As we highlighted last year, a key difference between GM’s all-new full-size pickup trucks – the all-new 2019 Silverado and the 2019 Sierra – is that the GMC offers Adaptive Ride Control (it’s standard on the 2019 Sierra Denali), whereas the 2019 Silverado does not offer the advanced suspension system on any model, trim level, or equipment group – whether standard or optional.
Adaptive Ride Control, or ARC, is the most advanced suspension technology offered in the new, T1-platformed Sierra. The feature provides premium driving refinement with exceptional responsiveness, delivering a high level of primary vehicle motion control and with better ride isolation. The system replaces Magnetic Ride Control, which was available on the last-generation GM pickups on the K2 platform.
And though GM’s all-new T1 platform pickups offer significantly higher levels of differentiation compared to previous-generation K2 platform trucks (for instance, the 2019 Sierra offers a carbon fiber bed and the acrobatic MultiPro tailgate, but the Silverado doesn’t), the lack of Adaptive Ride Control on the 2019 Silverado is a very notable mechanical difference between the two vehicles.
So, is GM right to only offer Adaptive Ride Control on the 2019 Sierra and not on the 2019 Silverado? Share your thoughts in the poll and tell us why you voted in the comments below.
Comments
They need to offer more to the Silverado because they are seriously leaving it behind in current options (on higher trim level). You can offer more optional equipment without stealing sales from the Sierra. The Silverado is still the 2nd best selling truck but offering less it’s only going to lose market share to the Ram in my opinion.
I think they should offer ARC as an option on LTZ and standard on the High Country. I
Off topic but I think it would be an awesome update if they added air ride suspension to the Denali. You could offer that on the Sierra and offer ARC on the High Country. The Airbags would help keep the truck leveled when you haul or tow. After seeing it in the Ram I’m surprised Ford hasn’t offered it. I hear Toyota is rumored to get it to their Tundras. Anyways that’s my opinion, just my two cents worth.
Ford knows better than to offer it after the Lincoln fiasco. Air ride is a deal where it is not if but when it fails and when it fails it is very expensive to fix.
GM learned this in the late 50’s and early 60’s and Ford learned it in the 80’s and 90’s.
Just look around at how man Lincolns are parked due to suspension leaks that cost more to fix than the vehicle is worth.
Even the Air Ride and Firestone aftermarket systems leak after a while and they need line and bag replacements.
What the Denali has now is the best system but even then it should only be optional so people can choose it or not. No everyone wants the added cost to purchase of if they have to repair it on a long term ownership basis.
GM is losing market share to Ram because of high discounts and lower prices at Ram. I have Rams in my area with $18K off sticker but GM only $9K. With the high prices of trucks a full size Ram crew 4×4 with a $35K price on it is what is really attracting people. They pay for the discounts on resale but at the time of purchase all is roses to them.
As a Chevy guy, I would appreciate the ability to choose from all available options. However, the lack of a particular option will NOT make me buy a GMC. I am brand loyal to Chevrolet.
If it’s anything like the air ride setup on the Ram 1500, NO THANKS. The components in the air ride system FCA uses is totally unreliable and constantly on backorder because so many of them need to be replaced. Every winter the Ram dealer has half a dozen trucks with jacked up air ride suspensions, sitting around waiting for replacement parts. They ride rough at max ground clearance and they’re slow when it comes to making adjustments.
The new Ram trucks are so much more competitive and appealing. Poor Mary Barra has already had to offer $9,000 rebates on the 2019 Silverado because it obviously isn’t selling. And she still wonders why GM is failing. ??
You can get $11,676 off a Ram. One google search bro, and I ruined your argument.
Ram was offering similar rebates 3 months after their new truck launched.
When the 2019 Ram first hit dealer lots, they sat and sat for months. Within a few months Ram was pushing $8k off. By July incentives on the new Ram 1500 hit $13k in some areas. It wasn’t until incentives of between $10k and $13k were available did the 2019 Ram 1500 start selling any better. Even now, Ram sales are only slightly above their averages sales numbers from previous years. There was a bunch of hype last month because of all the click bait headlines claiming Ram sales “jumped” by double digit percentages. Anybody that checked into the numbers would have actually realized that was only because sales in the same month a year before were way way down. If compared to sales two years earlier, Ram sales were only up a couple percentage points, which could have been contributed to the huge incentives on the outgoing model year trucks.
I am not sure if GM is intending to do this or have stumbled upon a plan of really making two different lines of trucks. I like the idea of keeping Silverado a “value” truck. A more basic choice for folks who just need a truck. The Sierra line can be the technological marvel line, the upscale (supposedly) truck to showcase GM and compete against other luxury trucks.
If you look at a Chevy High Country or LTZ there is nothing that screams luxury about them and there is no justification for their price. But when you look at a WT or Custom Trail Boss you realize that there is a lot of truck for that trim level. GM should focus on this approach IMO.
I’ll look at this 2 ways. And Alex here has pointed things like this out many times.
First from a former Chevrolet buyers perspective. They haven’t stumbled onto anything. It’s as intentional as intentional can get. Even the Trail Boss has a glass ceiling over it’s head. Where’s the 6.2? GM likes to say the LS/LT engines are the newest generations of the Small Block. Of course we know which small block they’re referring to, the SBC.. Yet Chevrolet’s top selling vehicle isn’t allowed it’s very own top tier engine in trims like this? But GM’s own GMC gets to have it in it’s AT4 version. All the while Ford gets it’s own top tier engines and so does Dodge along with everything else under the sun, high end interiors and all. But not Chevrolet. It continues to be the red headed step child of the GM family while GMC/Buick get the goods. It’s a fact, if it’s not a race car (Camaro/Corvette), you can’t buy a top tier Chevrolet like you could get with Ford. GM wants you to leave Chevrolet entirely and switch over to their preferred GMC & Buick family. It’s why I’m not buying new Chevy’s any longer. They just don’t offer the things I want under the Bowtie. You can’t get the things from Chevy like you can from Ford or Toyota or Kia even if you want to pay for them. This IMO is just the continuation of Chevrolet’s destruction by GM. As a one time Chevrolet diehard, I truly wish Chevy would have been folded when GM went into bankruptcy. It’s painful watching it die by the death from a thousand cuts method.
From a strictly value buyer point of view however, if they insist on Chevy being a second rate value truck, then it needs to sell at value pricing. That means Cheap. This is what’s so funny about GM, they love to have their cake and eat it too on this. Please show me the ‘value’ in buying a Chevy. It surely isn’t up front. A Chevy truck is not much cheaper than a GM truck. It’s not like you’ll save 10 or 20 grand buying a Chevy over anything else. And come resale time you get hit again because your used Chevy wasn’t that great when it was new. So if GM insists on keeping Chevy alive and insists on making it second rate to GMC, it needs to be Far Cheaper… Go ahead, let GMC be the rival to Ford, Dodge, Toyota and Nissan. No more of this Chevy Vs. Ford stuff in their marketing. It’s now GMC Vs. Ford… Sell the GMC at their pricing level. But then they need to sell Chevy’s at firesale pricing for the lower income families to justify keeping it open.
The Custom trim is so de-contented that most people wouldn’t buy one over an LT. For some reason GM thought it was acceptable to removed the center storage compartment from the fold down seat. The LT’s 60/40 seat still has the storage compartment yet it’s missing from the Custom trim. All you get are some cup holders.
If a buyer wants to have the largest rims, like 22 inch, having adaptive ride control should be an option to help offset a harsher ride, due to smaller sidewall width for these big rims.
Many people are buying high end, short bed, crew pickups, to be used a a luxury vehicle.
It should make sense to offer ARC on the high end Silverados.
A more significant technical differentiation between a Denali pickup and all Silverados or lesser trim Sierra’s over ARC would be to feature IRS on the Denali PU An IRS may be more complexity than the pickup production plants can handle though. Purists may poop on an IRS pickup. GM’s engineering executives may not be the sharpest engineers, but they are not going to allow the product development team to implement an IRS in the future full size utilities, as spied, which reduces payload and trailering capacity compared to previous generations. Full size utilities are amongst the crown jewels of profitability and image for GM, they are not going to risk this while moving from solid to independent rear suspension. When Ford comes out with IRS on the F150 before GM, the naysayers will say GM is last again. Like when Ford announced the Ecoboost, people who never experienced it pooped on it, but it sure doesn’t seem to hurt Ford’s sales.
During GMT900 development, GM had clinics with an AAM produced Herb Adams designed IRS Tahoe mule, and a Magna designed and produced Escalade mule. Both reviewed and tested well, but could not proceed towards production because of a long term supplier commitment, and assembly plant resentment. Facts not fiction.
IRS on a half-ton truck is going to be a total joke. Just like Ford’s old Twin-Traction Beam suspension that did nothing but chew up tires and make for hilarious memes.
ive had three silverados in my life but now im buying a ram chevy is ugly, overpriced , cheezy interior compared to ram and ford sorry bye bye chevy
I’m not an expert on this, but referencing GM Authority’s own figures, Chevrolet consistently out-sells GMC in trucks by nearly double year after year. Since 2010, GMC has increased their truck sales by approx. 90,000 units, vs. Chevrolet’s figure of nearly — a quarter of million unit increase — in sales! Chevy truck owners are extremely loyal to the brand. (I’d like to see the figure for repeat buyers.) It’s puzzling as to why GM experimenting here with the sacred cow. Their strategy of: “only available in our higher-priced GMC line” doesn’t seem to be sending Chevy truck owners (or anyone else) to the Buick/GMC dealer.
http://gmauthority.com/blog/gm/general-motors-sales-numbers/chevrolet-silverado-gmc-sierra-sales-numbers/
Forget the ADC…..get the extended cab model back into production……give the people the models they want…..not what U push at us…..PRONTO
I wish they would continue building the regular cab 6 1/2′ configuration. I don’t need to carry more than one passenger-I have passenger cars for that. Looks like I’ll be keeping my 2011 Sierra for a long time.
In addition, todays garages are often too small for such long vehicles. I was told once that I could just park one of my cars on the driveway. My response was………I don’t have any cars like that.
I agree here with your points here smokefoot: My brother in law has a Tacoma Long Bed with the access-cab. The jump seats aren’t much, but they’re folded down 99% of the time anyway, creating lots of protected space. He calls it his perfect “second car”. It’s not a small vehicle either. I borrow it and I love driving it. My brother has a 2016 f150 4×4 crew cab, and when I borrow that truck, while beautiful and powerful it’s intimidating to drive…. especially in supermarket and home center parking lots. Complete overkill for me. (I don’t tell him that though.). :^}
Let me say that in suspension tuning alone (like BMW’s and Mercedes) the new Silverado is light years ahead of the other trucks. (has anyone driven the last gen high county with magna-ride and compared it to the new truck?) The new truck has a better suspension than any other truck out there, and is only beat by the ram in ride because of active dampening on the frame. it doesn’t need ARC to be competitive with all but the limited trims of ram and ford, who are countered by the ARC in the denali. Now for history’s sake, Chevy didn’t offer Magna-ride initially in the high country trim. it came as a refresh in 2016. For the 2020 refresh, which is when fords new f150 comes out, I predict Chevy’s standard grill and cheap light update as well as several new features to compete with the new ford. Of these features, ARC on all sierra modles, with magna ride on the SLT and denali and chevy getting ARC on the LTZ and High country,
They need to first offer Adaptive Cruise Control in order to complete with the other truck manufacturers before we worry about ARC. Even inexpensive cars have ACC. Can’t believe a major model upgrade and it doesn’t have ACC. Hoping this gets corrected soon. Adaptive Ride Control is not a game changer. GM already has the best ride of all the trucks. Making it even smoother is not going to move trucks that don’t have the basic features like ACC.