New Chevrolet Colorado pickup is headed for U.S. showrooms

The redesigned Chevrolet Colorado pickup, which is launching this month in Thailand, will be sold in the United States, Chevrolet said on Monday.

The new Colorado was developed by General Motors' Brazil operations to be sold globally.

GM said the current Colorado will be sold through the 2012 model year. It is built in Shreveport, La. GM did not disclose where the new Colorado will be built or which powertrains it will use, nor did it release information about a possible version of the new truck for the GMC brand. GMC currently sells a version of the Colorado rebadged as the Canyon.

In Thailand, the new Colorado is available in regular cab, extended cab and crew cab configurations, in rear-drive and all-wheel-drive versions.

Sales of midsize pickups in the United States have been overshadowed for the past several years as automakers used incentives to sell full-size trucks. Sales of the Colorado totaled only 23,985 units through the first 10 months of this year, up 30.2 percent from the same period last year. Sales of the GMC Canyon totaled 7,634 units so far this year, up 35 percent from a year ago.

By Dale Jewett