One Powerful Pickup Truck

General Motors GMC brand plans to show off an ultimate pickup truck concept at next month's North American International Auto Show.

The company says the GMC Sierra All Terrain HD Concept an "exploration of heavy-duty truck capability combined with greater off road versatility."

Some of the styling cues give hints at what we may see in the next generation of GMC pickups.  But, this takes it to an extreme.

"This kind of truck configured the way it is with the off road tires and suspension, would probably be more of a niche kind of special edition, or what have you, as we go down the road and talk about  the possibilities of putting it into production," says Carl Zipfel, who's chief designer for GMC.

The concept has a very upscale interior, with two-tone dark gray leather seats, and a leather wrapped steering wheel.  It also features a radio system that will be offered in future GMC vehicles, complete with an 80 gig hard drive for both music and recording audio from the radio.

The bed features a built in 110 volt AC socket, a compressor and a floodlight for use at night

"This really allows the customer and owners to power up any type of tools they may have in any situation," said Zipfel.

The Sierra All Terrain HD Concept comes with a wider track, three inches more of ground clearance, and special "mud terrain" tires.

Unlike concept vehicles we've seen in past shows, this is a more realistic vehicle that has the look of a production pickup truck.

"The capability-enhancing attributes of the Sierra All Terrain HD build on the already outstanding capabilities offered in the all-new production Sierra HD trucks," said GMC product marketing director Lisa Hutchinson, in a statement. "Although it is strictly a concept, it is a pretty realistic one."

Press previews for the North American International Auto Show begin on January 10th.  It opens to the public on Saturday, January 15th.