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2016 Chevy Colorado grabs Motor Trend Truck of the Year award

It's not an easy feat to win Motor Trend Truck of the Year twice in a row, but the 2016 Chevrolet Colorado managed to do just that. Thanks to the introduction of the 2.8-liter Duramax four-cylinder diesel, the magazine decided to bring the pickup back to defend the title. In more good news for the Bowtie brand, the 2016 Camaro earned the magazine's Car of the Year award. The Colorado beat a tough group of finalists to earn the nod this year, including its GMC Canyon sibling. The Chevy Silverado and GMC Sierra also made this year's list. The Nissan Titan XD and latest Toyota Tacoma rounded out the challengers. A model had to shine in six criteria to earn the title: advancement in design, engineering excellence, safety, efficiency, value, and performance of intended function. Like it did with the Camaro, Motor Trend posted a story online that explained the rationale for picking the Colorado again. They praised the diesel profusely and lauded the whole platform as quite a capable hauler. This year's Motor Trend SUV of the Year honor went to the Volvo XC90. The Swedish 'ute had to win against an initial group of 16 candidates that the magazine eventually whittled down to finalists that consisted of the Honda Pilot, Lincoln MKX, the combined Mercedes-Benz GLE-Class and GLE Coupe, and Nissan Murano. "Seven-passenger people movers aren't supposed to drive like this," senior features editor Jonny Lieberman said about the Volvo in the announcement of the champions. The Honda CR-V won last year. In the explanation online, the judges applauded the XC90's new modular platform, and they loved both the T6 twin-charged engine and T8 hybrid version. The SUV's key enamored the writers, too. Related Video: MOTOR TREND Announces 2016 "Of The Year" Winners Car of the Year, Truck of the Year, SUV of the Year, and Person of the Year announced during live ceremony and webcast in Los Angeles LOS ANGELES, Nov. 16, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, for the first time in the brand's 66-year history, MOTOR TREND announced winners of the Golden Calipers for Car of the Year, Truck of the Year, SUV of the Year, and Person of the Year at a red-carpet gala in front of an audience of industry insiders and celebrity guests. The awards show was also streamed live on the MOTOR TREND Channel on YouTube, with 3.5 million subscribers the world's largest automotive video channel, and on MOTOR TREND OnDemand, the brand's new subscription video on demand (SVOD) channel.

Next-generation Chevrolet Colorado breaks cover in new spy photos

The next-generation Chevrolet Colorado broke cover in this fresh set of spy photos this week, giving us a glimpse of what to expect when GM's compact trucks are replaced in what is expected to be either 2023 or 2024.  Thanks to its still-extensive camouflage, this prototype doesn't give away a ton about the new Colorado's styling, but in profile, it appears as though the swoopy, upswept rear cab line might become a thing of the past. We wouldn't be surprised to see the new Colorado adopt a more angular, squared-off look more akin to that of its big brother, the half-ton Silverado. The Silverado is also expected to donate what may be the new Colorado's only powertrain. Taking a cue from Ford, Chevy is expected to offer the next-gen Colorado with just a turbocharged four-cylinder engine — the new corporate 2.7T in this instance. The large, 310-horsepower four-pot can easily take over for the 3.6L V6 currently available in the GM twins and one-up the 270-hp Ranger to boot. This would mark the end of both a V6 and diesel option being offered in GM's midsize trucks, and tracks with the company's slow, silent effort to eliminate lower-margin models. We say "trucks" because, well, whatever happens with Chevy is likely to translate to GMC. The Canyon will be due for replacement at the same time, and will likely carry on as a re-skin of Chevy's offering. We're not yet certain exactly when Chevrolet will start selling the next-gen Colorado, but given the reasonably complete state of this prototype, we expect it won't be long now. Rumors suggest it could hit the market in 2023 as a 2024 model.  Related Video: The Best Midsize Pickup: Ranger vs Gladiator vs Tacoma vs Colorado

GM to build outgoing Silverado and Sierra until late 2019

As it has done with previous generations, General Motors is keeping the outgoing versions of its 1500 pickups in production despite the arrival of the all-new 2019 Chevrolet Silverado and 2019 GMC Sierra. The production of the previous, K2 generation models will begin to be wound down gradually, according to Automotive News, starting with crew cabs "early next year," and double and regular cab models following during "the early second half of next year." The old model trucks will continue to be built into "late 2019" based on market demand, GM's spokesperson Kim Carpenter said. The Chevrolet will go by the name Silverado LD, with the GMC Sierra designation still to be announced. Some of the outgoing models are built by sharing the assembly work between two GM plants. Partially finished Silverado and Sierra double cab bodies are shipped from Fort Wayne, Ind., to Oshawa, Ont., where the trucks are completed, including receiving paint. This eases the workload in Fort Wayne, where production of the new T1 generation trucks started in July 2018. In January, the Silao plant in Mexico will take on the duties of building new generation regular cab and crew cab trucks. Carpenter also said that the "Oshawa shuttle," as the shared production is called, has been very successful. As a result, 60,000 more trucks will be built than what the original production forecast initially called for. GM's latest quarterly profits, disclosed last week to be $1 billion, have been far higher than expected and will result in full-year profits far higher than what had been predicted in light of steel tariffs. GM isn't the only truck maker taking a similar multi-generation approach for 2019. Both the outgoing and redesigned Ram 1500 are in production, with the previous generation being dubbed Ram 1500 Classic. Related Video: