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Chevrolet Lifts the Cover on the 2020 Silverado HDs
Hot on the heels of Chevrolet's completely redesigned 2019 Silverado 1500 pickup truck, the automaker has unveiled the next biggest model in its full-size lineup. The new 2020 Chevrolet Silverado 2500/3500 was shown to a select group of journalists in November during the launch drive of the new 2019 Silverado 1500 turbo 2.7-liter in Scottsdale, Ariz., but we were sworn to secrecy about the huge new three-quarter-ton rig. Now GM has lifted the vow of silence, and we can show you the goods, and man, is it something else.
Here is one of the most boldly styled new trucks to come along since ... well, since the new 2019 Silverado 1500 appeared with its polarizing looks. The HD is physically bigger than the half-ton truck and looks absolutely nothing like it. The two trucks get completely different sheet metal with only the roof panel common to both half-ton and 2500/3500 models. Parked next to each other, as I saw them last month in Arizona, the new HD dwarfs the standard Silverado in practically every way — it's an absolute monster of a pickup truck.
Chevrolet says that the cab shares the same kind of improvements as the light-duty model does, with 3 inches more legroom for passengers and a taller, more upright driving position. The high bed can be accessed by a novel new integrated side step that's fitted to the forward part of the bedside. We weren't allowed to try it (the truck we saw was a clay model and we weren't allowed to even breathe on it too hard, lest it break), but it seems like a simpler way to get into the bed from the side of the truck without using the tire as a step.
Under the hood will be a choice of two new powertrains, according to Chevrolet. Standard will be an all-new gasoline V-8 with direct injection mated to a six-speed automatic transmission, while the optional powertrain will be the turbo-diesel Duramax V-8 engine mated to a new Allison 10-speed automatic transmission. The only number Chevrolet has provided to us regarding these powertrains is 910 pounds-feet — the torque rating for the turbo-diesel Duramax engine. All other numbers like engine displacement, horsepower, gear ratios, towing rating, payload, fuel economy and more will have to wait until the truck's official full launch, which we're expecting sometime in early February 2019.
Chevy will be making the new Silverado 2500/3500 at its truck plant in Flint, Mich., and says that sales will begin in mid-2019. Check out the photo gallery below and check back here in a couple of months for the full launch of the new Silverado HD.
