The 2015 Chevy Colorado will set you back at least $20,995 when it goes on sale in the fall. Base model Colorados will come with a six-speed manual transmission connected to Chevrolet’s 200 horsepower 2.5-liter four-cylinder engine. Buyers will also be treated to power windows, a backup camera, and a locking tailgate.
The Colorado will be available in both extended and crew cab variants, with the former offering a six-foot bed and the latter available with either a five- or six-foot bed. Notable options include a 305 horsepower 3.6-liter V6 LFX engine, a six-speed automatic transmission, OnStar 4G LTE, and crash avoidance technologies like Forward Collision Alert and a Lane Departure Warning system. Chevrolet outlined that a rear-wheel-drive short-bed Colorado LT Crew Cab will cost $27,985, while the higher end, short-bed Colorado Z71 4×4 Crew Cab will run $34,990.
The Colorado is designed to compete directly with the Nissan Frontier and Toyota Tacoma pickup trucks; however, Chevrolet expects some full-size pickup truck and small SUV buyers to cross shop the Colorado as well. “[The Colorado will have a] strong appeal for people who know they want a truck, but want one that is easier to maneuver in traffic and easier to park at work or at home,” Colorado marketing manager Tony Johnson said.
Comments
So far, so good! Lots of buzz among customers about this truck
Isn’t the size of this new “smaller” truck about the size of what full-sized pickup trucks used to be several years ago? Why isn’t there a demand for an S10 sized pickup? Or would there be if one were available.
It really surprises me that a true “small” truck hasn’t materialized somewhere. I would think Toyota might want to make one as a Scion and market it to the entry-level crowd and fleet customers.
So close on the manual transmission. Doesn’t GM realize that people buy manuals now because they enjoy manuals, not because they are cheap? I was almost ready to go reserve one of these today at my local chevy dealer, but once I saw the manual is small engine and 2wd only, I bailed. Lets hope they get it right on the diesel next year….
Not it is not the size of a past half ton. This truck if you have ever seen one you would understand it is about 3/4 size of any half ton past or present.
The truck is narrower and for the most shorter accept in the crew long bed that is about the length of a extended trailblazer.
GM is looking at doing a smaller truck yet below this. They even did a GMC one with a expandable bed just few years ago. GM and the others will explore this segment and with the explosion of the small CUV we will see some smaller truck like vehicles soon. The smaller cars can haul much more than people so these vehicles will find their place.
Frank the reality is less than7% of the entire market is manual shift and 85% of them are in performance cars. GM knows what the public wants and that is what they are serving up.
The reality is other than enthusiast few people even know how to drive a stick. Automakers are not going to offer trucks that sit on dealer lots and have to be discounted because the dealer may get a request for a truck like this once a month if they are lucky,
The fact is the numbers and market are against us. To get it back we need to teach people how to drive stick again and that will be difficult when the youth segment really has no great love for cars anymore. We used them to get out and hang out or meet people today they just text and send photo’s.
If you can get the market to even 15 percent I believe they would bring it back but with falling numbers I see little hope.
The day is not far off where only a few cars will have a stick.
As G.M moves to a smaller number of drive train’s shared amongst all markets, then surely the ability of a U.S dealer to source and supply a vehicle with a manual gearbox will improve as the development costs would be leveraged by global scale. It stikes me that the new range of smaller trucks G.M are launching would make a good European offering as there seems to be a growing demand for this type of vehicle in the U.K and mainland Europe that G.M is yet to exploit.
Sourcing the parts is only part of the issue to reviving manuals.
The other is the higher cost of putting them on the market in some vehicles and then selling it at a lower price.
In many cases you have to pass EPA regs with the Automatic and the Manual that is major added cost for a car in this country. Will you sell enough to cover the cost of the specialized parts and the testing for crash and emissions. You sell 20% of the volume yes but you sell at 5% volume in a lower priced segment and you never recoup the investment.
Also add in that the emissions with some engines are tougher to meet with a Manual vs. auto or semi auto.
There is a lot of factors ever over these in play and the key to it all is the low sales out side a performance segment.
I would love to see every vehicle with a manual options but the reality is it is just not that easy to do if you use all the factors GM faces and the lack of public demand is the greatest obstacle. We may see demand on the enthusiast sites but generally we are the 5% I am sad to say.
Like I said you want manuals to come back teach a kid to drive a stick! Hell it was not long ago I jumped in a Vette and took my son for a drive. He is just all enough now to watch me drive and ask questions. He wanted to know why I moved the gear shift so much. It occurred to me that this may have been the first time he had been in a manual car. I was almost ashamed to think I had not gotten him in one before. But we do not own one now and the wife has never driven one. I hope to correct that soon with a Vette but till then.
Note I do refuse to buy FWD cable operated manual transmissions as they get messed up as they get older. I want a proper stick with RWD and the integral shifter.
Hell my old Chevelle SS had a proper Hurst and heavy clutch in it. I loved that car. I wish I still had it today.
The pricing sounds very good so far. Almost all the utilities of the full size pickups with an affordable price tag. Excellent! Let’s just hope these trucks deliver.
Meanwhile for Holden, the crappy global version of the Colorado in absolute base form (4×2, single cab, no cargo tray/bed) is still $32,000+ – If GM are serious about Holden being the number 1 brand in Aus by 2020, I’d start with giving us the NA version of the Colorado and the GMC Canyon as well as lowering the price.
Give them time as they are just now getting it here. Holden will get a lot of the better cars from around the GM world now that they are making the changes there.