Chevrolet Colorado Show Truck unveiled in Bangkok
The Chevrolet Colorado Show Truck, which is scheduled for its first public appearance at the upcoming Bangkok Motor Show, made its world premiere yesterday in a grand ceremony at the Royal Thai Navy Hall yesterday.
Details have been deliberately kept scarce, but there is little doubt that this so-called ‘show truck’ is extremely close to the actual production model, which will be launched later this year. The previous generation Colorado was a rebadged Isuzu D-Max, part of a lapsed manufacturing agreement with the Japanese company that was not renewed.
“The next-generation Chevrolet Colorado will carry with it the heritage of almost 100 years of award-winning Chevrolet trucks. We are proud to build it here in Thailand and confident that it will be ‘tailor fit’ for Thai consumers,” said Mr. Martin Apfel, president of General Motors Thailand / South East Asia, amidst a launch venue filled with classic Chevrolet trucks faithfully kept in pristine condition by their respective Thai owners.
That long truck heritage was then further emphasized by Ms. Susan Docherty, vice president, GM International Operations Sales, Marketing and Aftersales, who said, “Trucks have been part of Chevrolet’s heritage for nearly all of its 100-year history. The next-generation Colorado will reinforce that heritage with expressive design, refinement and uncompromising capability.”
The GM global product team paid great attention to the Thai market in developing the all-new Colorado. Senior engineers were sent to live in Thailand and observe how local Thais use (or shall we say abuse) their pick-ups. GM believes that in this respect, the Thailand market represents a good generalization of the region’s demographics.
Sitting on a ladder frame with high-riding suspension, the Colorado Show Truck has a 2.8-litre turbodiesel engine of undisclosed specifications. It is shown, not with the usual twin-cab bodystyle that Malaysians are familiar with, but rather as an extended-cab with suicide rear doors – think Mazda RX-8 on a pick-up.
For its motor show appearance, the show truck is finished in Pepperdust Metallic exterior paint accented with polished aluminium details. Its LED taillights and smoked projector headlamps feature very intricate design touches which would be wonderful to see in the actual production model. At the corners sit 20″ aluminium wheels wrapped with 285/50 Cooper Zeon LTZ off-road tyres.
The show truck’s cabin features the trademark Chevrolet double-cockpit design. Quite how much of the ice-blue lighting, dark wood trim, dual-zone air-con, 7″ LCD screen and ‘double-faced’ leather seats make it to production remains open to question, but the overall layout appears very production ready.
We will bring you more live pictures of the Colorado show truck when we view it up close at the motor show tomorrow. Until then, we shall leave you with Chevrolet’s official pictures.
