Truck

GM to rebadge Nissan's small commercial vans for Chevy

10:42 am U.S. ET | May 14, 2013
General Motors has turned to Nissan to put Chevrolet dealers into the small cargo van market. GM, in a statement today, said it will rebadge Nissan's new four-cylinder NV200 commercial van as the Chevrolet City Express in the fall of 2014.... Read More »

 

CARS & CONCEPTS

GM delayed SUV rollouts to focus on pickups

12:01 am U.S. ET | May 13, 2013
The early-2014 rollout of General Motors' next generation of full-sized SUVs will come about three months later than the company had planned. GM North America President Mark Reuss confirmed that the timeline was pushed back to ensure a "flawless" launch of GM's next-generation full-sized pickups.... Read More »

 

Ford boosts F-150 capacity in Kansas City

12:01 am U.S. ET | May 6, 2013
Ford Motor Co. will add workers and capacity at its Kansas City Assembly Plant in Missouri to build more F-150 pickups, its best-selling vehicle. But the company remains parts-constrained on the Ford Explorer.... Read More »

 

Detroit 3 climb with pickups; industry recovery slips

5:33 pm U.S. ET | May 1, 2013
Booming pickup sales drove Detroit automakers to double-digit gains and the U.S. auto market 9 percent higher in April. While that percentage gain was the second-highest of the year, the results marked a setback for the industry's recovery. The seasonally adjusted annual sales rate came in at 14.9 million, below estimates in the 15.2 million range. It was the first time since October that the SAAR dropped below 15 million.... Read More »

 

FINAL ASSEMBLY

Toyota cries foul, towing tiff continues

12:01 am U.S. ET | April 8, 2013
The Detroit 3 will stay mired in a marketing cold war over towing claims for light-duty pickups -- perhaps until 2015.... Read More »

 

Hyundai exec: We're studying pickup for U.S.

12:01 am U.S. ET | April 1, 2013
Hyundai Motor Co. is looking into launching a pickup in the United States, Hyundai's sales boss says. Product planners and engineers at headquarters in South Korea are studying what size truck would be best.... Read More »

 

HANS GREIMEL

This Toyota Group hybrid has small sales, huge size

7:06 am U.S. ET | March 27, 2013
While the sales tally for these Toyota Group hybrids aren't huge, the vehicles themselves are big. Really big. In fact, given they are light, medium and heavy-duty trucks, it's perhaps surprising that Hino Motors sold any at all.... Read More »

 

Safety group says new crash tests point to underride hazards

12:01 am U.S. ET | March 14, 2013
The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety unveiled new crash-test results today that highlight the weakness of steel guards installed on the back ends of large truck trailers. If the guards fail after being struck by a car, “they can allow catastrophic underride where cars slide underneath” the large truck, the institute warned in releasing the results.... Read More »

 

Some Ford dealers miss small pickup

12:01 am U.S. ET | March 4, 2013
Ford's compact Ranger pickup is gone, but for many dealers it's not forgotten.... Read More »

 

KEITH CRAIN

You can't have both -- or can you?

12:01 am U.S. ET | Feb. 25, 2013
For some reason that only oil tycoons understand, gasoline prices are heading for the roof , and many people are predicting $5-a-gallon gasoline by summer. Great timing for the Detroit 3, which are all launching or about to launch new trucks Keith Crain is editor-in-chief of Automotive News.... Read More »

 

Mercedes, UK dealers fined for competition breach

Feb. 21, 2013 13:16 CET
Mercedes-Benz and three of its UK commercial vehicle dealers have been fined 2.6 million pounds ($4 million) by Britain's competition watchdog for price fixing between 2008 and 2010.... Read More »

 

EDITORIAL

Towing standard is about safety, not market share

12:01 am U.S. ET | Feb. 18, 2013
When automakers agreed in 2009 to a common way to measure how their vehicles towed loads, it gave promise to a future world in which common sense and safety pulled marketing, not the other way around.... Read More »

 

PRODUCTION LINE

Diesel-powered Ram 1500 to arrive this year

12:01 am U.S. ET | Feb. 18, 2013
Ram will offer diesel-powered half-ton pickups this year, Chrysler Group's first such trucks since 1978.... Read More »

 

Chrysler recalls 370,297 trucks for possible loose fastener

2:57 pm U.S. ET | Feb. 14, 2013
Chrysler Group said it was recalling 370,297 pickup trucks and SUVs globally because a loose fastener could cause the rear axle to lock up and make a driver lose control.... Read More »

 

Pickup truck towing standard isn't standard

12:01 am U.S. ET | Feb. 11, 2013
Automakers often brag about the towing abilities of their pickups, encouraging shoppers to believe that their vehicles could safely pull almost anything. The towing claims are effective, moving heavy metal in the single most profitable product segment in the auto industry. They are also highly dubious. All but one pickup manufacturer refuse to follow standardized towing-capacity tests.... Read More »

 

CHICAGO AUTO SHOW

An upscale urban-cowboy ride

12:01 am U.S. ET | Feb. 11, 2013
During the recession, so-called urban cowboys -- buyers who chose pickups as a lifestyle statement, not because they needed them for work -- dropped out of the market in droves. As a result, the full-sized pickup market crashed from 2.5 million in 2005 to 1.1 million in 2009. But Toyota says the personal-use buyer is coming back and wants his truck loaded with goodies.... Read More »

 

Toyota expects extended boom in big pickups

12:01 am U.S. ET | Feb. 11, 2013
Toyota is buoyant about the full-sized pickup market as it prepares to bring out a revamped Tundra this fall.... Read More »

 

Pickups keep piling up

12:01 am U.S. ET | Feb. 11, 2013
Sales of full-sized pickups are starting to grow, and no manufacturer wants dealers to run out of the high-margin workhorses. But the four best-selling nameplates started February with abnormally high inventories.... Read More »

 

2013 CHICAGO AUTO SHOW

Toyota renews assault on big pickup market with refreshed Tundra

10:30 am U.S. ET | Feb. 7, 2013
Toyota is making a fresh assault on the full-sized pickup market with a redesigned 2014 Tundra unveiled today at the Chicago Auto Show. The 2014 model, mechanically very similar to the outgoing Tundra, has undergone significant sheet metal and interior changes. But will it be enough to convince truck enthusiasts to buy a Tundra instead of the recent and upcoming redesigns of the Dodge Ram, Chevrolet Silverado, GMC Sierra and Ford F series?... Read More »

 

GM plans 10 weeks of downtime at pickup plants

12:34 am U.S. ET | Feb. 2, 2013
GM, which saw pickup inventories rise 24 percent last month, will take out 10 weeks of truck production as it prepares to introduce a redesigned Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra in the second quarter.... Read More »

 

With Atlas pickup, Ford trades Marlboro Man for gizmos

12:01 am U.S. ET | Jan. 28, 2013
Auto show concept vehicles are sort of like presidential inaugural addresses: They outline a broad, shining vision of the future, but they're short on the details of how that vision will be executed. Such is the case with the Ford Atlas Concept pickup unveiled at the Detroit auto show.... Read More »

 

LARRY P. VELLEQUETTE

Sergio promises updated Chrysler product plan next week

3:52 pm U.S. ET | Jan. 24, 2013
Sergio Marchionne said he will update the five-year product plan that the automaker laid out in November 2009 when Chrysler Group announces its earnings Wednesday. Speaking to Automotive News last week during the Detroit auto show, the Chrysler-Fiat CEO said that enough changes have been made to the original product roadmap to warrant a redraft.... Read More »

 

2013 DETROIT AUTO SHOW

Prime time for big pickups

12:01 am U.S. ET | Jan. 21, 2013
Low incentives, new products and construction sites filled with aging pickups have set the stage for an especially competitive -- and lucrative -- battle in the one segment the Detroit 3 still dominate: big pickups.... Read More »

 

NORTH AMERICAN INTERNATIONAL AUTO SHOW

VW ponders U.S. pickup

12:01 am U.S. ET | Jan. 21, 2013
Ulrich Hackenberg, the Volkswagen AG board member in charge of product development, says VW might consider a pickup for its U.S. lineup -- but not until after 2018.... Read More »

 

For some, trucks are about panache, not power

12:01 am U.S. ET | Jan. 21, 2013
As the economy improves, marketers of full-sized pickups are devising strategies to snag first-time buyers and lifestyle buyers who are returning to the vehicles.... Read More »