It’s almost ready to rumble, but unfortunately, it won’t be doing any rumbling here. In an official press release, General Motors has stated that the new Chevrolet Colorado will indeed be built for ‘rest of the world’ consumption, much like its new Ford Ranger competitor.
New Chevy Colorado
The ‘global’ Colorado (currently undergoing final testing – see above) will be offered in a choice of extended and crew cab configurations and feature 2.5 and 2.8 liter Duramax diesel engine options under the hood with a choice of manual and automatic transmissions. It will be assembled at GM’s facility in Rayong, Thailand, which has undergone a tooling upgrade of some $300 million to handle production of the new truck and Thailand, understandably will be the Colorado’s launch market.
Launches in other markets across Asia and the Pacific Rim, as well as Africa, the Middle East and South America will follow.
Having spent much time in Thailand during the vehicle’s development process, in order to gauge the kind of buyers found in the local pickup market as well as driving conditions many trucks are subjected to, Colorado chief engineer Roberto Rempel and his team believe that Chevy’s new mid-size pickup is more than up to the task.
“We know customers of this type of vehicle want a workhorse and a daily-use vehicle all in one, so our product has to deliver. We have benchmarked the toughest, most flexible vehicles around the world,” Rempel said. “When you combine that approach with our detailed consideration of global expectations, we are confident the new Colorado will be a winner.”
