The other day, as I walked into my local Costco to buy my monthly ½-ton of Gummy Bears, I noticed a Chevy Silverado parked right in front, like it owned the place. Filled with rage and envy, I bellied up to the customer service desk to report this egregious violation and/or to get in on the preferential parking racket. Turns out – the truck was for sale… and exclusively at Costco!
At first thought, this seemed completely and utterly ridiculous. Why would you buy a truck at Costco? Of course there’s the obvious competitive edge of unlimited mattress access during negotiations and endless snacking for the hungry buyer, but otherwise, reasons for purchasing a car at a warehouse store get fuzzy.
Before I wrote the idea off completely, I was reminded of the many retail brand/automotive manufacturer partnerships like the LL Bean edition Subaru Outback and the Eddie Bauer edition Ford Explorer, so the idea isn’t completely without precedent. What’s intriguing about the Costco edition Silverado, is that Costco is synonymous with value– so its customers expect a smoking deal. Turns out, this special, limited release 2016 Chevrolet Silverado 1500 LTZ Crew Cab includes GM Supplier Pricing, a $1,000 Costco member allowance and a $1,000 Costco cash card. (For those looking at the numbers, supplier discount comes out to equal $4,021 below the Silverado’s $58,500 MSRP. Combine it with the Costco and another GM incentive and it works out to be over $9,000 in savings!) The savings, which translates to roughly 9,990 rolls of toilet paper, combined with the trucks special features, makes it an exciting proposition!
Because this is the exclusive Costco Package, it comes ready with all kinds of upgrades. On the inside, there’s the LTZ Plus Package which is the pimpest of all trims. The truck includes Bluetooth, Sirius XM satellite radio, OnStar with 4G LTE and a built in Wi-Fi hotspot, full-feature driver and passenger bucket seats. On the exterior, there is remote vehicle start, a cargo box with LED lighting, a power sunroof, spray on bed liner and a lockable tri-fold hard Tonneau cover. All of which, who are we kidding, can make your obligatory diaper run a little less painful. (Unless those are adult diapers – there are some things even an awesome truck can’t solve.) Under the hood, it has a 5.3L EcoTec3 V8 boasting “Best in Class” mpg of 16 city/23 hwy. For the Costco insiders, the Silverado sports a signature-edition black bow tie and grille.
All of the upgrades and preferential pricing (& parking) aside, what about buying a Costco truck? Is it a great idea or an awful compromise? I doubt anyone would rationally argue that they’d rather hang out at a car dealership than a Costco. Even if they tried to bribe you with free coffee or unlimited test drives, most people would rather be in the company of endless flat screens vs sleazy sales dudes. And while the truck is exclusive at Costco, there’s no overt branding on the vehicle – so while you’ll know you got a bargain, your friends will just think you got a killer truck and heaps of TP.
