GMC brings Sierra CarbonPro bed to the Middle East

GMC has announced that its CarbonPro bed is now available in the Middle East on the GMC Sierra AT4 1500 Crew-Cab. The purpose-built bed is the first application of its kind for carbon fibre composite and promises to offer best-in-class dent, scratch and corrosion resistance.

The CarbonPro bed weighs 25 per cent less than a traditional steel bed, removing roughly 60 pounds (27 kilograms) of vehicle mass. Its grained surface also does away with the need for bed liners, potentially saving further weight.

GMC also claims that the CarbonPro bed offers class-leading cargo volume thanks to its sidewalls being pushed out farther. This is made possible by the formability of carbon fibre composite that allows molding complex shapes with variable thicknesses.

Models equipped with the CarbonPro bed offer an increase in payload over a steel bed due to the mass savings of carbon fibre composite. Payload for these models are at least 26 kilograms (59 pounds) higher, depending on the configurations and equipment.

The bed has undergone rigorous testing before being okayed for production. Large and heavy loads were repeatedly dropped on the CarbonPro bed to replicate extreme use scenarios. Testing included dropping cinder blocks, 816 kilograms loads of gravel and 204 kilograms water-filled steel drums from varying heights.

As part of the scratch/dent tests, a snowmobile with metal studs on the track was driven into the bed and accelerated at full throttle with a 130 kilograms rider on board with only minimal scratching evident on the bed.