DETROIT — General Motors may be forced to break up a 72-year marriage of pickups and large sport utility vehicles as Americans restrict the fossil- fuel diet of their transportation.
Under pressure to produce a more fuel-efficient and cleaner-running line of vehicles, GM is investigating ways to design a lighter replacement for its biggest SUVs, such as the Chevrolet Tahoe, without relying on a heavier pickup-truck frame, according to people familiar with the effort.
The Tahoe and its predecessors have shared the design of Chevy Silverado pickups since the model was introduced in 1965. GM engineers are considering a shift in 2012 to a carlike construction, said the people, who asked not to be named because the talks are confidential.
GM, the world’s largest automaker, may also cut annual production capacity for larger SUVs and pickups by 40 percent to 1 million vehicles from 1.7 million, the people said.
A shift away from a history of building an SUV off a large pickup-truck chassis would echo other moves by chief executive Rick Wagoner as he tries to meet a government requirement to cut fuel use 40 percent by 2020.
