U.S. Likely to Miss Out on New Chevrolet Montana Truck
Photo: Chevrolet
Hyundai and Ford are bringing new unibody compact pickup trucks to the U.S. market. General Motors is widely expected to introduce one, too. However, it probably won’t be the newly redesigned Chevrolet Montana, which seems destined to remain outside this country’s borders.
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The current generation of the Montana is sold only in South America. It’s a subcompact model with a regular cab. The next-gen Montana is expected to increase in size and be sold as a compact crew-cab model. It will also get a more powerful engine and come with an expanded list of features.
On the surface, the Montana seems like a natural competitor for the upcoming Hyundai Santa Cruz and Ford Maverick. But The Drive points out that this likely won’t turn out to be the case. The reason? It all comes down to costs.
Why you probably won’t be able to buy a Chevy Montana
The new Montana will be manufactured in Brazil and built on GM’s Global Emerging Market, or GEM platform. This lower-cost platform is used for a growing number of vehicles, like the Chevy Onix and Chevy Tracker, that are built and sold overseas. However, GM isn’t set up to build GEM vehicles in the U.S. That leaves two options for bringing the Montana here: importing it from Brazil, producing it in Mexico, or converting domestic assembly plants to manufacture it.
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Photo: RLGNZLZ via CC BY-SA 2.0
Overhauling a U.S. assembly plant so it could make the Montana would be an expensive proposition for GM. And there’s a problem with importing the Montana, too: It would be subject to a 25 percent chicken tax tariff on small trucks (plus international shipping fees), forcing GM to sell it at a much less competitive price. Mexican-produced vehicles aren’t subject to this tax, but retooling a plant there to make the Montana might also be too costly for GM to consider.
The upshot: If you do see a new Chevrolet compact truck soon at a dealership near you, it probably won’t be the Montana, but an entirely different model.
A longtime editor/writer and recently transplanted Hoosier, Caleb Cook lives in Xenia, Ohio. His favorite activities are reading and listening to music, although he occasionally emerges from the heap of books and vinyl records in his basement to stand blinking in the sunlight. Once fully acclimated to the outside world again, he can be observed hanging out with his wife, attempting a new recipe in the kitchen, attending movies, walking the dog, or wandering into a local brewery to inquire about what’s on tap. See more articles by Caleb.