The likely $100K price may not be a burden for the massive HSV-fettled Chev

To cater for Australia’s growing appetite for four-door, four-wheel drive utes, car brands are happy to import and convert ever-larger vehicles to suit — and price them accordingly. Enter the Chevrolet Silverado 1500 LTZ. Built in the US and converted locally to right-hand drive by HSV, it is tipped to cost about $110,000.

The Silverado is the first of the “next-gen” utes to arrive in Australia.

Simply put, that means a rugged ladderframe chassis, 4.5-tonne towing capacity and well-appointed cab packing the latest active safety and connectivity from GM’s passenger car range.

Among the safety features are autonomous emergency braking up to 80km/h, rear crosstraffic alert and blind-spot and lane-departure warnings. In original specification (US model, main pictures), the Silverado also gets active lane keeping but HSV hasn’t gone to the expense of refettling this for Australian roads.

The infotainment set-up is the latest version of what appeared in the outgoing Holden range, including digital radio, smartphone mirroring and wireless charging pad.

Other niceties include heated outboard

AT A GLANCE

CHEVROLET SILVERADO 1500 LTZ PRICE $110,000 plus on-roads (est) WARRANTY/SERVICE N/A

SAFETY Not rated, 6 airbags, AEB, rear cross traffic alert, blind spot and lane departure warning ENGINE 6.2-litre V8, 313kW/624Nm THIRST 12.3L/100km

PAYLOAD 712kg

TOWING 4500kg seats, leather upholstery, four USB ports, headup display, sunroof and enough storage to stash the contents of your house.

There is a thumbnail-sized panel on the passenger’s door that doesn’t quite match the surrounding colour — and that’s the most noticeable indication the right-hook Silverado hasn’t come straight from the US.

The rest of the conversion is hard to identify, let alone fault, especially given there are 500 new components throughout the cabin.

The realigned power mirrors were found to hit the bodywork when closing. The shaved bottom corner of the driver’s mirror is evidence of the workaround to maintain rearward vision.

ON THE ROAD

The standard spray-in tub liner does a solid job of suppressing road noise and the biggest aural intrusion came from water flicking into the wheel arches at speed.

Most Silverado buyers will want to tow bigtime. Fit a 70mm ball and trailer brakes and it hauls up to 4500kg (though there’s not much scope for passengers or cargo with that load).

Conversely, the load in the tub is limited to 712kg, so if you plan on loading heavy objects rather than hauling them, stick with the Japanese one-tonners.

That said, some weight in the back improves the ride. On our drive, the 325kg payload in the tub of one vehicle notably softened the otherwise jiggly suspension over small bumps.

The Silverado’s five drive modes include a tow setting and trailer sway mitigation helps avoid the dreaded crosswind shakes. There is also hitch guidance in the reversing camera image.

Power and its delivery simply aren’t an issue, courtesy of the 6.2-litre V8 and 10-speed auto. Every time GM rolls out a new model, the calibration on the auto improves — this example is impressively smooth under light acceleration but can jolt a touch when you want to tap the full 313kW/624Nm.

For the off-road repertoire, there are lowrange four-wheel drive and a locking rear diff. Ground clearance unladen is 235mm.

VERDICT

The Silverado is the gold-class of the next wave of US utes. The mix of a rugged, good-looking truck and the latest safety gear is likely to mean a waiting list, despite the price. Whether there’s enough local demand to sustain that queue in the mid-to-long term will be a good guide to where the ute segment is heading.