Improved Towing, Reporting for Duty: Chevrolet HD Trucks Get More Oomph
The 2021 Chevrolet Silverado HD is getting upgraded – including a bump in max towing capacity.
The maximum towing capacity has jumped 500 pounds to up to 36,000 pounds. That’s on the 3500 HD Work Truck with a regular-cab configuration, dual wheels at the rear, two-wheel drive, the 6.6-liter Duramax diesel and10-speed automatic, and the Max Tow package.
The same new tech available on the light-duty Silverado that assists with trailering is now available. It includes a trailer-length indicator that helps the driver determine if other cars are present, a jack-knife alert that is meant to alert drivers before they jack-knife their trailer, a camera that can zoom in on the cargo bed, a system that helps guide a trailer hitch into place, camera guidelines to help when reversing up to a trailer, and a split view of the sides of the trailer while backing up.
Four special editions (Carhartt, Midnight, Z71 Sport, and Z71 Chrome will be available. All four will be available in late 2020 – production on the 2021 model started last month.
Additionally, some optional equipment will now be standard or available on lower-grade trims than before, and there are two more exterior paint colors available.
[Image: Chevrolet]
Tim Healey grew up around the auto-parts business and has always had a love for cars — his parents joke his first word was “‘Vette”. Despite this, he wanted to pursue a career in sports writing but he ended up falling semi-accidentally into the automotive-journalism industry, first at Consumer Guide Automotive and later at Web2Carz.com. He also worked as an industry analyst at Mintel Group and freelanced for About.com, CarFax, Vehix.com, High Gear Media, Torque News, FutureCar.com, Cars.com, among others, and of course Vertical Scope sites such as AutoGuide.com, Off-Road.com, and HybridCars.com. He’s an urbanite and as such, doesn’t need a daily driver, but if he had one, it would be compact, sporty, and have a manual transmission.
More by Tim Healey
Comments
Join the conversation
The way the front end and windshield are designed the driver wouldn't see a miata or other low sporty car in front of them.
I think this thing should be called, "Unsafe At Any Speed."
Mary Barra to the GM truck designers--"Design a new full size truck so ugly that no one will buy it and the Government will give us another loan." Dealers--"Doesn't matter how ugly the new Silverado is people still seem to buy it." GM striving to reach new lows.
Looks are much less important in this class. It's a little painful to look at, but it gets better from the sides an back. The interior is the biggest problem. Except for commercial users, the GM HD twins aren't even on the list. Enterprise does 50K mile leases, but only Ford and Ram HDs.