Chevrolet announced a return to the medium-duty commercial vehicle segment yesterday (15 June), with sales of six new Chevrolet-badged trucks to begin in 2016. The vehicles are to be built by Japan-based Isuzu Motors. Chevrolet dealers will offer the Chevrolet 3500, 3500HD, 4500, 4500HD, 5500, and 5500HD models, all based on the Isuzu N-Series. Each truck will be offered only in regular-cab and crew-cab body styles.
In a statement, Ed Peper, US vice-president of General Motors (GM) fleet and commercial sales, said, "Bringing low cab forward trucks back to our portfolio strengthens Chevrolet's commitment to providing commercial customers with more choices and provides customers with a versatile line-up of trucks, vans and crossovers. This addition helps our dealers satisfy their commercial customers' needs all in one place."
The trucks will be offered with 6.0-litre V8 gasoline (petrol) engines with 6-speed automatic transmissions, a powertrain that Isuzu sources through GM and will continue to do so, or Isuzu-sourced 3.0-litre and 5.2-litre turbo-diesel engines. GM makes note of the fact that the Chevrolets will be the only low-cab-forward trucks on the North American market to offer a gasoline-powered powertrain. Isuzu has truck production facilities in Charlotte, Michigan, United States, where the trucks fitted with gasoline engines will be built. The others will be imported from Isuzu's facility in Fujisawa, Japan.
The trucks will have chassis lengths of 109−212 inches, with body-type compatibility including refrigerated boxes, stake/flat bed and service bodies. GM says the trucks will provide excellent visibility and manoeuvrability, easy driver entry and exit, and easy-access engine compartment, with a 45º tilting cab.
The new medium-duty trucks will join Chevrolet's light commercial vehicle products, which include Silverado (2500HD and 3500HD) full-size chassis cabs, Colorado (with a delete-box option) mid-size vans, the Nissan-sourced City Express small van, and commercial applications of the Express full-size van.
Outlook and implications
GM's relationship with Isuzu goes back 40 years; while passenger-car ties were severed long ago, the two companies have continued to work together in the commercial-vehicle market, though largely outside of North America. Looking to Isuzu gets GM an offering quickly and with the least amount of product development costs. How long it will last depends on how successful it is.
GM's interest in the market is driven by sales growth in the Class 4-5 segments, as well as the overall medium-heavy commercial vehicle (MHCV) market. Compared with 2010, Class 4-5 sales grew by 70% in 2014, and the total MHCV market grew 77%. In 2014, sales growth in the Class 4-5 segments was 11.5%, compared with 2013, and IHS forecasts sales growth of 4.1% year on year (y/y) to 97,100 units in 2015, compared with 10% y/y for the overall MHCV market from 478,681 units in 2014 to about 526,000 units in 2015. Isuzu offers products in the Class 6-7 segments as well, but sells fewer than 600 units per annum. GM currently says it is too early to discuss sales projections, but Isuzu's current volume places it at eighth position in the overall market. GM brings a larger dealer network to the project, as well as the ability to address a business's other vehicle needs all at the same shop.
Isuzu and GM have also said that they will look to strengthen the product line-up through the use of GM commercial vehicle components for the Isuzu low-cab-forward trucks, along with GM continuing to provide the powertrain components.
The pair's North American relationship is not the first involving medium-duty trucks between Isuzu and GM, and once again the shared products are specifically for the North American market. However, Isuzu also offers its own products in North America and there is no indication that situation will change. According to IHS Automotive truck market analyst Thiago Costa, the two companies have a South American joint-venture under which Isuzu provides development and technology and GM the brand. The relationship there focuses on the Andean countries, with what is produced there largely sold there. The trucks are assembled in Colombia by Colmotores, an independent assembler bought for GM in 1979. Colmotores assembles light vehicles as well. Within South America, the largest markets for the trucks are Colombia, Ecuador and Venezuela. As in the US, the joint venture focuses on the medium-duty truck segment. However, in South America, both the Isuzu Forward and the N-Series trucks are offered under GM brands. There is also some production of the trucks in Venezuela. In 2013, according to the IHS Automotive Medium Heavy Commercial Vehicle production forecast, 2,591 Chevrolet trucks were built in the country, and that number is forecasted to drop to just below 2,000 units in 2015, and then grow to 3,000 units in 2021.
