You cannot sit still in the truck market for long. If you’re not bringing something new and outstanding – whether it’s a new design, a new engine, or fresh technology – you’re falling behind. General Motors knows this, which is why it’s offering all three with the 2027 Chevrolet Silverado.
Almost everything about the new half-ton has been upgraded. That is, if you want a more modern pickup.
boy, it’s fast
You might have guessed just by looking at it that the new Silverado takes a leap into the contemporary, as the rig features standard stacked LED headlights with thin upper elements and C-shaped lower elements. The taillights are also LED, while the styling on the sides of the truck helps distinguish it from older models. More clearly pronounced wheel openings play a role in this, as well as a repurposed bed skin.
It’s also noticeably more modern on the inside. I remember when GM trucks were well behind the competition in terms of premium interiors, but that’s not the case anymore. At least, not from a features perspective. Every 2027 Silverado comes with a 16.3-inch center screen and 12.2-inch digital gauge cluster, even in work truck spec. High Country and ZR2 models also get an 11.5-inch passenger screen, which is very popular on new pickups for some reason.
However, I don’t care for it as much as I do the Multi-Flex center console, as it transforms into a handy workbench. Now, it’s true that Ford did this first, but Chevy didn’t need to design a fancy folding shift lever because all of its Silverados have column shifters (as God intended).
Big V8s? In this economy?
The main role in the revived full-size range belongs to the next generation small-block V8s, with displacements of 5.7 liters and 6.6 liters. GM hasn’t really said much about these power plants yet, as we don’t even have horsepower and torque specs. Either way, you can expect improvements over the outgoing 5.3-liter’s 355 hp and 383 lb-ft of torque, and the 6.2-liter’s 420 hp and 460 lb-ft.
Lower-spec Silverados still feature the 2.7-litre Turbomax four-cylinder as the standard engine, although it is now paired with a 10-speed transmission instead of the old eight-speed. And truck lovers will be happy to hear that the 3.0-liter Duramax diesel inline-six is back with expanded availability. You can now get a Silverado WT (or work truck) with a compression-ignition lump.
It’s impossible to say whether this engine lineup is better than Ford or Ram without testing first, but I will say, there’s a lot of potential. GM is the only manufacturer actually offering new V8s in its full-size trucks at the moment, given that Ford has used the same 5.0-liter for some time now, and Ram just brought back the old 5.7-liter Hemi. I’m a little annoyed that we don’t have power specs for the new GM small-blocks yet, but hey, they’ll come eventually.
Off-road Trail Boss and ZR2 are also not left alone
Chevy is sticking to its pair of dedicated four-wheel-drive variants for the Silverado: the Trail Boss and ZR2. The first is a little lighter, though still capable of crawling over rocks and digging mud, with two inches of lift and 34-inch tires; The latter is more hardcore with Multimatic DSSV dampers, 35-inch rubber and standard lockers on the front and rear diffs. The Silverado ZR2 Bison Edition is also back for 2027, as Chevy has again partnered with Multimatic to introduce a trail-armored truck with strengthened bumpers, rocker rails, and skid plates for the front, transfer case, rear diff, and fuel tank.
The bowtie brand added a few extra touches to the ZR2’s cab, including real carbon fiber inserts on the doors and console. Apparently this is the first time Chevy has implemented that material on their trucks, and you know, I believe it. All the dark weave is complemented by torch red accents, even the seatbelts have brightly colored edges that pull everything together. I am very fond of it.
With more platinum-like High Country, reworked trims
In total, there are seven trims for Chevy’s new 1500. It starts with Work Truck and goes up to Custom, Custom Trail Boss, Trail Boss Silverado (this is the trim name as well as the model name), ZR2 and High Country. This means the automaker dropped the LT trim and renamed it “Silverado.”
The range-topping High Country is a hot seller for Chevrolet as truck buyers continue to shop up-market. It’s always been a kind of cowboy chic or, at least, adjacent to it – not quite as western as Ram’s Longhorn or Ford’s King Ranch but in the same way. For 2027, Chevy took a sleeker route by adding microfiber suede material inside, Tritan satin accents, a Silverado-first panoramic sunroof, and a screen. From the street, boy, does this truck have a lot of screens.
Chevy says the 2027 High Country has more than 60 inches of digital surfaces (as well as the oddly rugged ZR2). That number accounts for the aforementioned digital gauge cluster, center screen and passenger screen, as well as the head-up display and digital rearview mirror. At least HVAC still has physical knobs and buttons.
Leaving aside that tangent, the High Country is more Cadillac than Chevy these days. This is another example of what I’ve been saying for some time: mainstream brands keep closing the gap to luxury automakers, blurring the line between “normal” and “premium.” Buyers don’t mind, however, because you can bet on seeing these rigs everywhere, at rodeos and Costcos.
We don’t have any information about the availability or pricing of the 2027 Silverado 1500 yet, so we’ll have to wait to find out how much more it will cost compared to the old one. One thing Chevy said in its press release was that the truck “will be built at GM’s full-size truck assembly facilities in North America.” However, it’s not exactly the same as being American-made.
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