Kapuskasing Sighting

[revrnd]

I was to Kap' (home of GM of Canada's Cold Weather Testing Centre) last week to get in some late season snowmobiling. West of town while waiting for traffic to clear @ a road crossing, I spotted a late model Chev pickup that had the entire FESM covered w/ a black "cold front". It extended back to front edge of the door. Any idea what they might be hiding? Are there plans for a front end refresh on the 2017s?

 

In the past we saw a Chev pickup driving around in Oshawa that had quite a hood blister. Talking to the driver (from the engineering centre there), the truck was a mule for a engine/transmission "package" for the full size van. The blister was needed to fit the van's air induction system under the hood.

 

During other snowmobile trips up there we've seen a Caddie XLR, a Chevy SSR & a bunch of Cobalts driving in a convoy, all before their introductions.

[newdude]

HD prototypes.

 

http://www.tfltruck.com/2016/03/2017-chevy-silverado-hd-and-gmc-hd-prototypes-are-doing-more-testing-spied/

 

http://news.pickuptrucks.com/2016/03/spied-2017-chevrolet-silverado-25003500.html

 

http://www.trucktrend.com/news/1603-spied-2017-gmc-sierra-denali-3500hd-cold-weather-testing/

 

They seem to be powertrain mules as the front sheetmetal has yet to be altered on any of the trucks in any of the spy photo sets. So either GM is slapping new hoods on, or they have some with new metal and they just have yet to be spotted. All of them seem to be Duramax trucks.

[revrnd]

HD prototypes.

 

http://www.tfltruck.com/2016/03/2017-chevy-silverado-hd-and-gmc-hd-prototypes-are-doing-more-testing-spied/

 

http://news.pickuptrucks.com/2016/03/spied-2017-chevrolet-silverado-25003500.html

 

http://www.trucktrend.com/news/1603-spied-2017-gmc-sierra-denali-3500hd-cold-weather-testing/

 

They seem to be powertrain mules as the front sheetmetal has yet to be altered on any of the trucks in any of the spy photo sets. So either GM is slapping new hoods on, or they have some with new metal and they just have yet to be spotted. All of them seem to be Duramax trucks.

From what I could see on the truck, the box styling was unchanged.

[newdude]

Yea. If they do anything it will be like the 2016 1/2 ton trucks where they just tweak the front end.

[revrnd]

I didn't get a look @ the front of the truck. Thinking about it afterwards, I thought it odd that they'd be "refreshing" the front end of the 2017s when supposedly the 2018s are to be new.

 

I was in the Oshawa Truck Plant when we did the '04 MCE. That wasn't a big issue for us. We had some tooling installed in the XS zones (box side buildup) prior to the GMT900 program. We could build 800 & 900 model sheet metal w/o any tooling changes. What a PITA getting it to build the 900 panels properly.

[revrnd]

Seeing what the camo was covering:

 

 

 

I wonder what the testing found about snow blocking the scoop? Kap' is known for it's cold temps (in relation to Oshawa) but last year wasn't all that cold up north. They snow they get is more of a dry, powdery consistency as opposed to the wet, "packing" snow further south.