GM brings marketing lie with false comparisons of new Colorado to Titan

How do you make your new mid-sized pickup truck look good? Make claims about "engineering" and "advanced metallurgy" while comparing your smaller truck to full-sized, full-use, heavier-duty offerings from the competition. Chevrolet talks apples to watermelons in latest press release.

Chevrolet has issued a press release touting the light weight Colorado mid-sized pickup truck, saying it is 800 to 1,400 pounds lighter than the full-size pickups on the market. This is well and good, but the misleading point given in the article is that it is somehow just as capable and that the use of lightweight, high-strength steels and aluminum somehow play a key role that the others have missed. It reads:

"This weight saving is a result of the slightly smaller overall dimensions of the Colorado, along with extensive use of lightweight materials, including high-strength steels and aluminum. The outcome is a truck designed to be the most fuel-efficient in its segment. Chevrolet expects EPA fuel economy estimates for Colorado this summer."

At the bottom of the release is a weight chart of the 2015 Colorado and current-generation, full-sized pickups such as the F-150, Silverado 1500, Ram 1500, Tundra, and Titan. It should be noted that on the list, the Titan is only about eighty pounds heavier than the Silverado, putting it second on the lightweight list - even lighter than the Ram 1500 with a V6 - the only V6 on the list outside of the mis-compared Colorado.

Here's the problem: the Colorado will be a mid-sized truck, not a full-sized one. It's towing, weight hauling, and bed size will all be smaller than the full-sized comparisons on that list. So why didn't General Motors compare the Colorado to its actual competition, the Nissan Frontier and Toyota Tacoma?

Probably because while it may best them in towing capacity by about 200 pounds, it is not lighter than either of them. In fact, it's heavier than both of them.

Chevrolet lists the Colorado's curb weight as being 4,329 pounds in its 4x4, V6 short box configuration. That's more than three hundred pounds heavier than the Tacoma in the same basic configuration. It's also nearly three hundred pounds heavier than the Frontier.

For comparison, the heavier Titan (a full-sized truck), built in Mississippi, has a bed size that is larger than the Colorado's. Even when using the Titan's smallest bed (5 feet, 7 inches). It has a full 1/2 ton capacity and a towing capability, thanks to far higher torque from its V8 engine, that the Colorado cannot even dream to achieve.

In short, the deceptive marketing Chevy was attempting to achieve with this release comparing the small Colorado to full-sized trucks while insinuating that its superior lightweight is due to advanced materials rather than smaller size and less capability (while ignoring its actual competition in the comparison) is both a joke and a slap in the face to consumers.

Sorry, GM, but if you cannot compare your product to its actual competition, you shouldn't bother comparing it at all. Apples and watermelons don't belong in the same box. One of them will get crushed and the other will have cider on its skin.