GM to scrap Chevrolet Avalanche

DETROIT (AP) - General Motors is scrapping the Chevrolet Avalanche pickup truck.

The company sold 580,000 of the short-bed, five-seat trucks since rolling them out in 2001. They were a combination of SUV and pickup truck.

Sales peaked at just over 93,000 in 2003, but fell as buyers went for full-size "crew cab" pickups.

GM introduced a full-size light-duty Chevy Silverado crew cab in 2004. The company says 65 percent of pickup trucks are now sold with a rear seat.

GM will sell the Avalanche through the summer of 2013. The truck is made at a factory in Silao, Mexico, which also makes the Silverado and GMC Sierra pickups.

Last year GM sold only 20,000 Avalanches. That's less than 5 percent of the 415,000 Silverado models sold by the company in 2011.

Chevrolet is putting out a special "Black Diamond" edition of the Avalanche in its final year.