This falls under the category of unsubstantiated rumour, guys.
Mechanic at a large GMC dealer here in town tells me that just in the last couple weeks General Motors sold their Topkick line- said he was 80% positive. He didn't know much more than that (he's one of the automotive techs), and was even less sure about who it had been sold to: he qualified that answer heavily, but it boiled down to "maybe International....?"
The discussion came about because this dealer is expanding again. The ownership group is moving their Nissan store across the road into an old Ford dealership (unrelated owner). The Kia dealership is then supposed to be going into the old Nissan store, and they're buying another fanchise, apparently, to put into the Kia building. (No, there's no money in oil & gas...) They do have an ad hoc MD dealership, selling mostly the 4500 & 5500 Topkicks, but you can buy the Class 6-8 versions or the T& W-series cabovers, too, if you want. They just can't service Caterpillars on-site (and likely not the Isuzu-sourced diesels, either), only the Duramax designs. But I digressed. I asked the tech (he was getting a ride back to his dealer I was towing to) why the MD dealership wasn't put into it's own building. He said it had been considered, but that because GM has sold their Topkick line, they were going to pass.
So now I'm curious. I can't find this anywhere else (understandable, if GM just put it to bed). Does this just affect the Class 4-8 Topkick designs? I can't imagine it affects the cabovers, as they're all sourced from Isuzu, unless whoever is buying the MD business gets the rights to sell them, too. We don't have separate Isuzu medium-duty dealers here in Canada. It could be that is was just the dealership selling their MD franchise, and he was just confused, but that would make so sense whatsoever. They must sell almost as many of those things as our International dealer sells of his.
Can anyone shed any light on this?
Mechanic at a large GMC dealer here in town tells me that just in the last couple weeks General Motors sold their Topkick line- said he was 80% positive. He didn't know much more than that (he's one of the automotive techs), and was even less sure about who it had been sold to: he qualified that answer heavily, but it boiled down to "maybe International....?"
The discussion came about because this dealer is expanding again. The ownership group is moving their Nissan store across the road into an old Ford dealership (unrelated owner). The Kia dealership is then supposed to be going into the old Nissan store, and they're buying another fanchise, apparently, to put into the Kia building. (No, there's no money in oil & gas...) They do have an ad hoc MD dealership, selling mostly the 4500 & 5500 Topkicks, but you can buy the Class 6-8 versions or the T& W-series cabovers, too, if you want. They just can't service Caterpillars on-site (and likely not the Isuzu-sourced diesels, either), only the Duramax designs. But I digressed. I asked the tech (he was getting a ride back to his dealer I was towing to) why the MD dealership wasn't put into it's own building. He said it had been considered, but that because GM has sold their Topkick line, they were going to pass.
So now I'm curious. I can't find this anywhere else (understandable, if GM just put it to bed). Does this just affect the Class 4-8 Topkick designs? I can't imagine it affects the cabovers, as they're all sourced from Isuzu, unless whoever is buying the MD business gets the rights to sell them, too. We don't have separate Isuzu medium-duty dealers here in Canada. It could be that is was just the dealership selling their MD franchise, and he was just confused, but that would make so sense whatsoever. They must sell almost as many of those things as our International dealer sells of his.
Can anyone shed any light on this?
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