AUBURN HILLS, MI: There was almost as much attitude as torque on display here recently, as General Motors unveiled the heavy-duty versions of its fullsize pickups that it says will lead it to dethrone Ford as the annual sales leader.
Gary White, the vehicle line executive for GM's full-size trucks and therefore the man most responsible for their success, said repeatedly in a take-no-prisoners manner that these trucks would help GM end the 20-year sales reign of the F-series models.
White walked a stage set up in the Silverdome sports complex like an Old West gunfighter, daring someone to call him out on his prediction as he showed off the "power player" pickups.
You might assume this was ego talking, but White is actually tub-thumping the work of his predecessor, Michael Grimaldi, who recently got a promotion to corporate vice-president, mostly for the fine work he did on creating the segment's best full-size pickups. To his credit, White would be one of the first people to bow in Grimaldi's direction.
To their credit, the three-quarter and one-ton vehicles White was showing off actually seem to be worthy of his praise and promise. In most of the ways that matter, the Chevy (the more formal "Chevrolet" was never used) HD Silverado and the GMC HD Sierra whup the butts of the vehicles from Ford and Dodge they compete against.
White pointed out that, when they arrive this fall as 2001 models, the vehicles will have best-in-class power, Gross Vehicle Weight, payload, trailer ratings, and Gross Combined Vehicle Weight.