General Motors expects the 650-mile, extended-range workhorse vehicles will be on the road by the end of the year.

General Motors and its Chevrolet and GMC units rolled out a new bifuel compressed natural gas (CNG) line of 2013 pickup trucks Monday offering a 650-mile range that is particularly aimed a commercial fleet operators. Characterizing these pickups as the next step in CNG propulsion, GM said it will be taking orders beginning in April and initial models will be on the road by the end of this year.

Officials for the automaker said CNG is one of six areas of its focus, including traditional gasoline-powered and electric vehicles. With the new CNG bifuels for both the Chevy Silverado and GMC Sierra 2500 HD extended cab pickup trucks, GM is emphasizing optionality and flexibility as requested by fleet operators and individual customers alike, the automaker said.

Separately, the Wall Street Journal reported that Chrysler Group LLC is poised to announce on Tuesday its first-ever production-line bifuel natural gas Ram pickup truck, noting the automaker has plans to produce 2,000 heavy-duty Ram bifuel vehicles starting this June. The Journal report noted more broadly a renewed push by the gas and auto industries to produce more combination CNG and gasoline-powered vehicles while others are developing a more extensive natural gas transportation fueling infrastructure.

GM is not giving a price range for the natural gas/gasoline vehicles, but with CNG prices around the low $2/gallon-gasoline equivalent, customers are expected to recover any added sticker price with fuel savings of $6,000-10,000/vehicle over a three-year period, according to GM’s Joyce Mattman, director of commercial product and specialty vehicles.

The Detroit-based automaking giant, which has largely recovered from its financial meltdown four years ago, is counting on CNG’s cost and clean-burning advantages, together with abundant domestically produced fuel, to attract interest among fleet operators and provide further incentives for building out the infrastructure of natural gas transportation stations, which have grown by 26% since 2009. Mattman acknowledged that GM has seen the interest in CNG for transportation peter out during several past periods of marketing pushes.

“The bifuel truck provides businesses with added refueling flexibility and eases consumer range concerns that typically come with CNG, all while reducing emissions and controlling costs,” Mattman said. She touted TM’s “turnkey operating process” and what it bills as the nation’s best warranty for a commercial product as further attractions for commercial fleet operators.

Available with long or short beds and two- or four-wheel drive, the CNG trucks will be covered by GM’s three-year, 36,000-mile new vehicle limited warranty and five-year, 100,000-mile limited powertrain warranty and vehicle emissions warranty, meeting all of the federal Environmental Protection Agency and California Air Resources Board emission certification requirements. “It is the most extensive warranty offered by any manufacturer on commercial products,” GM said.

The trucks are built in Fort Wayne, ID, and then sent to GM’s supplier, IMPCO Technologies Inc., for installation of the CNG bifuel delivery and storage system all under GM’s engineering specification as an original equipment manufactured (OEM) vehicle. Mattman insisted this is not an after-market installation, “it’s a GM-backed CNG system.”

“The entire gaseous fuel system meets GM’s strict quality, durability, safety testing and is covered under the extensive warranty,” said Mike Jones GM product manager for fleet and commercial operations. The system works on gasoline or CNG, and operates seamlessly and automatically, said Jones, who added that the trucks always start on gasoline but then automatically transition to natural gas in a short time when the vehicle reaches the appropriate operating temperature.

Unless the driver switches it manually, the vehicle runs on CNG until that fuel is depleted and then automatically switches to gasoline, Jones said.

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