Remember when the now-retired Bob Lutz spilled the beans on GM’s plans to euthanize its current mediocre mid-size truck offerings in North America by 2012? According to new reports, The General is looking to stay in the segment with an all-new small pickup design. What’s more, the pickup trucks are said to be a modern take on the size and style of the original S10 pickup of yore.

2000 Chevrolet S10 ZR2

Within the past few years, sales and market share of the GMC Canyon and Chevy Colorado fraternal twins have taken a steep drop. Currently, sales of the GMC Canyon is off 28.5 percent from a year ago while those of the Chevy Colorado are down 30.3 percent from the same time. Their market share has been swallowed by today’s two biggest players in the segment: the domestic gray-haired Ford Ranger and the 100,000 unit-per-year juggernaut that is the Toyota Tacoma.

As it stands right now, Ford looks to do away with the storied Ranger in favor of an Eco-Boost F-150 and the Tacoma seems to be too large and expensive for the segment, even though it’s selling in good quantities. Interestingly, even full-size pickups have taken a share of the midsize and compact segments due to the proximity in price of a decently-contended mid-size pick-up compared to a base half-ton. In fact, just 87,985 small and mid-level trucks have been sold this year as of April, according to J.D. Power an Associates’ Power Information Network Sales Figures. Current market conditions offer a perfect opportunity for a brand such as Chevy or GMC to enter the fray and change the game with a standout offering.

2010 Chevrolet Colorado

A few bullet points that will make GM’s future small truck endeavor a success include a fuel economy that’s superior to and a sticker price that’s significantly less than its full size offerings. Oh, and the North American version will also be a completely different model than the next-generation Colorado/Canyon twins that will be built in Thailand and sold globally (save for North America). This makes us wonder whether the new small pickups will be truck- or car-based. In this case, it looks like only time will tell.

[Source: Pickup Trucks]