GM RELEASES PHOTOS OF REDESIGNED CHEVY COLORADO PICKUP

By Mike Colias, Automotive News - General Motors today unveiled photos of a redesigned Chevrolet Colorado pickup, which will go on display later this week at an auto show in Bangkok, Thailand.

Earlier this month, GM said it would display the redesigned Colorado at the Bangkok show, but added that it has not decided whether to bring the pickup to the U.S. market. The mid-sized pickup is set to go on sale in Thailand later this year.

The show version has an extended cab and sits atop a high-stance chassis and 20-inch wheels. It has a 2.8-liter turbo-diesel engine.

It reflects a stylized version of the new truck, one that takes into account rugged dependable truck capabilities for commercial use as well as sophisticated refinement for personal-use needs," said Brad Merketl, GM's global vehicle line executive, in a statement today.

Susan Docherty, vice president of GM International Operations sales, marketing and aftersales, said, "Thailand is the world's largest market for midsize pickups, so this was the perfect location in which to unveil our new Colorado."

Last June, GM said it planned to build a new midsize Chevrolet truck in Thailand for export to Europe and parts of Southeast Asia as the brand makes its first push into the two regional pickup markets.

The truck would be built at GM's assembly plant in Rayong, Thailand, and at a factory in Brazil.

The U.S.-market versions of the current generation Colorado and a sister vehicle, the GMC Canyon, are assembled in Shreveport, La. The plant is expected to be closed by June 2012. GM hasn't disclosed U.S. production plans for the next-generation pickup.

GM's Shreveport plant is idled this week because of a supply disruption stemming from the disaster in Japan.

The redesigned Colorado will be larger than the current version, which is a compact. Combined, mid-sized and compact pickups accounted for 16.5 percent of the total U.S. pickup market last year, according to the Automotive News Data Center.

The new Colorado will compete globally with the redesigned Ford Ranger, which goes on sale later this year. Ford does not plan to sell the compact pickup in the United States.