2018 NAIAS: 2019 Chevrolet Silverado
2019 is turning out to be the year of the truck. In addition to Ford reintroducing the beloved Ranger, both GM and FCA are debuting fully redesigned full size trucks for the same model year. This doesn’t happen often: 2004 saw the debut of the Nissan Titan with the Ford F-150 and prior to that 1967 Ford and GM had ground up redesigns of their trucks. Chevrolet teased us in December with a private reveal of its new TrailBoss trim level, but pulled the wraps off the rest of the eight (yes, eight!) trim levels at NAIAS. The pickup wars are strong, so Chevy introduces a power tailgate, inside bed storage compartments, wider bed, and storage bins in the rear seatback. The truck manages to shed about 450 pounds with the use of high strength steel and aluminum for the doors, tailgate and hood, but notably not an aluminum cargo box – for better or worse – like the Ford F-150. The big news really is the powertrain, which includes revised versions of the 5.3L and 6.2L V8s. Diesel lovers will rejoice at the inclusion of an 3.0L inline six Duramax. The 6.2L and 3.0L both are paired to a new 10-speed automatic. No power ratings are announced yet (nor pricing), but being a light duty diesel the fuel economy numbers will be just as important to the success of this diesel against the 3.0L V6 EcoDiesel in the Ram and the F-150’s new Powerstroke. The truck wars are heating up, and regardless of which brand comes out on top, customers will be the real winners.
