The
ChevroletChevrolet , also known as Chevy , is a brand of vehicle produced by General Motors Company . Founded by Louis Chevrolet and ousted GM founder William C. Durant on November 3, 1911, General Motors acquired Chevrolet in 1918...
Colorado and its counterpart, the
GMC Canyon, are mid-size
pickup truckA pickup truck is a light motor vehicle with an open-top rear cargo area .-Definition:...
s by American carmaker
General MotorsGeneral Motors Company , commonly known as GM, formerly incorporated as General Motors Corporation, is an American multinational automotive corporation headquartered in Detroit, Michigan and the world's second-largest automaker in 2010...
. It was introduced in 2004 to replace the
Chevrolet S-10The first compact pickup from General Motors was the rebadged Isuzu KB sold since 1972 as the Chevrolet LUV. The 1973 Arab oil embargo forced GM to consider designing a domestically-produced compact pickup truck. As usual, parts from other GM chassis lines were incorporated. The first S-series...
and GMC Sonoma compact pickups.
First generation (2004-2012)
Isuzu, is a Japanese car, commercial vehicle and heavy truck manufacturing company, headquartered in Tokyo. In 2005, Isuzu became the world's largest manufacturer of medium to heavy duty trucks. It has assembly and manufacturing plants in the Japanese city of Fujisawa, as well as in the prefectures...
, which participated in the design of the truck, began selling its own version in late 2005, named the
"i-Series"The Isuzu i-Series mid-size pickup truck line was launched at the 2005 New York International Auto Show. The i-Series replaces the Isuzu Hombre, which has been out of production since 2000....
. The Chevrolet Colorado was jointly designed by GM's North American operations, GM's
BrazilBrazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
operations, and Isuzu, based on the GMT355, itself the basis for the GMT 345-based
Hummer H3The Hummer H3 was a crossover SUV/Sport Utility Truck from General Motors' Hummer division introduced in 2005 based on the GMT355 underpinning the Chevrolet Colorado and GMC Canyon compact pickup trucks. Produced at GM's Shreveport, Louisiana factory and the Port Elizabeth plant in South Africa the...
. The vehicles are manufactured at a GM plant in
RayongRayong is a city located on the shore of the Gulf of Thailand, in the east coast region of Thailand. It is the capital of Rayong Province, and covers the tambon Tha Pradu and Pak Nam and parts of tambon Choeng Noen and Noen Phra, all within Mueang Rayong district...
,
ThailandThailand , officially the Kingdom of Thailand , formerly known as Siam , is a country located at the centre of the Indochina peninsula and Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Burma and Laos, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the...
, and in
Shreveport, LouisianaShreveport Operations is a General Motors automobile factory in Shreveport, Louisiana. The factory opened in 1981 and currently produces the company's compact pickup trucks.-Products:* 1983–2004 Chevrolet S-10* 1983–2004 GMC Sonoma* 1991 GMC Syclone...
.
The Colorado/Canyon offer both
manualA manual transmission, also known as a manual gearbox or standard transmission is a type of transmission used in motor vehicle applications...
and
automatic transmissionAn automatic transmission is one type of motor vehicle transmission that can automatically change gear ratios as the vehicle moves, freeing the driver from having to shift gears manually...
s. GM also offers either a rear-wheel drive or
four-wheel driveFour-wheel drive, 4WD, or 4×4 is a four-wheeled vehicle with a drivetrain that allows all four wheels to receive torque from the engine simultaneously...
drivetrain with standard, extended, and four-door crew cab body styles. Most models come with the 2.8 l (171 cu in) LK5 I4 engine as standard, but a more powerful 3.5 l (213 cu in) L52 Straight-5 comes with the Z71 package on 4-door versions and is optional on all others. The 4-door Z71s also get the 4-speed automatic transmission standard. This package was later dropped in favor of LT2 and LT3.
A ZQ8 edition is available with a lower and more road-tuned "sport" suspension than the standard Z85 and comes with 17 inch wheels, color-matched bumper and grille, and low profile fender flares. There is also a Xtreme edition of the ZQ8 which has a different front bumper, rear bumper, side skirts, fender flares, grille, headlights, and 18 inch wheels. The Xtreme edition is basically a continuation of a trim package from its predecessor, the
Chevrolet S-10The first compact pickup from General Motors was the rebadged Isuzu KB sold since 1972 as the Chevrolet LUV. The 1973 Arab oil embargo forced GM to consider designing a domestically-produced compact pickup truck. As usual, parts from other GM chassis lines were incorporated. The first S-series...
.
For 2007, Colorado/Canyon was facelifted and offered new engines, which include the 2.9 l (177 cu in) LLV
I4The inline-four engine or straight-four engine is an internal combustion engine with all four cylinders mounted in a straight line, or plane along the crankcase. The single bank of cylinders may be oriented in either a vertical or an inclined plane with all the pistons driving a common crankshaft....
and 3.7 l (226 cu in) LLR
I5The straight-five engine or inline-five engine is an internal combustion engine with five cylinders aligned in one row or plane, sharing a single engine block and crankcase...
, new colors — Deep Ruby (Sonoma Red for the Canyon), Pace Blue (Sport Blue for the Canyon) and Imperial Blue (Midnight Blue for the Canyon), and new tires and wheels. Minor changes to the grille and interior for the LT and LTZ models; the LS models kept the same pre-facelift look, similar to the facelift of the TrailBlazer in 2005 & 2006. In addition, the "Colorado" & "Canyon" badges were phased out from the doors in favour of GM's corporate logo. For model year 2009, the Colorado was facelifted again and a 5.3 l (323 cu in) LH8 V8 is offered, producing 300 hp and 320 lbft. For the 2010 model year, the GM badges were phased out from those trucks, although fewer 2010 models had the GM logo on the doors.
Colorado/Canyon U.S. sales peaked in 2005 at 163,204 units, surpassing the perennial segment leader, the
Ford RangerThe Ford Ranger is a pickup truck produced by the Ford Motor Company. The "Ranger" name had previously been used for a premium styling package on the F-Series full-sized pickup trucks since 1965. The name was moved to this line of North American compact trucks for the 1983 model year.In North...
,
Nissan FrontierNissan Navara is the name for the D22 and D40 generations of Nissan pickup trucks sold in Asia while in the North, Central and South America and the Philippines it is sold as Nissan Frontier. The line was started in 1998, and its immediate predecessor is the D21 Nissan Hardbody truck...
, by almost 35% and just 3.3% behind the new best-seller, the
Toyota TacomaThe Toyota Tacoma is a pickup truck produced and manufactured by the Toyota Motor Corporation since 1995. The Tacoma was a compact pickup until a model redesign in 2005 when it was reclassified to a mid-size...
. In 2006, however, while still leading the Ford pickup by 27.5%, Colorado/Canyon's sales lagged their Toyota competitor's by almost 34%. One 2005 Canyon owned by successful U.S. Senate candidate
Scott BrownScott Brown is a United States senator.Scott Brown may also refer to:-Sportsmen:*Scott Brown , American college football coach of Kentucky State...
became famous as it was widely featured in his TV advertisements.
Despite crew cabs being limited to LT trims which most other Chevrolet vehicles only offer front bucket seating with the trim; the LT crew cabs are the only trims of the Colorado to have 6-passenger seating (i.e. with front bench seating).
Engines
| Years |
Engine |
Power |
Torque |
| 2004–2006 |
173 cu in (2.8 l) LK5 I4 The inline-four engine or straight-four engine is an internal combustion engine with all four cylinders mounted in a straight line, or plane along the crankcase. The single bank of cylinders may be oriented in either a vertical or an inclined plane with all the pistons driving a common crankshaft....
|
175 hp |
185 lbft |
| 2007–present |
178 cu in (2.9 l) LLV I4 The inline-four engine or straight-four engine is an internal combustion engine with all four cylinders mounted in a straight line, or plane along the crankcase. The single bank of cylinders may be oriented in either a vertical or an inclined plane with all the pistons driving a common crankshaft....
|
185 hp |
190 lbft |
| 2004–2006 |
214 cu in (3.5 l) L52 I5The straight-five engine or inline-five engine is an internal combustion engine with five cylinders aligned in one row or plane, sharing a single engine block and crankcase...
|
220 hp |
225 lbft |
| 2007–present |
223 cu in (3.7 l) LLR I5The straight-five engine or inline-five engine is an internal combustion engine with five cylinders aligned in one row or plane, sharing a single engine block and crankcase...
|
242 hp |
242 lbft |
| 2009–present |
325 cu in (5.3 l) LH8 V8 |
300 hp |
320 lbft |
Safety
In the
Insurance Institute for Highway SafetyThe Insurance Institute for Highway Safety is a U.S. non-profit organization funded by auto insurers, established in 1959 and headquartered in Arlington, Virginia. It works to reduce the number of motor vehicle crashes, and the rate of injuries and amount of property damage in the crashes that...
's frontal offset test the Colorado (extended version) is given a "Good" overall score, however the crew cab is rated "Acceptable". In the side impact test of the Colorado single cab is rated "Poor" with or without side curtain airbags. Side curtain airbags were made standard on all 2010 models; side torso airbags are not offered.
Yearly American sales
| Calendar Year |
Colorado | Canyon | Total U.S. sales |
| 2004 |
117,475 |
27,193 |
144,668 |
| 2005 |
128,359 |
34,845 |
163,204 |
| 2006 |
93,876 |
23,979 |
117,855 |
| 2007 |
75,716 |
20,888 |
96,604 |
| 2008 |
54,346 |
14,974 |
69,320 |
| 2009 |
32,413 |
10,107 |
42,520 |
| 2010 |
24,642 |
7,992 |
32,634 |
Second generation (2013-)
The second-generation Colorado was shown at the 2011 Bangkok Motor Show, and will also be sold in United States. Both the Thai version and American version will be largely same, except some styling changes and engine range.
External links