According to Mike Levine at PickUpTrucks.com :"In the battle for power and performance bragging rights among heavy-duty
pickup trucks, General Motors is already planning how to outmaneuver archrival
Ford to claim the highest towing and hauling ratings in the segment. It could
happen by next year, according to Jeff Luke, chief engineer for GM's full-size
trucks.
During the past several weeks, GM and Ford have been playing a fierce
game of one-upmanship as each has slowly revealed the awesome capabilities of
their 2011 HD pickups.
GM went first, announcing towing and hauling numbers for its 2011
Chevrolet Silverado 2500 and 3500 HD pickups that beat comparable 2010 Ford
F-Series F-250 and F-350 rigs. What was Ford's response? New best-in-class towing and hauling numbers
for its 2011 Super Duty lineup that beat the 2011 Chevy Silverado (and 2011 GMC Sierra HD). Then, Ford upped the ante by also
announcing segment-best power figures for its new 6.2-liter V-8 gas engine and
new 6.7-liter Power Stroke V-8 diesel that beat GM’s comparable 2010 gas and
diesel engines. Ford is still holding onto the gas engine crown, but GM just announced (you guessed it) best-in-class horsepower and
torque figures for the 2011 6.6-liter Duramax V-8 diesel. Diesel engines are the
heart of the HD market.
But GM says it’s not content to stop there. The 2011
Silverado and Sierra HD pickups feature all-new fully boxed frames and tougher
suspensions and axles that give them headroom to up their work ratings as they
gain confidence in the new platform and potentially make further structural or
running gear revisions.
“There’s a lot of activity going on right now,” Luke
said at the 2010 NTEA Work Truck Show. “It’s not difficult [to raise towing
and payload]. The trucks are extremely capable, and we’re looking at a number of
options. Any increase would probably come from both better confidence in the
trucks and engineering changes. Whatever we do, we’ll be completely
transparent.”
Could that happen in the next 12 months?
“That sounds
reasonable,” Luke said.
What we’re not likely to see, though, is another
giant increase in the horsepower and torque from the 6.6-liter Duramax V-8, says
GM powertrain engineering manager Jim Minneker.
“We’ve stretched this rubber
band pretty tight,” Minneker said. “It’s not going to happen in the short
term.”
Even though 60 percent of the hardware for the 2011 Duramax diesel is
new, the engine’s current architecture dates back to the 2001 GM Heavy Duty pickups.
Ford, however, appears to have
plenty of performance headroom left in its clean sheet design 6.7-liter PSD V-8.
We’re already hearing strong rumbles from sources that Ford is doing some
planning of their own."Good luck Ford! You are going to need it!
