GM bringing back medium-duty trucks

DALLAS -- General Motors is returning to the medium-duty truck market, nearly a decade after abandoning it during bankruptcy.

At the State Fair of Texas on Thursday, GM's Chevrolet brand said it would sell 4500 and 5500 chassis-cab versions of its Silverado pickup in late 2018. The trucks are aimed at fleet and commercial buyers and can be uplifted with work-specific beds and boxes.

Sandor Piszar, Chevrolet truck marketing director, said a consumer version with a pickup bed that would compete with the Ford F-450 is also under consideration. Ram, Nissan and Toyota do not offer trucks in that class.

Sandor said the 4500 and 5500 medium-duty trucks are built from the ground up and are not variants of existing trucks. GM ended its medium-duty truck business during its 2009 bankruptcy reorganization.

GM said the Silverado 4500 and 5500 will be offered in regular and crew cab varieties, as either a 4x2 or 4x4, and with a range of weight ratings and wheelbases. They will be powered by a Duramax diesel engine and Allison transmission, a combination it has used on about 2 million trucks previously.

Nick Bunkley contributed to this report.