2020 Chevrolet Silverado HD Completes the Truck Trifecta

Steph Willems
by Steph Willems

Getting quite a jump on next year’s reveal, General Motors released a teaser of the upcoming 2020 Chevrolet Silverado HD on Tuesday. The heavy duty pickup slots between the revamped 1500 model unveiled in Detroit in January and the new medium-duty 4500/5500/6500HD trucks shown at March’s Work Truck Show in Indianapolis.

Those latter heavy haulers now share the Silverado name, bringing all of Chevrolet’s full-size-and-up trucks into the Silverado fold.

With the 2020 Silverado HD, the family will be complete. Prototypes hit the road soon, GM claims, but it’ll be a while before we get a full view of these new HD trucks.

The big reveal comes next year, the automaker states, though it’s likely we’ll see Chevy follow the same sort of timetable taken by the 2019 Silverado 1500. Sneak peak in December, then a splashy unveiling in Detroit in January. Sales to follow by summer.

From the teaser photo provided, it’s obvious a radical streamlining campaign has not taken hold at GM’s design offices. The hoodline of this Z71 off-road model appears as flat and imposing as the prow of a Dreadnought-class battleship. The air-sucking hood scoop remains to feed the Duramax diesel V8 underneath.

Chevrolet hasn’t ditched its chrome suppliers, either. A horizontal crossbar spits the grille higher up than before and, in doing so, rekindles memories of the previous-generation Colorado. Unlike the HD’s smaller 1500 sibling, the driving lamps aren’t positioned in the stratosphere. Drivers sometimes need to see nocturnal animals in their own county.

GM doesn’t have much to say about the next-gen HD, only mentioning the “increased durability and validation standards, and the bolder, larger proportions” of the new truck. We have to wonder if the launch will bring a new salvo in the ongoing heavy duty torque war. Currently, the 6.6-liter Duramax V8’s 910 lb-ft trails Ford’s 935 lb-ft.

If you’re wondering where the GMC Sierra HD teaser is, well, it doesn’t exist yet.

[Image: General Motors]

Steph Willems
Steph Willems

More by Steph Willems

Comments
Join the conversation
2 of 25 comments
  • EquipmentJunkie EquipmentJunkie on Apr 10, 2018

    GM truck styling has kept me out of their showrooms for the last 15 years. Glimpses of this new HD Chevy promises to keep the streak alive. I'm hoping that the new GMC will be better.

  • Vulpine Vulpine on Apr 10, 2018

    As SNL's "Black Jeopardy" puts it... "Aw HELL no!"

  • SCE to AUX All that lift makes for an easy rollover of your $70k truck.
  • SCE to AUX My son cross-shopped the RAV4 and Model Y, then bought the Y. To their surprise, they hated the RAV4.
  • SCE to AUX I'm already driving the cheap EV (19 Ioniq EV).$30k MSRP in late 2018, $23k after subsidy at lease (no tax hassle)$549/year insurance$40 in electricity to drive 1000 miles/month66k miles, no range lossAffordable 16" tiresVirtually no maintenance expensesHyundai (for example) has dramatically cut prices on their EVs, so you can get a 361-mile Ioniq 6 in the high 30s right now.But ask me if I'd go to the Subaru brand if one was affordable, and the answer is no.
  • David Murilee Martin, These Toyota Vans were absolute garbage. As the labor even basic service cost 400% as much as servicing a VW Vanagon or American minivan. A skilled Toyota tech would take about 2.5 hours just to change the air cleaner. Also they also broke often, as they overheated and warped the engine and boiled the automatic transmission...
  • Marcr My wife and I mostly work from home (or use public transit), the kid is grown, and we no longer do road trips of more than 150 miles or so. Our one car mostly gets used for local errands and the occasional airport pickup. The first non-Tesla, non-Mini, non-Fiat, non-Kia/Hyundai, non-GM (I do have my biases) small fun-to-drive hatchback EV with 200+ mile range, instrument display behind the wheel where it belongs and actual knobs for oft-used functions for under $35K will get our money. What we really want is a proper 21st century equivalent of the original Honda Civic. The Volvo EX30 is close and may end up being the compromise choice.
Next