Although most of us know by now that Nicolas Cage and the Mayans got it wrong and the world probably won't end in 2012, Chevrolet wants you to know that the apocalypse is no match for its Silverado pickup.
If you're shopping in the highly competitive pickup truck market, expect to see a completely redesigned Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra next year, according to our friends at PickupTrucks.com.
The Chevy Silverado 1500 and GMC Sierra 1500 were last redesigned in 2006. They got a new body, frame and suspension. This time around, expect more of the same. We should see a totally new exterior and interior design, a new frame and heavily revised engines, PickupTrucks.com reports.
As the year comes to an end, Chevrolet is offering some unique deals on select models, including no-money-down leases or financing that defers the first monthly payment for a few months.
Special deals are available to shoppers of the 2012 Chevrolet Equinox, Traverse and Impala (LS trim only). All three have attractive 0% financing with the option of having no monthly payments until the spring, according to Chevy.
Well-qualified shoppers can get 0% to 3.9% financing for 60 months, depending on the model. The new 2012 Chevrolet Sonic and popular Cruze have 2.9% financing deals for 60 months. The soon-to-be-defunct Impala has $3,000 cash on the hood; so does the 2012 Chevy Avalanche. You can take off $2,000 on a new 2012 Traverse, while the hot-selling 2012 Chevy Tahoe and Suburban have only $1,500 on the hood.
The deals are even more attractive for those looking to lease a new Chevy. Under the Sign & Drive program, you can lease a new 2012 Cruze ($199 a month), Malibu ($229 a month), Traverse ($299 a month) or Silverado ($381 a month for All Star Edition trims) for no money down with 39-month and 39,000-mile terms.
All current Chevy deals end Jan. 3. For more information, go here.
Falling consumer confidence hasn't deterred car shoppers, as pent-up demand raised October sales versus a year ago for all but one major carmaker. Chrysler, Hyundai/Kia and Nissan posted big gains, with GM, Ford and Honda growing modestly. Toyota was the sole loser, dropping 7.9 percent in sales. Pickup trucks, typically strong in the fall, saw continued gains, but family sedans made a comeback, taking three of October's top five slots — something not seen since May.
Detroit pickups took the top two spots, with GM's Chevrolet Silverado and Ford’s F-Series posting some sales gains. The F-Series stayed atop the sales pile this month, comfortably outselling the No. 2 Chevrolet Silverado. Six-cylinder engines account for more than half of all F-150s sold, Ford sales chief Ken Czubay said in a conference call. It gives shoppers of the soon-to-be-discontinued Ranger a truck with similar gas mileage, he said.
Despite the 2012 redesign hitting dealerships last month, Toyota's popular Camry fell 11.9 percent — dethroned for the moment by the Honda Accord, down 1.1 percent. Accord inventory is only about half of what it was in October 2010, according to Automotive News.
The latest PickupTrucks.com Shootout is a different beast from its predecessors. Instead of choosing between similarly equipped pickup trucks, the focus of this Shootout is pricing. All the trucks in the competition had to stick to a firm $30,000 budget, leading to significant differences between them.
Five trucks participated in the Shootout:
To see how the trucks fared through a vigorous barrage of testing, including four days of back-to-back driving and a long stint at Ford’s Michigan Proving Grounds, go to PickupTrucks.com.
2011 $30,000 Shootout (PickupTrucks.com)
August was another solid month of sales growth for many popular carmakers, but Toyota and Honda once again remained the exception.
General Motors (up 18%), Ford (up 11.2%), Nissan (up 19.2%) and Hyundai (up 9.1%) all recorded strong growth. Chrysler grew by 31%, which the automaker says is “well above the industry average.” Stable truck sales buoyed GM, Ford and Chrysler: The Ford F-Series and Chevrolet Silverado are firmly the top-selling vehicles of the year thus far, and Ram sales have grown nearly 25% compared with 2010.
The Chevrolet Cruze was the third-best-selling car of the month, and it was the best-selling compact car. It’s also GM’s best-selling car, beating the Chevy Malibu and Impala year-to-date.
Toyota and Honda were a different, yet familiar, story. Both companies saw double-digit declines compared with a year ago. Toyota was down 12.7% while Honda fell a whopping 24.6%.
Despite the slump, the Toyota Camry remained the top-selling car in August, with more than 30,000 of the family sedans reaching customers. The Honda Accord returned to the top 10 best-selling list, finishing in ninth place. The once-venerable nameplate was absent from the list in July.
For the 2012 model year, the Chevy Silverado 1500 and the Silverado Heavy Duty get new trim packages and other modest upgrades, according to PickupTrucks.com.
On some trims, the 2012 Silverado 1500 gets a new grille that fits in better with the grille on the Silverado 2500 and 3500.
There’s a new trim on the 1500, called the Custom Sport Truck Package, that might compete with the Ram 1500 Express, according to PickupTrucks.com.
On the opposite spectrum, the 1500 gets a new high-end White Diamond Edition trim that gives the truck similar aesthetics to the Chevy Suburban 75th Anniversary Diamond Edition.
On the HD models, GM engineers have increased the towing and hauling numbers, and the Silverado HD lineup now once again has best-in-class figures, says PickupTrucks.com. There’s also a new Z71 appearance package.
Continue reading at PickupTrucks.com for more info:
First Look: 2012 Chevrolet Silverado 1500
First Look 2012 Chevrolet Silverado Heavy-Duty
Around this time every year, dealers are hard at work trying to sell the remaining cars on their lots as new-model-year vehicles start to roll in. This year is no different, and while some 2012s haven’t arrived yet, it’s still the best time to buy a 2011 … as long as you know what to look for. That’s where we come in.
We diligently report on even the slightest changes between model years as soon as possible. Sometimes this means a car will look the same but get an all-new engine and transmission like the upcoming 2012 Mazda3 sedan that’s expected to get 40 mpg highway. Other times, nothing significant has changed between model years, and then there are the all-new cars that have been redesigned from the ground up.
You’ll find the best deals in that second group of vehicles that go from 2011 to 2012 without much change. It’s been a challenge this year to find bargains because manufacturers are making more significant model-year changes and incentives for these older models just aren’t that alluring.
Here are some of the best deals we could find:
The most popular stolen vehicle last year was the 1994 Honda Accord, according to the National Insurance Crime Bureau.
Of the 52,000 Honda Accords stolen in 2010, some 44,000 of them were models made in the ’90s, the non-profit group said. Older cars and models are typically stolen for the value of their parts, while newer cars are typically stolen and then resold, the bureau says.
The 1995 Honda Civic and 1994 Acura Integra — which placed second and eighth, respectively — are popular among car thieves because their engines are easily swappable. You can place the more powerful Integra powertrain into a more lightweight Civic, for example. Both models are popular with street racers and car remodeling enthusiasts, so demand for parts is strong.
GM is recalling 739 vehicles from the 2011 model year, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. The affected vehicles are the Cadillac Escalade and Escalade ESV 1500; Chevrolet Silverado, Suburban and Tahoe; and GMC Sierra, Yukon and Yukon XL.
The affected vehicles are being recalled because the intermediate steering shaft attaching bolts might not have been tightened properly. This could cause the joints to separate and lead to steering loss, increasing the risk of a crash.
The recall is expected to begin on July 13. GM dealers will inspect the intermediate steering shaft bolts and tighten them, if needed. For more info, owners can call Cadillac at 800-458-8006, Chevrolet at 800-630-2438, GMC at 866-996-9463 or NHTSA’s hotline at 888-327-4236.
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