GM will offer D20 brand wheels on trucks, SUVs:

Bring on the bling.

In January, Chevrolet, GMC and Cadillac buyers will be able to customize their full-sized trucks and SUVs with giant, flashy, 20- or 22-inch wheels bearing the DUB logo without leaving a GM showroom.

Late Monday, Oct. 29, at one of the first press events of the Specialty Equipment Market Association, or SEMA, show, Chevrolet General Manager Ed Peper announced a wheel deal with TIS Industries. The company’s parent is DUB magazine, a popular urban lifestyle publication that features customized cars owned by athletes, actors, musicians and other entertainers.

The wheels will fit GM’s full-sized trucks and SUVs, such as the Cadillac Escalade, GMC Yukon and Chevrolet Silverado. The wheel deal could lead to other stylized parts and accessories from TIS, such as grilles, aerodynamic body panels or ground effect kits and electronics, Peper said.

GM is using the SEMA show to display nearly three dozen concept and future production vehicles. At the press event in the Wynn Hotel, GM showed a 1930s low-rider hot rod powered by a 500-hp, 2.0-liter Ecotech four-cylinder engine that runs on E85 fuel, a blend of 85 percent ethanol and 15 percent gasoline.

The car won’t make production, said Bryan Nesbitt, GM’s vice president of design for North America. He said the car was created to demonstrate the imagination and skill of GM designers. The car looks like a hand-built custom vehicle, complete with aluminum framed seats and giant mag wheels.

But Chevrolet did show some vehicles that are slated for the showroom.

In August at the Woodward Dream Cruise in suburban Detroit, Chevrolet said it would build the panel version of the HHR retro wagon. Peper said a very limited edition HHR SS panel, or Super Sport model, also would be built. That vehicle will have a 260-hp, 2.0-liter turbocharged engine. Peper would not say how many would be built, but he did say that the vehicle will be available in the 2009 model year. The panel version has fewer windows and different rear doors. It is not unlike a 1950s delivery truck.

The Cobalt SS, currently out of Chevrolet’s lineup, returns next year with more power, more models and possibly a lower price. Chevrolet will build both two-door and four-door versions of the Cobalt SS. Those cars will use the 2.0-liter, 260-hp Ecotech four-cylinder engine that debuted in the Pontiac Solstice and Saturn Sky roadsters. The old Cobalt SS used a supercharged engine.

In other business: Don’t look for any face-lifts or major styling changes to the Chevrolet HHR. Nesbitt said Chevrolet will keep the vehicle fresh by expanding the range of accessories and trim items available for dealers and consumers.

Nesbitt said GM likely will keep the HHR in its lineup as long as it sells well. The HHR in September overtook the Chrysler PT Cruiser in year-to-date sales. Nesbitt designed the PT Cruiser when he worked at Chrysler.

Said Nesbitt of the HHR: “The question is: How long can it go? What is its life cycle? Well, it’s a good package, with a very usable interior. And it is not a slave to current trends. The accessories will give it life.”

autoweek.com