2014 Gmc Sierra 1500 Sle on 2040-cars

Auto blog

GM will no longer remove parts from trucks to calculate curb weights

Following last week's mild uproar after it was discovered that Ford and General Motors were removing some optional parts from their pickups to lower the curb weight and consequently increase the maximum payload, GM has come out and committed to a base curb weight for its upcoming Chevrolet Colorado and GMC Canyon compact trucks (although it has yet to publish them) and its current Silverado and Sierra. The company will do the same for its heavy duty offerings, although those numbers have not been finalized yet.
"This will make our curb weight and payload specs more consistent with those of most other truck makers, making it easier for customers to compare vehicles," GM spokesman Tom Wilkinson told Autoblog in an emailed statement.
As GM notes - and as every manufacturer has noted since this story broke - customers still shouldn't take max payload ratings as gospel. Instead, they should refer to their truck's Tire and Load Label, like the one shown at the inset, which will offer detailed information on max payload, specific to their truck.

GM already raising prices on 2014 Silverado and Sierra pickups

General Motors must be pretty pleased with sales of its two newest pickups, the GMC Sierra and Chevrolet Silverado, as it's announced price hikes for both models, as part of a planned price tweak.
Prices will be bumped by as much as $1,500, although weirdly, they'll be offset by as much as $1,500 in cash-back offers through the end of October. Fox Business reports that GM spokesman Jim Cain said of the price hike, "With the sell down of the '13 models nearly complete, this price adjustment was planned and is a normal part of business."
The move, as Fox is quick to point out, is an interesting one, as sales of the twin pickups struggled last month relative to the Ford F-Series, while both of GM's crosstown competitors have been aggressively undercutting Silverado and Sierra prices. The F-150 starts at $24,070 and the Ram 1500 comes in at $23,600, not counting any cash on the hood. A base Silverado, meanwhile, retails at $25,575.

GMC Safari GT, a rad-era hauler with custom-van swagger

The GMC Safari van, along with its Chevy Astro sibling, performed yeoman service ferrying passengers and hauling cargo for two decades starting in 1985. But one special variant, the Safari GT — and, at Chevrolet, the Astro RS — added an unexpected dollop of swagger. Those vans had a custom look that was straight out of the '70s "sin bin" era. One of those Safari GTs is up for grabs right now, fittingly, on the RADforsale auction site. The option package at both GMC and Chevrolet was coded BYP, the GT Sport Package, and it appears to have been offered from 1990 to 1994. Its defining element was the two-tone paint treatment shown here, with black on the lower body and the greenhouse, and your choice of white, silver, blue, gold, or red as the main body color. Blanked out rear quarter windows and "simulated air exhaust louvers" behind the middle side windows added a further bit of style (long-wheelbase XT versions skipped that flourish). Also included were a front air dam, blacked-out grille, aluminum rally wheels, and a sport suspension. This 1991 Safari GT appears to have been further sportified with a lower-body aero kit, a rooftop spoiler, and aftermarket wheels. This rear-wheel-drive, standard-wheelbase model is powered by a 4.3-liter V6 hooked to a four-speed automatic transmission. It has traveled a relatively low 126,000 miles and looks to be in exceptionally good shape — particularly given that most of these vans lived a hard life. At this writing, bidding stands at $5,100 with bidding to end May 21. That suggests this Astro GT will bring a strong price — but if you want one, you may be hard-pressed to find another.