The National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) announced today that the Chevrolet Silverado will be the Official Truck of the NHRA. This multi-year agreement will give the Silverado major on-site presence at all NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series events.
Most notable is that the Chevrolet Silverados (and Suburbans) will be used by the NHRA’s “Safety Safari presented by AAA” for emergency response and track preparation.
“Chevrolet is proud to partner with the series as the Official Truck of NHRA, and are honored that our Silverados and Suburbans will be utilized by the NHRA Safety Safari,” said vice president of Performance Vehicles and Motorsports, Jim Campbell. “Our involvement in NHRA allows us to showcase the most dependable, longest-lasting trucks in America to our customers and fans, and to fans of NHRA drag racing.”
The Chevrolet Performance brand already is the title sponsor for the Chevrolet Performance U.S. Nationals, which is held each Labor Day weekend near Indianapolis.
“NHRA provides a unique platform for Chevrolet to reach out in a very personal way to our very loyal fan base,” says NHRA senior vice president of sales and marketing, Gary Darcy. “Chevrolet will have a great opportunity to expose its products to NHRA fans and, at the same time, share its connection with NHRA through its extensive dealer network.” Added Darcy, “Chevrolet has a tremendous history of involvement with NHRA at the series level, event level and team level. Chevrolet’s expansion of its NHRA sponsorship reaffirms the fact that the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series provides a great return-on-investment.”
Comments
Yes, folks. Today I did the unthinkable. Hell hasn’t quite frozen over, but I’m sure the folks there reached for sweaters. I test drove a 2014 Silverado LT with the 5.3L V8. I swear to you, I got in the vehicle with the most open mind possible. I sat in it and listened to the very knowledgeable sales rep go over the various features, etc. I drive it and while I can say that it was by no means an unpleasant experience, I was just not impressed. I could not find a single dynamic reason to get a Silverado over a Ram, particularity since the styling inside and out are superior in the Ram (in my opinion, of course). While I didn’t drive the Tahoe, I did note that even the sales rep had some degree of difficulty telling the 2013 from the 2014 when viewed from behind. That’s not a good start (or in my case, end) to the introduction. In short, I feel even more convinced that these trucks simply do not have what it takes to dethrone the F150 or convincingly thrash the Ram. These trucks are all hype. Hype that I simply couldn’t be given, much less sold. That said, I did test drive the Cruze diesel and I must say, I was truly impressed. The torque from that oil burner was reminiscent of how the Silverado felt. At idle there is clatter from the engine, even with the doors closed and the windows up. But at anything above walking pace, there was no difference between it and my wife’s 2.5L Toyota Camry, in terms of noise. Even the sales rep hinted at me and said “you’re really much better off with the Cruze instead of that truck, to be honest”. Enough said.
Richard, I just want to point out that there was no face lift from 2013-2014 for the Tahoe, so it is no surprise that someone wasn’t able to tell them apart. It was the same exact SUV from 2006-2014. Just like the Dodge Durango was from 2003-2009. The new Tahoe is coming for 2015. As for Ford Vs Chevy, I completely disagree. Combining the sales numbers of the GM powerhouse twins (Sierra and Silverado), the sales are actually marginally larger than Ford. Chevy Vs Ram, I’ll give you that this year because of the ecodiesel and my own love of the styling. But reliability in these Chevrolet trucks is legendary. I have my 1990 K1500 with a 4.3L sitting in the driveway with 310 thousand happy miles. So, without some huge change in the “user experience,” I will still love GM for years, and I will support the NHRA for their decision to pick a *durable* truck to ensure the safety of drag racers.
I agree with Richard, had the same impressions. Nothing special about those trucks. And when you don’t get much change back from a $50,000 bill, you should expect something special. The older offerings from the competition spank this hands down.
Also, the validity of the 355hp rating should be looked into. Those are some weak horses if there are in fact 355 of them.
Why are you two still here? These mouth breathers would love to have you.
http://www.ramforumz.com/?gclid=CJjwv4XIrL4CFW4R7AodUgIAIQ
The fact is the Ram is a nice truck if you lease as after 4-5 years they are a mess to deal with.
As for Ford good truck but GM will never pass them up as they do not dump trucks on fleet sales as Ford does at massive discounts. Companies buy Fords for one reason they are the cheapest to buy in large numbers.
While that is all in good it hurts the resale of the private owner.
It is time to let GM play out it’s full hand here and just see where this is all going then you can piss and moan all you like. There is a lot of action to come and we have just entered the first act.
In the end the market will be transformed. All of them will sell aluminum trucks along with smaller models. The line up will remain Ford, GM and Ram in that order. With fleet sales and buyer loyalty as it is there will be little shift in the markets.
The real key is who ever can sell less full size trucks and still maintain the same profits as they have now with the larger volume will be the winner.