General Motors North America President Mark Reuss recently announced that the Chevrolet and GMC divisions will be delivering all-new midsize pickup trucks to the U.S. consumer market next year (2014). Previews of the new pickups are likely to begin as early as fall 2013.

“Don’t think of them as Canyon and Colorado replacements because they’re not,” Reuss said. The new midsize Chevy truck is to be a lifestyle and sport truck, while the GMC midsize truck will have, as Reuss described, “a 95 percent duty cycle of big Sierra with a lot more fuel economy.” The new midsize trucks are supposed to offer better fuel economy, not share powertrains with the larger trucks, and possibly offer a diesel engine option.

We understand that the Canyon and Colorado nameplates will go away, and Reuss commented that it’s possible because the new trucks are so different than GM’s Colorado and Canyon. Reuss told reporters, “We’re researching the names as we do any new products to see where the legacy names are, do they mean something to people.” The new midsize trucks will be built at GM’s Wentzville Assembly Plant in Missouri. 

Chevy Hardcore’s take: We have already seen new versions of the Colorado and Canyon in Asia (photos above) since 2011 with gas and diesel engines, in cab variants of standard, extended and crew, on drive platforms of 2WD and 4WD. Will these so-called “new” midsize trucks that are about the size of the Toyota Tacoma simply be the same rigs, but assembled at the Wentzville, Missouri site? Or will we see something really new?