BMW i8 Concept: GMC Sierra All-Terrain HD Concept

Monday, April 25, 2011

GMC Sierra All-Terrain HD Concept

GMC Sierra All-Terrain HD Concept

Despite everything you've read, there is still a market for big, expensive lifestyle pickup trucks. So GMC is tackling the Ford SVT Raptor/ Dodge Power Wagon market with its own kind of executive off-roader, the Sierra All Terrain Concept. Unlike the Raptor, it's based on the Sierra 2500 HD. And keep in mind that at this point, it's only a concept. In fact, just as the Ford Super Chief concept hinted about the look of the latest F-150, the Sierra All Terrain hints at the next 1500 Sierra, due in the '13 model year.
The concept features a 39-degree approach angle and 31 degree departure angle. Built on an '11 Sierra 2500 crew cab body, with a 1500's five-foot, eight-inch box, the concept has a stock Duramax turbodiesel, making 390 horsepower and 745 pound-feet, like the production engine. Transmission also is stock, the Allison six-speed automatic. Thanks to the non-stock box/body combo, the concept's wheelbase is 149 inches, two inches shorter than a Sierra 2500 Crew Cab.
GMC Sierra All Terrain HD Concept Front Three Quarters.Jpeg
Suspension features custom upper- and lower-control arms, and Fox supplied second rebound shocks front and rear.
Tires are knobby 35-inch BFGs on 20-inch aluminum wheels. The front clip and hood is unique to the concept, with larger hood intakes to feed more air to the 6.6-liter Duramax.
On the profile, you'll notice a blacked-out b-pillar and anodized trim. A custom automatic swing-down entry/exit step stays out of the way for serious off-roading, and there's another swing-down step for the box just behind the rear doors, for easier loading and unloading.
It's no basic work truck, which means the leather interior is straight out of the HD Sierra Denali. A new radio includes an 80-gig hard drive. The concept adds lockable side storage compartments, with an electrical outlet, a compressed air outlet and a 360-degree floodlight in the box.
GMC Sierra All Terrain HD Concept Rear Three Quarter.Jpeg
Way in back, the designers have added LED taillamps and an integrated skidplate, and dual exhausts.
So, any production plans? It would be easy for GMC to build this truck, mostly with off-the-shelf parts. And like the Ford F-150 Raptor SVT, it would be a low-volume, high-price halo truck, anyway. It's more important as a kind of hint about what the next Sierra will look like. The styling suggests homage to the ground-breaking "fuselage"-style GM pickups of 1973, though there's a bit of Ford F-Series in the grille graphic.
It's also a chance for GMC to facelift the current Heavy Duty Sierras, which were redesigned for '11. Due to budget constraints, GMC (and Chevy with the HD Silverado) concentrated on making a new truck under the skin. There's very little visual difference from the previous heavy duty trucks.