100 YEARS IN THE MAKING

FIRST LOOK AT THE ALL-NEW CHEVY SILVERADO

We were lucky enough to attend the 2019 Silverado 1500 launch— which coincided with the 100-year anniversary of Chevy’s first customer truck deliveries in January of 1918—prior to the North American International Auto Show in Detroit. The new lightduty Silverado is going to turn a lot of heads, and more importantly excite a lot of diesel fans.

Sure, the styling of the truck is uniquely modern, yet consistent with its Chevy Truck DNA, and there is a lot more to this all-new truck than just pretty sheet metal. It has a 3.9 inch longer wheelbase and is 1.6 inches longer overall, which offers both increased room for cargo and comfort. With improved aerodynamics, new powertrain tech and overall weight reduced by up to 450 pounds the 2019 Silverado 1500 is sure to offer impressive performance and fuel economy.

Powertrain

We know the new 1500 will be offered with an all-new Duramax 3.0L inline-6 turbo diesel, which will be mated to a new Hydra-matic 10-speed automatic transmission. What we don’t know is how many of the eight different Silverado models on offer will be available with this option. Out of the reported six engine/transmission configurations, so far we know about the new Duramax diesel and new 5.3L and 6.2L V8 gas engines, along with the new Hydra-matic 10-speed auto trans. There is lots of speculation on the other options, but not much hope for another diesel in the lineup.

While the 3.0L diesel and 6.2L V8 will both be paired with the new 10-speed auto, we don’t yet know what trans options the 5.3L V8 will get. We can also only dream of the other options available with the diesel. Some of us dream of a 6- or 8-speed manual to go along with what will hopefully