Blog Posts
Newfoundland and Labrador's rugged landscape is well-known pickup habitat
In a province with more registered vehicles than people it seemed fitting for General Motors to launch its 2019 Sierra pickup series here, especially as it sometimes seems there's a pickup in nearly every driveway.
On Wednesday, on the road toward the most easterly point in continental North America, the Detroit-based company offered up wind protected domes to shelter journalists from around the world and give them the chance to see the new vehicle up close.
"We'll have about 70 U.S. journalists, 20 Canadian and then 10 that are coming from the Middle East," GM's communications manager Jennifer Ecclestone said.
The aim for the multi-national company was to find a terrain to best show off the capabilities of its pickup trucks.
"This place felt so special," Ecclestone said.
"People here rely on their trucks to live daily whether it's food foraging or fishing or doing all of the different work that they do."
GM sent 22 brand new trucks and dozens of employees to St. John's to help set up for the visits from journalists; who were coming in groups of around 20 all this week.
Company spokespeople wouldn't confirm the amount of money spent on the media blitz, but said that staff and invited guests were staying in two local hotels and enjoying the nightlife.
Among those on-hand to show off the new Sierra model was the executive chief engineer of the 2019 GMC Sierra, Tim Herrick.
"The landscape is beautiful and the weather is always enjoyable," he said of his first visit to Newfoundland and Labrador.
"We did a lot of walking around there, spent some good money and had fun. The people here are extremely pleasant, nice, helpful."
On Wednesday Herrick talked about the features of the latest pickup to automotive journalists like Sean Holman.
Holman works for the Motor Trend Group and travelled from California to attend the event.
"To come to a place like this where you have never been and tell your friends and family that you're closer to Ireland than I am to home right now is pretty cool," he said.
"Also, just to be able to soak in the culture as part of the job is pretty cool."
Holman joined a group on Wednesday that travelled via pickup to Harbour Grace and Hearts Delight to test out what the vehicle can do.
He will write a few stories and also put together a podcast for the Truck Show on his experiences.
It's an experience that GM hopes to make a memorable one by hiring one of the province's best known chefs, Jeremy Charles, to help highlight what Newfoundland has to offer.
"By doing some food foraging and kind of helping our journalists understand kind of the local flair and why that's such a critical piece of people living here," said Ecclestone.
The GM event wraps up, and the futuristic bubbles on Cape Spear taken down, on Friday.
