Over the past 113 years, GMC has learned a thing or two about trucks and truck owners. It knows pickups are no longer exclusively used in the fields and at constructions sites. Some people just have trucks because they like the looks and driving position they offer. Others get them to tow big toys, such as a boat or jet skis.
GMC has incorporated facts such as those into its online Canyon Experience, which it says “lets customers virtually ‘test drive’ a Canyon in four lifestyle environments starting from their neighborhood – or anywhere else.” You can see a computer-animated version of the mid-sizer rolling through four different types of locations: the city, a rural area, the shore, and the mountains. If you’d like, you can personalize the general area by entering your zip code.
In each zone, you can learn more about the features of the Canyon. For instance, on “The Shoreline Drive,” you’ll see a demonstration of the truck’s trailer sway control as it deftly avoids a log in the road while towing a boat. On “The City Streets,” you’ll watch Forward Collision Alert save the Canyon from slamming into the back of a tractor trailer that’s slowing down in front of it.
You can also type in your zip code to see what the Canyon, in your choice of color, looks like (roughly) in front of your house using Google Street View.
Is it the same as putting your hands on one and your foot down on the gas? Of course not, but the Canyon Experience is more engaging than scrolling through a PDF brochure. The other things GMC’s been doing to promote the Canyon so far appear to be working. According to the company, through last month, more than 53 of the people who bought Canyons traded in vehicles that weren’t made by General Motors. In fact, March was a great month for GMC as a whole.
Derek Shiekhi's father raised him on cars. As a boy, Derek accompanied his dad as he bought classics such as post-WWII GM trucks and early Ford Mustang convertibles.
After loving cars for years and getting a bachelor's degree in Business Management, Derek decided to get an associate degree in journalism. His networking put him in contact with the editor of the Austin-American Statesman newspaper, who hired him to write freelance about automotive culture and events in Austin, Texas in 2013. One particular story led to him getting a certificate for learning the foundations of road racing.
While watching TV with his parents one fateful evening, he saw a commercial that changed his life. In it, Jeep touted the Wrangler as the Texas Auto Writers Association's "SUV of Texas." Derek knew he had to join the organization if he was going to advance as an automotive writer. He joined the Texas Auto Writers Association (TAWA) in 2014 and was fortunate to meet several nice people who connected him to the representatives of several automakers and the people who could give him access to press vehicles (the first one he ever got the keys to was a Lexus LX 570). He's now a regular at TAWA's two main events: the Texas Auto Roundup in the spring and the Texas Truck Rodeo in the fall.
Over the past several years, Derek has learned how to drive off-road in various four-wheel-drive SUVs (he even camped out for two nights in a Land Rover), and driven around various tracks in hot hatches, muscle cars, and exotics. Several of his pieces, including his article about the 2015 Ford F-150 being crowned TAWA's 2014 "Truck of Texas" and his review of the Alfa Romeo 4C Spider, have won awards in TAWA's annual Excellence in Craft Competition. Last year, his JK Forum profile of Wagonmaster, a business that restores Jeep Wagoneers, won prizes in TAWA’s signature writing contest and its pickup- and SUV-focused Texas Truck Invitational.
