General Motors’ Australian unit Holden has dropped the decades-old Antipodean term for pick up truck – ‘ute’ (for ‘utility’) – and has adopted instead the US term to call its redesigned, Thai-built midsize Colorado a ‘truck’.
GM’s move might contain a hint of long-term resentment because its traditional arch-rival in Australia, Ford, actually claims to have invented the Australian utility vehicle. During its 80th birthday celebrations in 2014, Ford Australia said the ‘ute’ was designed after its then managing director received a letter from a farmer’s wife in Gippsland, Victoria, in 1933, asking the automaker to build “a car to go to church on Sunday and a truck to take the pigs to market on Monday” because “my husband and I can’t afford a car and a truck”. The design brief was handed to 23-year-old Lewis (Lew) Bandt and his subsequent take on the passenger car-based utility was considered revolutionary at the time.
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But now, according to a WardsAuto report, the ute term is being scrapped as GM Holden adopts US terminology and calls it a pickup.
“The familiar outback description, ‘a man, his dog and his ute’ may not have the same cadence or meaning as ‘a man, his dog and his pickup’,” the report opined.
Ben Lasry, the product marketing general manager-GM Holden, told reporters at the media launch there were good reasons for switching from ‘ute’ to ‘pickup’: “It’s part of our desire to reposition the vehicle. There is an association from a customer perspective of it being a slightly smaller version of a US pickup truck, and a lot of customers will refer to it as a truck. We’re calling it a truck because that’s really what the market increasingly refers to them as.”
GM Holden spokesman Sean Poppit added all vehicles such as the Colorado, and its rival Ford Ranger, Toyota HiLux and Nissan Navara shouldn’t be called utes. The ute name usually refers to utilitarian models based on passenger cars, such as Holden’s Commodore Ute,” he said. “It’s fairly straightforward.”
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By GlobalDataThe report noted Chevrolet Thailand had already delivered the first locally built Colorado to its customer, calling it an all-new midsize pickup truck.
‘High-tech’
In a statement, Holden said the revamped, “high-tech” Colorado had a rear view camera and Apple CarPlay and Android Auto across the range while new levels of active safety included a forward facing camera with forward collision alert and lane departure warning. It has been restyled and is offered with an extended range of dealer-fit accessories.
Holden’s executive director – sales, Peter Keley, said the redesigned truck is a key vehicle in Holden’s future product portfolio – the automaker soon exits passenger car making in Australia and becomes a full importer – and “its progressive new styling, improved driveability and leading technology content are sure to be a hit with customers”.
“Colorado has resonated well with customers in a segment that has almost doubled in sales in the last 10 years, and we’re confident the new 2017 Colorado will build on this and redefine customer expectations of what a truck can be,” Keley said.
He promised “car-like refinement, ride and handling as well as vehicle technologies unique to this segment including Apple CarPlay and Android Auto connectivity”.
“Colorado is also the only vehicle in the 4×4 utility vehicle segment to offer remote window activation – a feature we expect to be popular with customers in hot climate parts of Australia,” he added.
Local input has ensured the latest truck is suited to the harsh local conditions which can tax durability, engine cooling, HVAC and dust sealing to limits. Holden said Australian engineers had “steered significant engineering and development changes” for the updated Colorado.
“The variety of roads in Australia and the variety of ways in which Australians use trucks means the 2017 Colorado has to be versatile enough to handle everything thrown at it,” said lead development engineer, Amelinda Watt.
“We know customers like to drive their Colorado off-road or on unsealed roads, but we also know they spend a lot of time on the bitumen. We’ve focused on improving refinement and driveability with a range of chassis changes, including electric power steering as well as engine and transmission noise and vibration refinements. We’ve also had the benefit of international experience, as the Colorado program was a co-development project between GM Brazil, GM Thailand and Holden – a great example of the type of engineering work Holden will be responsible for in the future.”
Holden engineers also participated in numerous development activities and drive events in Brazil in addition to completing critical local testing at the Lang Lang Proving Ground and on public roads around Victoria state.
The final development drive for the Colorado programme, known internally as the ‘100% buy-off ride’, was managed by Holden in Australia and tackled a variety of terrain. Combined with an extensive captured test fleet programme, local testing accumulated more than 100,000km (60,000 miles) on inner-city and suburban roads, rural country roads and 4×4 tracks in state forests.
“Being involved from the start of development has given us the opportunity to ensure we have been able to address customer feedback,” Watt added. “It’s also been beneficial to hold the final development drive in Australia and have colleagues from Brazil ,Thailand, India, USA and Europe visit and see first-hand the type of terrain our customers drive on.”
Changes included more a more responsive feel to the electric power steering, revised, steering calibration in combination with a faster steering rack and “major changes” to the suspension, co-developed with GM Brazil, to improve body control and ride isolation. The changes include the introduction of digressive front and rear shocks, an increase in size of the front stabiliser bar (29/31mm to 34mm) and revised spring rates.
Other key developments include a revised set of engine, transmission and body mounts to provide a more refined and composed ride, in addition to a new final drive ratio (only in Australia) on manual transmission models which will improve drive quality, particularly while towing.
New torque converter
The centrifugal pendulum absorber (CPA) torque converter is a class first as such technology normally is more commonly found in premium diesel passenger cars. This helps reduce engine noise and vibration by cancelling out torsional vibrations in the driveline normally felt in the cabin and allowed a revised transmission calibration strategy with results in driveability and fuel economy improvements.
Engine is the long-serving 2.8L Duramax diesel developing 147kW of power and up to 500Nm of torque with automatic transmission.
The new truck has also received the Australasian New Car Assessment Program’s top rating, with ANCAP praising its impressive pedestrian-protection score.
