Designing the GMC Sierra AT4 for you...and motorcycles

If you love dirt bikes, motorcycles and trucks raise your hand?

It’s ok if you are the only one in the room raising your hand. All that means is that you are correct to love all three and that you need to read these words.

The GMC Sierra AT4 is the truck for you.

“Why is the GMC Sierra AT4 the truck for me,” you might be asking?

For reasons beyond the truck performance which is detailed further down in the article, the GMC Sierra AT4 was built with you in mind with three places built into the carbon fiber truck bed to place your bikes and tie them down with ease with repositioned tie down anchor points and cut outs built right into the frame for the wheels of the bike.

And who do we have to thank for this intricate detail that makes our lives all the better? That would be GMC designer Carl Zipfel.

Now say out loud, “thank you Carl.”

“Part of this design is my direct influence,” said Zipfel. “We designed it with a small team and the engineers. We wanted to push our influence and some innovation into other places of the truck to make it something even better and unique to the AT4. This is the first truck to ever feature anything like this. Beyond the cut outs and the tie down anchor points, the multi pro tailgate makes loading the bike so much easier and safer. The carbon fiber bed was a natural lead in to create this because of the durability of the material but it was also a flexible material to form. The design of the entire truck bed is all about function and not wasted space. Beyond that, the carbon fiber is lighter than other truck beds and that 60-pound weight difference aids in the efficiency of the truck.”

The AT4 is the beefed-up, rough-and-ready alternative to the posh GMC Denali. But do not for a moment let the thought enter your mind that the AT4 is not posh. It gains a 2.0-inch factory-installed lift kit, a set of protective skid plates, an Eaton locking rear differential, upgraded Rancho monotube dampers, and all-terrain or mud-terrain tires on 18- or 20-inch wheels. The AT4’s styling is finished off with bright red tow hooks at the front. And being quite honest, it looks pretty awesome. Despite its off-road readiness, the ride is smooth. This is a truck you could drive every day whether you’re patrolling the American desert to ride dirt bikes or driving to the skatepark.

The MultiPro tailgate consists of an upper and lower section with six different configurations that help with ingress and egress, the ability to reach into the box, and/or handling longer loads. It’s standard on the AT4 and having proved itself to us as truly useful on other Sierras, is perhaps the biggest must-have pickup feature we’ve seen in years. MultiPro admittedly has greater functionality, including a further upgrade that embeds within it a pair of speakers, rudimentary audio controls, and USB and aux inputs and for tailgating purposes, it would be a nice addition. Especially since the bed’s standard 120V power outlet and that aux jack would let you plug in a TV back there, while GMC’s standard 4G LTE WiFi makes it possible to stream live TV through something like YouTubeTV.

“Understanding the customer is important to us especially at the design level,” said Zipfel. “The trim level is such an important feature because there are all different types of truck users out there, everyone has different needs and lifestyle. We had so much support from the top leadership at GMC to create this vehicle that from the first idea to seeing it on the truck was 6 months. In car design that is lightening quick. We knew we had a great idea when we had that much support to make it happen in that time frame.

The satisfaction and joy you will find driving this truck can only be matched by the satisfaction the design team has knowing that they have created an almost perfect truck.

“For me, it is so satisfying to be able to take my personal influences and my love for dirt bikes and motorcycles and create something for customers,” said Zipfel. “To have the support from the top was amazing but to see the customer response is even more gratifying. We have such high expectations from our design team, and we know our customers have high expectations too.”

As amazing as the GMC AT4 is now, according to Zipfel, “just wait to see what’s next.”

YES PLEASE!