Most likely as a move to steal some thunder from the upcoming Ford “Scorpion” diesel, GM dropped the goods on what kind of snot its 6.6L Duramax will be making in 2011. How about 397 hp and 765 lb/ft of torque? Yowza!

Th diesel is now making twice the torque of the gas engine options for GM trucks. The announced numbers are a jump of 32 hp and 105 pound-feet over the current engine. No specifics have been given as to where the increases come from, but we’re going to guess there’s a new tune involved. The engine will deliver 11% better mileage, and a truck equipped with the diesel and an Allison automatic will be able to go 680 miles on a single tank of fuel.

One of the diesel announcements we really want to hear and hope we do someday is the reintroduction of the “baby” 4.5L Duramax variant that GM had to shelf when its finances totally collapsed. That engine was supposedly going to be available in half-ton trucks and had the potential to be a true hot roddy diesel truck right off the showroom floor.

Just the improvements in driveline technology that allow a motor with nearly 800 pound-feet of torque to do its thing without shredding rear ends and transmissions is cool in our book.

Source — TTNews.com — GM Releases Duramax Diesel Stats