuff falls into two extreme categories IMO. One is totally bland and uninspired jelly bean "safe" and "non committal". The other is the automotive equivalent of the "fashion designers" who have the idea that "bold" means a few random and inconsistent "features" stuck randomly here and there and of course it is "cool" because it "breaks the rules". See the Avalanche in general, Silverado front, Colorado front (which is better than the Silverado IMO), and whatever the ridiculous mini-van thing was called.

    Frankly, I think they need to fire every member of their design team who has not been complaining loudly for the last several years (or whatever the lead time was on the current crop). Maybe they can hire someone from the Ford team for the new body designs? That's a good looking truck, just don't bring the interior or drive train with it. :D
     
  9. joez

    joez Well-Known Member

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    Have you guys seen the new front ends on the minivans and some of the cars :eek:

    They had a damn sharp truck from 98(01) till 02, and then they boogered it up. Then they ruined the cars, then the fullsize vans, and now the minivans. They put that stupid angry chinaman(i also like it and think its a perfect description) front clip on vehicles with the rest of the body rounded, none of the body lines flow, it looks stupid, and now they have ginormous bowties on the grill. Its as if the hideous front end didnt give it away already, we have to be able to see the bowtie from 6 miles out to know its a chevy.

    I agree that the new caddy's look sharp, even though they have pretty much the same front end as the chevy's, because the rest of the bodylines flow with it.

    I personally think that GM will ruin the tahoe's, burbs and trucks even more, i honestly dont know who is on their design team, besides a bunch of boob's with their thumbs up their asses, because i dont know a single person who really likes the angry chinaman look that they are slapping on everything they can. I know people who think its alright, but it really doesnt stand out as a sharp looking truck to anyone i know (I personally hate it, but thats just my opinion). Its like they enjoy shooting themselves in the foot. I know several people who either bought used or a ford/dodge just because of the chevy front end, and theydidnt want to pay the higher cost for the GMC
     
  10. Shaggy

    Shaggy TRC Staff Moderator

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    The exception being the GTO, which is one of the only performance cars on the market that's not festooned with slits, slats, scoops that don't function, stupid spoilers, heavy ground effects etc. And it's fading into obscurity because apparantly nobody is buying it since it's "boring". I guess the population in general wants cars that have lots of stupid plastic junk bolted on their cars and trucks. I think the GTO is one of the cleanest looking cars to come out in years. When it came out in Austrailia as the Holden Monaro I liked it even better, before it was Pontiacized. In the next few years they'll probably put it out with lots of crap bolted on to make it look more "racy". :doah:
     
  11. CK5

    CK5 WhooHoo! Administrator Moderator

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    Sorry but IMO, the new GTO is one of the ugglist cars out there, I swear it is a Cavilier with a Pontiac grill.
    I don't want to see bolt on junk either but I do want to see "Style" other than a jelly bean or bar of soap like the current GTO uses. :eek:
    Detroit, enough with the wind tunnel designs already, give me the sweet sweet lines of a 68 Camaro, 67 Vette, old Cuda etc.. Wind Tunnels be damned! :D :stir:
     
  12. BadDog

    BadDog TRC Staff Staff Member

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    And lets not forget the "coke bottle" 66-67 GTOs! Ohhhhh so sweet... Or the 69 Firebird 400... 67-8 were cool too, but not nearly so well ballanced. Now that was style!

    I guess that dates me though since it's also the 67 Chevy/GMC truck retro look "power dome" hood that appeals to me on the '01-'02 Chevy 2500HD trucks.

    And just look what the others are doing so well with retro. Dodge 2nd Gens quite literally put Dodge trucks back on the map with the styling. Ford with their redesigned SD back in the late 90s hinting at the old Ford bulldog fronts combined with "big rig" (compensating ;)) styling. That new Mustang based on the 67-68 and 69 GT fast backs is absolutly BAD ASS, especially the new rendition of the GT500.

    What is GM doing? Jelly beans and angry chinamen... :mad: :dunno:
     
  13. CK5

    CK5 WhooHoo! Administrator Moderator

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    OK, did some searching and found an old concept car that GM bases all of it's cars off of.

    [​IMG]
     
  14. Stomper

    Stomper Active Member

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    rotfl rotfl rotfl Nice eggmobile rotfl

    I also think it will be ugly again this year. They're slowly turning all the vehicles into soccer mom rides. They are, just a guess, their biggest customer base so I don't expect anything but the status quo.

    I agree that 2001 was the last of the nice looking trucks they have produced. It's a shame they are willing to loose the customers that actually use a truck for what they are supposed to be built for.
     
  15. RJF's Red Cummins

    RJF's Red Cummins TRC Staff Moderator

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    I will also agree that the 01-02 GM HD's were the best looking of the GM crop. I am not a fan of some of the new body styling, sometimes simpler is better. I like the body style of my Dodge a lot better than the 3rd gen trucks, the front grille and headlights are just to large IMHO.

    I do however really like the Ford SD body style with the '05 grille being my favorite Ford.
     
  16. PermanentMarker

    PermanentMarker TRC Staff Moderator

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    You haven't seen the '05 GTO then. I like it though.
     
  17. Loader

    Loader Active Member

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    Okay. So the question was about the new Chevy.

    Answer: Failure.

    It's boring. Look at the driver-side door shot. The door is taller. Is that because the truck sits so high? Nope. It's lower.

    GM has been screwing things up for years. I've often said that I think some Ford guys got hired into GM and are destroying it from the inside!

    It ticks me off, having been a GM fan and owner for over 25 years now.

    The new trucks need to sit up like a 4x4 should, not be so low that you've got to put a 6" lift in it just so you can keep from bottoming out when snow plowing! They need to look like a flexed bicep, not an angry asian. They need something so new and exciting that I'd dump my 2004 Duramax to get the new look!

    I also need a new performance car. My Grand National is tired, but there aren't any more turbo cars. My LS1 Camaro SS is too cramped in the interior. The GTO? Halfbreed. It's an import with a domestic engine. Too much teenager look for a musclecar person and too much engine for a teenager 'cause they can't put a coffee can on it and make it sound like a fart!

    GM needs to wake up. They need a retro-looking truck with muscle. Dodge brought back the Power Wagon! Take heed GM! GMC had a prototype truck that was awesome, but did nothing with it. Ford? They've almost always had a good look.

    Ford has that cool Mustang. GM? Nothing. I've been telling them to retro the 1969 Camaro and they'll have an instant hit. Nothing. They built a prototype Nomad station wagon - and that one went nowhere.

    Build me a muscle truck that stinks of testosterone and can pull down a building and build me a new Camaro with a 1969 Camaro retro look and I'll have two new vehicles!

    Until then, I'll keep driving these into the ground like my 1989 K5 Blazer with 230,000 miles on the clock!
     
  18. Shaggy

    Shaggy TRC Staff Moderator

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    Off topic, but the GTO is a Holden Monaro. Holden is GM's subsidiary in Austrailia, so GM, a domestic company, makes money off of their sales. It's been for sale for awhile in Australia and comes with the LS1 over there too. Technically it is an import, but technically there are a lot of Honda's made in the states. Which one is more of an import, the one built here by a foreign company or the one built oversees by a domestic company?
     
  19. Loader

    Loader Active Member

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    And who tool this off topic first? Twasn't me. Believe me, I know more about the new GTO than you think. It looks like an import of Japanese design - regardless where it was built. My 530 HP LS1 was built in Canada. big deal. Not trying to argue semantics, just saying that GM is having trouble and sticking an LS1 into a car that looks like it should have a 4-cylinder and a fart pipe isn't going to save their backside.
     

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