38 AUGUST 20, 2018 final assembly Pebble Beach: Go to autonews.com for coverage of the 2018 Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance. 2019 Chevrolet Silverado: Can it attract luxury buyers? It may have been billionaire Gerry Lenfest’s birthday, but he was the one giving the gifts. Left, employees discover their bonus checks, some for as much as $70,000. MICHAEL WAYLAND Best boss ever: JLR store workers split $2 million P Function without the fl air J ACKSON HOLE, Wyo. — T e 2019 Chevrolet Silverado may set a new industry standard for engineering and ride. It’s smooth and nimble, and the V-8 powertrains are a joy to drive. spanking new.
Every surface is brand new.” hiladelphia media mogul and philanthropist Gerry Lenfest, who died Aug. 5 at 88, also happened to be a car dealer. Indeed, he may have set the record for bonus checks handed out to dealership employees. But Smyth wanted to make it special, so the store held a party to celebrate Lenfest’s birthday. T at’s fi ne for traditional buyers; however, the Silverado falls short in interior advancements compared with Fiat Chrysler’s Ram pickup, which is also redesigned for the 2019 model year.
Particularly impressive about the new Chevy truck are the use of mixed materials to lightweight the vehicle up to 450 pounds, advancements in its box and industry- fi rst technologies such as Dynamic Fuel Management, an advanced form of cylinder deactivation. “I had Gerry come in and speak for about 10 minutes. He told everyone they were the best employees, and then he asked them to reach under the seats.” Taped to the bottom were the bonus checks. And it’s not just the optional 12-inch touch screen on the high-end models or reclining rear seats of the Ram 1500.
All Ram 1500s feature an electronic knob gear shifter instead of a column shifter — a design many younger buyers (especially new to pickups) are completely unfamiliar with. T e Silverado is exclusively equipped with a column shifter and even traditional keys in low-end models. Two years ago, Lenfest, a billionaire who owned Jaguar -Land Rover Main Line in Wayne, Pa., shocked his employees with bonus checks based on years of service. Here’s how it went down, according to Michael Smyth, who is now the dealer principal : COMMENT “It was tear-jerking to watch people open envelopes containing as much as $70,000 in bonuses. Some of the checks were more than people make in a year,” Smyth recalled.
All that should be enough to retain loyal Chevrolet buyers. However, the 2019 Silverado may have trouble attracting new truck buyers. Top-end Silverado models also will likely struggle to conquest luxury pickup buyers. In targeting luxury buyers, the Chevrolet High Country needs to climb higher. Ford and Ram have signifi cantly increased the amenities and materials in their highest-end pickups, while the High Country is essentially an LTZ with added standard features. Lenfest told Smyth he set aside $2 million for the employees and suggested the checks be handed out with their regular paychecks. Lenfest made his fortune in cable television.
He donated more than $1 billion , mostly to a variety of Philadelphia area charities . MICHAEL WAYLAND General Motors offi cials argue Chevrolet doesn’t necessarily need to play as high in the luxury segment because the company has the GMC Sierra; however, they’ll also say the brands attract diff erent buyers. T e Silverado lacks in special features and amenities — particularly on the interior. Both are keys for younger buyers and luxury buyers. To an untrained eye, it looks like a refreshed interior of the outgoing pickup. REPORTER Just give them a choice T Ram and Ford also off er adaptive cruise control on their big pickups, while Chevrolet doesn’t off er it at this point.
(It looks like the pickup is equipped with all the needed technology aside from radar, so expect it in the coming model years.) esla-fi ghters from Germany are about to land on the Jersey beaches, but Lexus has yet to confi rm its fi rst battery EV. In fact, Yoshihiro Sawa, the Japanese luxury brand’s global president, sounds downright nuanced about electrifi cation. A familiar interior was executed by design after customer clinics found that the outgoing interior was what people wanted. So, designers made tweaks and changed surfaces but kept the overall design. Overall, is the 2019 Chevrolet Silverado a great truck? Yes. Will it continue to get better? Yes.
Could Chevy have added more fl air to attract nontraditional truck buyers? Yes. He prefers eclectifi cation . “We have to develop technology on all fronts,” Sawa told U.K. car magazine Autocar . “We understand that electric is very necessary, but we can also see that full EV will not suit everyone. “We go to clinic, our truck customers tell us they want what they already have,” said Kelly Craigo, of Chevrolet’s design team. “So we’re not going to give them the same interior over again. What you see is, architecturally, very similar, but everything is brand- You may email Michael Wayland at mwayland@crain.com.
“You can’t make an electric Land Cruiser work, for instance, and there are people in remote parts of the world whose lives depend on that car.” Sawa has other concerns, too . “EVs currently require a long charging time and batteries that have an environmental impact ,” he said. “And then, when battery cells need replacing, we have to consider plans for future use and recycling. It’s a much more complex issue than the current rhetoric perhaps suggests. ” Where the new Silverado hits and misses O ther automotive scribes are weighing in on the redesigned Chevrolet Silverado, too. Here’s what they had to say about the 2019 pickup just now hitting dealerships.
“While there’s not much about it that’s truly fanfare worthy, Chevy customers will be happy.” Automobile Sawa: A Land Cruiser EV? That won’t work. The Silverado is “ packed with new features and an impressive number of upgrades and improvements, but from what we’ve seen from the Silverado’s direct competitors, that’s pretty much the price of entry.” “The steering is far more direct and accurate than pickups of yore, which could feel like sailboats when hauling down the highway.” — The Drive “With either an eight- or a 10-speed transmission to keep you in the power band ... there was plenty of pull.
It was remarkable just how little the driving experience changes when hauling a load.” — PickupTrucks.com “The new truck actually echoes the Camaro’s front end with its short headlights, bright LED daylight running lamps and substantial grille. The whole affair is less blunt and, well, nearly elegant.” Autoweek New York Daily News The “larger cab primarily works out to three inches of added rear-seat leg room on four-door crew cabs (swelling from 40.9 to 43.9 inches).
Whether you regularly ferry backseat passengers or not, that extra fl oor space will come in handy.” “Don’t tell anyone at General Motors, but this latest-generation Chevrolet Silverado doesn’t look, you know, radically different from the company’s previous-generation pickup. Or the Silverado before that, for that matter.” Go Sergio’s way For a few days , “Sergio Marchionne Way” in Toledo, Ohio, was something anyone could follow. As part of Jeep Fest, Aug. 10-12, Toledo Mayor Wade Kapszukiewicz, right, and City Councilman Gary Johnson unveiled a street sign designating a section of North Summit Street in honor of the Fiat Chrysler Automobiles CEO who died July 25.
Marchionne championed the work force at FCA’s Toledo Assembly Complex, home of the Jeep Wrangler . — Roadshow by CNET Car and Driver