(January 15, 2010) General Motors is increasing spending on its next-generation light-duty, full-sized truck program to create more fuel-efficient, more attractive pickups, the Automotive News reports. The re-engineered and restyled light-duty Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra pickups are expected to debut around the 2013 model year. The pickup program had been put on hold prior to GM's Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing. The trucks now will land in showrooms at about the same time as originally planned.

“Now we have more cash reserves to spend on product than we have had in decades,” said Scott Fosgard, a GM spokesman. Fosgard declined to put a specific dollar figure on the added investment, saying only that it would be in the hundreds of millions of dollars.

“We are investing it in four brands, not eight,” he said. “We are investing it in 34 nameplates not 50. So we have enough money to do what we said we would do, and that is, we are going to build the world's best vehicles and we are going to play to win in every segment.”

GM will use the additional funding to boost fuel economy. Specifically, it will reduce vehicle weight and make the pickups more aerodynamic, either through styling changes or features that reduce aerodynamic drag.