GM has reportedly killed plans to produce a unibody pickup after figuring out that it wouldn’t get really get better fuel economy than its current trucks. GM’s vice chairman of global product development, Tom Stephens, told the Automotive News that the unibody pickup would have had less capability, but not better fuel economy.
GM unveiled a concept of the truck in early 2008 that used the Zeta rear wheel drive platform (same as the Pontiac G8). It’s architecture would have been similar to only unibody truck on the market, the Honda Ridgeline. Even though the Honda Ridgeline is a unibody pickup, it doesn’t get much better fuel economy than a four-wheel-drive Chevy Silverado 14/20 vs. 15/20. Buyers of the planned GM unibody pickup also expected it to cost less than GM’s current full-size trucks, which would have made it even less profitable for GM.
