Chevrolet Adds Trail Boss to Silverado HD

Matthew Guy
by Matthew Guy

It’s a great time to be a fan of burly off-road pickup trucks from the Bowtie brand. With multiple flavors of dirt road fun in three different sizes, Chevy has covered just about all bases.


Proving things don’t always happen in order, the Silverado HD is getting a Trail Boss trim for 2025, a model whose off-road chops slide in between the Z71 and ZR2 – though both of those have options been available on the HD trucks for a spell already. Adding this trim to the Heavy Duty line completes a trifecta of sorts, with Trail Boss now showing up on midsize Colorado, half-ton Silverado 1500, and now these brutish HDs.


What makes a Trail Boss? Hove underneath the truck in LT or LTZ guise are a set of suspenders from the Z71, including specially tuned shocks which are not the trick DSSV units. If you want those, get a ZR2. Meaty tires on unique 20-inch wheels are part of the deal, as are swaths of blacked-out trim and badges. Stickers don’t add horsepower or off-road prowess but at least advertise the fact you’re not rocking a bog standard Silverado HD.


The 6.6-liter V8 gasser is standard, a mill which showed up this year with 401 horsepower and 464 lb-ft of torque; there’s no indication those numbers will change for 2025. Meanwhile, the 6.6L Duramax diesel is the one you really want, belting out 470 horses and 975 lb-ft of twist. Both engines dance with a ten-speed automatic.


Elsewhere, the interior got a much-needed revamp last year, so other changes are minor. Park assists now appear on more trims, as does adaptive cruise control. Note that adaptive cruise is not Super Cruise – nor is it Ultra Cruise, a tech innovation The General has folded into the Super Cruise family and will no longer market separately. There’s a spate of black-out packages for 2025 as well.


These trucks will be available in summer of 2024. Pricing will be announced closer to the start of production.


[Image: Chevrolet]


Become a TTAC insider. Get the latest news, features, TTAC takes, and everything else that gets to the truth about cars first by subscribing to our newsletter.

Matthew Guy
Matthew Guy

Matthew buys, sells, fixes, & races cars. As a human index of auto & auction knowledge, he is fond of making money and offering loud opinions.

More by Matthew Guy

Comments
Join the conversation
3 of 13 comments
  • Tassos the grille is more ridiculous than even most.. pickup trucks!The numbers for HP and TOrque are so low, they look like TYPOS.
  • Chris P Bacon Personally I still prefer a sedan (Volvo S60 is my daily). I spent a lot of times in National rentals. Looks wise, the Bu was interesting when it came out. Immediately lost me with the 1.5 four and CVT. I've driven it, but only the first time was by choice. Its just meh. If I see it on the Emerald Aisle I'll look for just about anything else.
  • 1995 SC Cadillac's traditional core customers for the most part purchased their last new car 20 years ago and they haven't been able to figure out where to go next since then. They were flailing before EV's. No surprise they are still flailing.
  • Tassos no. I sure as hell will never miss it. It was a good car, but the Accord and the Camry were so much better. GM has not made any money on it in years, so the decision to kill it was right.
  • FreedMike The automatics in this generation of Focus were legendarily bad, but with the manual, these were legit little cars. So...what's this "Tom's Tune"? Apparently this is the answer: https://focus-power.com/our-company/
Next