Boxed Out

The first-ever fullsize composite pickup box is going out of production just two years after its debut, Ward's has learned.

General Motors Corp. is discontinuing its Pro-Tec technology for the '04 model year due to weak demand. Pro-Tec bowed in 2001 as an $850 option on the Chevrolet Silverado.

The demise of the only fullsize composite cargo box is a huge blow to the composites industry, which for years has identified the pickup box as a perfect application to convert from traditional steel.

The Pro-Tec program was troubled from the get-go. It was delayed several months as GM and its suppliers struggled with surface-quality problems. When it debuted, the technology flopped with consumers and dealers. In mid 2001, Pro-Tec was missing its take-rate forecasts by 90% — only 5,000 Silverados were ordered with the feature, rather than the anticipated 50,000.

Pro-Tec was 50 lbs. (23 kg) lighter than a steel bed. It didn't corrode, scratch or dent. It wasn't slippery and didn't trap water like bedliners do. But it also is a technology unfamiliar to consumers, who either are happy with considerably less-expensive bedliners or who don't care about the appearance of their nicked-up steel cargo boxes.

The Pro-Tec program was a cooperative effort by many composite industry heavyweights, including Dow Automotive, Bayer AG, Meridian Automotive Systems, Owens Corning and The Budd Co.

Sources previously have told Ward's that Toyota Motor Corp.'s next-generation Tacoma pickup will feature a composite box.

GM's gamble on Pro-Tec was costly. The auto maker invested $64 million in its Ft. Wayne, IN, assembly plant for an addition to build pickups with composite boxes.