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Chevy reveals Colorado Z71 Trail Boss Edition

Chevrolet wants to make sure that if people are in the market for a midsize pickup, then there is a Colorado available to fit their desires. For businesses, there's the recently unveiled box delete package and for those looking for a customized look, there's the GearOn Edition. For the latest Z71 Trail Boss version, the automaker is going for folks planning to go off-road. As the name suggests, all Trail Boss versions of the Colorado start with the already off-road-inlined Z71 trim level, including its 305-horsepower, 3.6-liter V6 and six-speed automatic, and the package can be added to practically any body variant: extended or crew cab, long or short bed and rear- or four-wheel drive. To set things apart, there's a locking rear differential, front tow hooks, darkened 17-inch wheels that are shod with Goodyear Wrangler DuraTrac tires and on the four-wheel drive models, a transfer case shield. For some extra style, the Colorado Trail Boss wears black parts for the fender flares, side steps and Bowtie badges. The bed also gets a spray-on liner and a few parts from the GearOn accessory catalog, including the tie-down rings, load bar and cargo divider. The Trail Boss goes on sale in the spring, and to add all of this equipment to a Colorado, it costs $3,320 in addition to the price of any Z71 trim model. Related Video: Chevy Colorado Z71 Trail Boss Edition: On Point, Off Road When adventure calls, the Trail Boss has your back 2015-03-06 CLEVELAND – For those who want to blaze their own trails, Chevrolet introduces the 2015 Colorado Z71 Trail Boss edition today at the Cleveland Auto Show. The Trail Boss combines the capability of Chevrolet's Z71 off-road truck suspension package with more aggressive tires and additional appearance enhancements. It is offered in extended and crew cab configurations, with a choice of a long or short cargo bed and available 4WD. The Trail Boss goes on sale this spring with a starting price of $28,505 plus the package price of $3,320. "The Chevrolet Colorado Z71 Trail Boss Edition is equally at home blazing an urban trail or following one to a favorite remote campground," said Tony Johnson, Colorado marketing manager.

Why the Corvette is Chevrolet's billion-dollar baby

Edmunds has worked up a piece that tries to figure out just how much the global Chevrolet Corvette economy is worth, a spitballed guesstimate putting the number at more than $2.5 billion with the proviso that the number is probably low. It starts by taking Corvette's new car sales of 14,132 units last year, which would equate to $714,725,900 (including destination) assuming ever car sold was a base coupe with no options. In the final tally, a little extra padding gets that number up to $750,000,000.
But that's not all. Consider this: Many of the almost 1.4 million Corvettes produced over the model's history are still on the road. There are new parts being produced and aftermarket companies like Mid-America Motorworks deaing business, that single Illinois company doing more than $40 million a year in sales. There are the Corvette events large and small, restorers who do nothing but Corvettes, salvage yards that deal only in used Corvette parts and the Corvette magazines where owners find all this stuff.
And then there are the Corvette-themed tchotchkes, every single one of which provides a tiny contribution to the huge licensing royalties that General Motors collects every year. The article admits there's no way to come to an accurate number, but it just goes to show how valuable one specific model can be to a company.

2015 Chevrolet Trax

After the obligatory product presentation for the 2015 Trax, I caught up with Steve Majoros, Chevrolet's director of marketing for crossovers and cars, and asked him to elaborate on which markets his planners believe will be the hot starters for this tiny CUV. Without much hesitation, Majoros began to click off traditional sales havens for Subaru, namely, New England and the snowy bits of the East Coast, Colorado and the Pacific Northwest. That news might not surprise you, but it did me. Perhaps it's something as basic as the Trax's tall-hatchback looks, or the emphasis Chevrolet put on the urban driving cycle during my test in San Diego. But before my chat with Majoros, I'd considered this a crossover pointed at the Millennial city mouse more than his bumpkin cousin. But a closer look had me re-examining the granola cred of Chevy's smallest crossover. Having spent my fair share of time in New England and around New Englanders, I started by mentally listing the Trax's Subaru-like traits: practicality, thrift, all-weather ability and, well, just a dash of ugliness. (I suppose a hatchback needn't always be ugly to sell in Maine, or Boulder or Portland... but a 'distinctive' face doesn't seem to hurt.) After a day of driving through sunny San Diego and its surroundings, I can say that Trax makes an interesting case for itself against the standard bearers of the L.L. Bean set, but I'm less sure of its argument for young urbanites. The Trax looks a lot like an Equinox whose suit shrunk in the wash. Chevy's has downsized its own, rather conservative crossover styling to fit the proportions of the subcompact Trax; to my eyes, it looks a lot like an Equinox whose suit shrunk in the wash. That's fine for offering a cohesive look for the Chevy family of crossovers, but it seems out of step with the rest of the segment. If the Trax's current competitive set were the cast of a high school-based TV show, the Kia Soul would play the lovable nerd, the Nissan Juke perhaps the outsider musician and the Subaru XV Crosstrek the athletic outdoorsy kid. Chevy may see the Trax as the hipster chick wearing intentionally ironic mom jeans, but to me the styling is a little too on the nose; more like an actual grownup trying to hang with the kids. These mom jeans are genuine. Per my earlier point, that quasi-conservative look may be just fast enough for staid New Englanders, but I have a hard time seeing the bluff, big-Bowtied front end playing in Bushwick or Wicker Park.