Canyon using Sierra's styling to woo conquests

DETROIT -- If the 2015 GMC Canyon pickup looks a bit like a little brother to the larger Sierra full-sized pickup, that's by design.

The Canyon, which was scheduled to be unveiled Sunday, was designed to resemble a "little Sierra" to attract full-sized pickup buyers from other brands, says General Motors North America President Mark Reuss. He believes some owners of bigger trucks such as Ford's F-150 and the Ram 1500 want a smaller vehicle that still has most of their hauling and towing capability.

"We want to steal people from big pickup trucks in other brands with the GMC," Reuss said in an interview in November.

With the introduction this fall of the Canyon and its corporate cousin, the Chevrolet Colorado, GM will be zigging while its competitors zag. Both Ford and Ram have abandoned the shrinking market for mid-sized trucks, leaving the Toyota Tacoma as the dominant force.

Reuss says the Canyon and Colorado are aimed at slightly different buyer groups. While Chevy will position the Colorado as a sporty truck for active families, the bold-faced, industrial-looking Canyon will be for buyers who want more capability in a smaller package.

"It looks like a full-sized pickup truck," Reuss said. "They're positioned quite differently."

He said GM expects that the Canyon will also appeal to Tacoma buyers and owners of older mid-sized trucks whose makers have left the market, such as the Ford Ranger and Dodge Dakota.

The Canyon is built on GM's global mid-sized truck platform, which it launched in 2011 with the Chevy Colorado in Thailand. GM engineers did extensive work to ready the body-on-frame, rear-wheel-drive pickup for the United States. It is about 40 percent lighter than the truck sold overseas.

Compared with the Sierra, the crew cab version of the Canyon is 900 pounds lighter, 17 inches shorter and 6 inches narrower. It is expected to get much better fuel economy; EPA ratings aren't available yet. A lightweight aluminum hood and aerodynamic grille shutters, which close at highway speeds, aim to improve efficiency.

The Canyon has a more muscular looking front end than the sleeker Colorado. It will come standard with C-shaped LED daytime running lamps and body-colored grille with GMC's signature horizontal chrome bars.

Inside, GM promises a hushed cabin. An 8-inch touch screen in the center stack will house an improved Intellilink infotainment system, with voice recognition. IntelliLink will include a new feature, Teen Driver, that allows parents to set limits on speed and radio volume.

GM is betting that improved offerings can revive the mid-sized pickup segment, which shriveled to just 227,111 unit sales last year, from more than 1 million in 2000, according to the Automotive News Data Center.

Only the Tacoma, which accounted for 70 percent of the segment's sales in 2013, and the Nissan Frontier remain significant players.