General Motors will prep plants in 2012 for next-generation pickups

General Motors will begin retooling assembly plants next year to build the next generation of its full-sized pickups, GM's U.S. sales chief Don Johnson said.

"We have some scheduled plant downtime in 2012 as we convert to the next generation of our pickups," he said. Johnson didn't say, though, when sales of the pickups would begin. And a GM spokesman wouldn't confirm a timetable.

Most industry watchers hadn't expected new versions of the Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra pickups until 2013.

News of an accelerated timeline would surely please dealers, who have been clamoring for the program's acceleration ever since GM's 2009 bankruptcy delayed the plans.

GM's pickup trucks were last redesigned for the 2007 model year.

Two people with knowledge of GM's development plans said that production is still slated to begin in 2013 for the 2014 model year.

One of the sources said GM will stagger several weeks of retooling at its truck plants throughout next year and into 2013 to prepare for the next-generation pickup trucks.

The current versions are built at GM plants in Flint, Mich.; Fort Wayne, Ind.; and Silao, Mexico.

The source said GM plans a complete re-engineering and redesign that will require major plant retoolings.

That seems consistent with comments from Johnson, who pointed out that GM has fewer plants from which to shift production around as it retools for new launches.

GM execs have sent mixed signals lately about just how urgently they're working on the truck program.

In January, GM North America President Mark Reuss said the automaker was fast-tracking some truck programs, but he didn't elaborate.

Then in April, GM CEO Dan Akerson seemed to contradict that, saying, "Trucks would not be a program that we'd move up in a mileage-sensitive market."

By Mike Colias- Automotive News