GMC Canyon Replacement Confirmed

The Canyon‘s future re-emergence was confirmed during a recent conference call with the Vice-President of Marketing for Buick/GMC, Tony DiSalle. He stated, “While we continue to make strong progress in fuel economy gains on our full-size trucks, we know that there is a group of customers who want the functionality of a truck but may not need full-size pickup. We believe that introducing a new, agile and efficient mid-size Canyon will meet the needs of many pickup buyers.” He deferred when asked for more detail, saying that specifics would not be forthcoming at this time “for competitive reasons.”

DiSalle also declined to offer an approximate release date. However, a Buick GMC list of new models coming out in the next 12 months has already been released. The list includes the the Buick Enclave, GMC Acadia, Buick Encore, Buick LaCrosse, Buick Regal, GMC Sierra and Sierra HD, and the GMC Yukon and Yukon XL. The Canyon is not on the list yet.

It is known that the next generation Canyon, and its counterpart, the Chevy Colorado, will be built at the GM plant in Wentzville, Missouri. The plant should be ready to go into production in time for a late 2013 Canyon introduction. It is even possible that the Canyon/Colorado debut will wait until calendar year 2014.

Given an approximate year and a half long hiatus for the Canyon, it’s reasonable to imagine that the new design will represent a fairly dramatic departure from the previous model. Significant increases in fuel economy, more aerodynamic styling, and inclusion of the latest electronics may all be reasonably anticipated updates.