GM Earns Award From The Steel Market Development Institute (SMDI) For Silverado

Gorehamj · May 15, 2019

John Goreham
Contributing Writer, GM-Trucks.com
5-15-2019

General Motors has earned the "Automotive Excellence Award" for its innovations on the new generation Silverado. The award was presented to GM by The Steel Market Development Institute (SMDI). The GM Silverado design earned the award for its innovative use of advanced high-strength steel. The all-new 2019 Chevrolet Silverado has a body structure composed of nearly 86 percent steel. That includes ultra-high-strength steel (UHSS), advanced high-strength steel (AHSS) and high strength low alloy (HSLA) materials in the Silverado's cab, bed, and frame. The use of these strong, but lightweight materials contributed to the new Silverado's mass reduction. During the all-new Silverado's launch presentation, GM President Mark Reuss told the audience that the head of a hammer is steel. He added, “I don’t know how much work you’d get done with an aluminum hammer.”

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"Automotive Excellence Award winners use advanced high-strength steel in applications to provide the best value for OEMs and consumers while also improving vehicle performance and sustainability," said Jody Hall, vice president of the automotive market at SMDI. "With automakers shifting their vehicle mix to favor trucks, CUVs and SUVs, new steel grades are leading the way in innovation. The 2019 Silverado is a great example of the capability of these next generation steel grades."

The new 2019 Silverado is 450 pounds lighter than the outgoing truck (crew cab V8 models). High strength steel makes the frame stronger, and stiffer, and also lighter. The cargo bed is also a new lighter, stronger steel.

Paintor · May 16, 2019

Aluminum wheels and driveshaft held up better than the steel.

jlong1984 · May 22, 2019

On 5/15/2019 at 2:49 PM, Gorehamj said:

During the all-new Silverado's launch presentation, GM President Mark Reuss told the audience that the head of a hammer is steel. He added, “I don’t know how much work you’d get done with an aluminum hammer.”

What an idiot. Why doesn't he just make fun of the 'man-step' again while he's at it. Ford sales just keep going up while GMs are in the toilet and this mentality is exactly why.

Colossus · May 23, 2019

Jeff... you hit the nail on head. (no pun intended) While I am certain there are some very dedicated and awesome people working for GM, we often are left feeling like the big wigs do not want to be or are not willing to do what is required to build superior products that they can stand behind and take pride in. Crapota and Honda knew they were building crap back in the early 80s and in order to survive they knew they needed to improve big time. By the late 80s, they had successfully revamped their vehicles, (with Nissan and a few others trailing, but not too far behind) And people began to take notice of the reliability of the heavy hitters like the Accord, Civic, Camary, and Corolla. Lexus and Acura were launched and other than a rough few first years, those models became extremely popular. People could now buy a vehicle that was essentially engineered to last 300,000+ miles with minimal repairs required. During the 80s, vehicles like the Chevy Caprice and Ford Taurus were best sellers, and then the late 80s the Honda and Crapotas and Nissan Maximas came to light. (along with the Toyota and Nissan little piddly trucks and the Toyota 4-Runner and Nissan Pathfinders) All during this time.. what were the execs at the big 3 doing?

Now we live in an age where passenger vehicles are less popular in the states, we see brands being done away with, we see Ford and GM eliminating more sedans.. But.. Look what happened with Hyundai.

Hyundai was around in the late 80s and early 90s, providing.. well the worst of the worst. Cheap pieces of crap. Unreliable. But come 2003ish, we saw some drastic changes from Hyundai and Kia. All of the sudden, their reliability was improving, and they launced that 100,000 mile/10 year powertrain warranty. And then people REALLY began to take notice. While they still were fighting reliability issues through most of 2000-2010, things were improving drastically. And they were selling. By 2013, they had moved up into the top 5 reliability brands out there. They had successfully changed a tarnished brand into one that got respect. How did they do this? Reverse engineered stuff from Japan Europe, and America? Probably. Hyundai and Kia like to copy the exterior models of other manufacturers quite often.. ever see a Honda Accord look-alike, or Toyota Corolla look alike? Ever see components in their vehicles that look like copies from out of a Toyota or Honda or Nissan? That is my biggest pet peeve with them.

I say all of that to say- GM Ford and Dodge brands still have tarnished reputations they need to fix. And to fix this, they need to earn consumer trust back. how do they do this? By building a superior/supurb vehicle, with a warranty they will stand behind and for prices that are reasonable.

I have been hitting on loyalty means nothing to manufacturers now a days, and I still believe it. In most of the VPs and Executives eyes, we are replaceable. One dissatisfied customer doesn't bother them because they are others out there who will buy from them... but what they fail to fully realize is 1 dissatisfied customer can turn off 10 other potential customers.

I like GM vehicles overall. I give the new silverado and sierra a hard time because I don't care for the way they look, but other than the looks I am sure they are great trucks, just like the GMT-900s, 800s, and the old built like a rock 1988-1999 trucks and SUVs were. I have owned numerous GM sedans over the years from Buick, Pontiac, and Chevrolet. All were great cars. I drove a 2018 Impala the other day, a rental. Had about 30,000 miles on it, V6, but it was a great car. Hell I owned a brand new 2013 Impala as well.. had the same engine and tranny that the 2018 did.. 3.6L VVT 305HP 6 speed tranny- it was the first passenger sedan that felt like a real car with real power and it was nice to see GM step into direct injection market for reals. But... They never sold well. Thus the Impala is discontinued after this year I believe. What a shame.

Likarok · May 25, 2019

If people are running their lives that close to the pin that they have to count the difference in fuel saving from steel to aluminum then perhaps they should not own a car/truck.