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GM unveils truck/SUV hybrids for Pontiac, Chevrolet

WARREN, (Michigan): Bidding to add some luster to a lineup of cars and trucks that has lacked it in recent years, General Motors Corp. will offer two new models that meld features of pickups, sport utility vehicles and minivans.

The Pontiac Aztek, an all-wheel-drive SUV with some minivan elements, will go on sale later this year. The Chevrolet Avalanche, a merger of the passenger cabin of a full-size SUV and a truck bed, will go on sale in a slightly different form early in 2001. Both will be unveiled at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit next week.

GM officials are counting on the new vehicles to lure buyers who have been shunning GM showrooms in favour of import brands and to break what has been seen as a bland parade of new models from the world's largest automaker over the past several years.

"This is the first edge in what we think of as the reintroduction of innovative thinking at General Motors," said Aztek Brand manager Don Butler.

But industry analysts say while Aztek and Avalanche will likely find a niche among buyers, they will face a bevy of competitors by the time they roll off assembly lines.

The Aztek gives GM its first all-wheel-drive SUV designed to ride and drive like a car, competing against similar offerings from Japanese manufacturers, notably Honda and Toyota. While the Honda CR-V and Toyota RAV4 have proven popular with younger, affluent customers, GM's aging line of mid-sized SUVs based on truck chassis have suffered a sales slump and the company offers sizable rebates on many models.

The Aztek is larger than the Toyota and Honda SUVs, with a V6 engine that provides more power and towing capacity. Inside, designers adopted minivan seats that can fold, flip, or be removed for more storage. A cargo tray behind the second row of seats can be configured in a variety of ways or removed.

The interior offers suggestions of off-road toughness Ñ such as a large passenger grab handle protruding from the dash, and rubberised surfaces. The Aztek also takes upholding to a new extreme with a portable cooler large enough to hold 12 soda cans that locks into the centre console.

Pontiac will sell the Aztek in front-wheel-drive and all-wheel-drive versions, and will build about 65,000 in the first year of production. While Pontiac officials wouldn't offer a price for the vehicle, its competitors usually sell for dollars 23,000 to dollars 27,000.

To help defray the expense of developing the Aztek, GM will likely use it as a base for other SUV models, including one for Buick named Rendezvous. Other automakers, including Ford Motor Co., are working on similar SUVs to compete for the same group of customers as the Aztek.

The Aztek "is important in that it will highlight GM's direction in next couple of years in terms of all-wheel-drive vehicles," said Michael Robinet, an analyst with CSM Forecasting. "It's certainly going to help Pontiac expand its products. It moves them into some new buyers, and I think it will be relatively successful."

The Avalanche is aimed at more traditional truck buyers, and will compete head-to-head with products from Ford Motor Co., the Dodge division of DaimlerChrysler AG and Nissan Motor Co. All have added extra doors and rear seat space to their pickups in the past several years to meet customer demand; GM says sales of extended-cab pickups have gone from 41 percent of pickups in 1994 to 70 percent in 1998.