GM kills medium-duty trucks while opening new battery lab

Truck plant in Flint, Michigan will close as GM opens new battery lab in its home state

Chevrolet C4500 medium-duty truck at SEMA 2005
GM Global Battery Lab
GM Global Battery Lab
GM Global Battery Lab
GM Global Battery Lab
GM Global Battery Lab
GM Global Battery Lab
GM Global Battery Lab
GM Global Battery Lab
GM Global Battery Lab opening
GM Global Battery Lab opening
GM Global Battery Lab opening

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Comments (14)

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Xanavi23

Believe it or not, these trucks were perfect for contracters and other load bearing workers given how much they can toe and hold, always good to minimize trips, things have changed though. Its too bad.

June 9, 2009 10:54 am

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Renegade

Be careful, keep your eyes open, if your a sleeper GM might kill you too.

June 9, 2009 11:12 am

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Prince_Ash

wow the scary thing is when i visited the US, i saw one of thoes on the roads and it litterally shook the ground as it drove by. when i experianced this i was just in awe at how useless something like this is on city roads.

June 9, 2009 11:15 am

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2 replies

Xanavi23

Ignorance. They aren't useless, they're made for towing obscene amounts of weight/load. Bricks, Cement, Lumber, Tools, equipment trailers etc etc etc. Its not useless, the reason its being killed is mainly because in North America genuine contracting/domain/house building has slowed to a near crawl thus these trucks CAN'T be used for they're made...cause there's no work.

June 9, 2009 12:01 pm

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Renegade

ANd are used by soccer moms to carry their precious kids in it, closest thing to a tank.:p

June 9, 2009 12:11 pm

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mldrieling

These trucks are not for personal use. They were designed for Commercial users and for the RV industry. There really is nothing else on the market that competed in this size class. It's a shame that it's being killed off, but, in this economy having only one model in a limited market is not a good plan. I'm sure we will see more trucks like this from International, Navistar, Volvo etc...

June 9, 2009 11:37 am

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1 reply

Xanavi23

Spot On. While you can have alot of fun with these trucks...by no means are they made for personal use or fun.

June 9, 2009 12:02 pm

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xLumino

This truck at the pic dosn't make any sence. Only the US needs such sick cars. Europeans even carry heavy weights, but we have economical transporters therefor

June 9, 2009 1:05 pm

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1 reply

super_car_muscle_man

exactly. the only place where you have cars on this scale with oversized, usually petrol, engines for their purpose is america. in europe and around the world, this is simply not the case until you get to large articluataed trucks. most small to medium sized vans/"trucks" use a 2.0 litre - 2.8 litre economical diesel engines. with small lorrys being no larger than on average 5 litre diesels. economical and sufficient for the task at hand. so unlike some people mentioning its necessary - its not. a smaller, more economical vehical is sufficient. i think GM are doing the right thing by focusing on the future and the environment and moreover, not overdoing it with stupid sized engines.

June 9, 2009 2:32 pm

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tom43

If these trucks are so usefull as mentioned above, why is GM closing this loss-making division? Believe it or not, there are better concepts for commercial transportation!

June 9, 2009 2:14 pm

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1 reply

Xanavi23

Because the economy crashed, largely in part to the sub prime mortgage market which in turn means there isn't as much construction going on = these trucks don't need to be used anymore.

June 9, 2009 11:30 pm

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HEMI426

Is the Chevrolet C4500 based on a silverado, like the ford f250, f350 and f450 are based on the f150? I don't mind that they stop with this, as long they don't stop building the silverado, tahoe, suburban and camaro

June 9, 2009 3:29 pm

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Max_Speed

You're kidding right? The times for Tahoe and Suburban are gone, is time for the fiat and alfas :)

June 9, 2009 7:24 pm

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mldrieling

Super Car Muscle Man remember that the roads in America are vastly different than the roads in Europe. I've driven all over the world and American roads are wider, and it's possible to drive for 6 hours and not leave the state (not like in most European countries). I have a camper (recreational vehicle) that weighs over 5000 pounds. A 2.0 liter diesel wouldn't pull it because it's frame would need to be so heavy that the vehicle would never move. Also America taxes diesel fuel to the point that it's more expensive than petrol. That's why diesel vehicles are only used for commercial applications.

June 10, 2009 10:12 am

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