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You can’t afford to sit still in the truck market for long. If you aren’t rolling out something new and superlative—whether that be a redesign, new engines, or fresh tech—then you’re lagging. General Motors knows this, which is why it’s introducing all three of those with the 2027 Chevrolet Silverado.
Almost everything about the new half-ton is upgraded. That is, if you want a more modern pickup.
Boy, It’s Sharp
You might have guessed that the new Silverado leaps into the contemporary just by looking at it, as the rig sports standard stacked LED headlights with a thin upper element and a C-shaped lower. The taillights are also LEDs, while the styling along the truck’s sides helps differentiate it from older models. More clearly pronounced wheel openings play a hand in this, as well as a reworked bed skin.
It’s absolutely more modern on the inside, too. I remember when GM trucks were way 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 the Work Truck spec. High Country and ZR2 models also get an 11.5-inch passenger screen, which is all the rage on new pickups for… some reason.
I don’t care about that so much as I do the Multi-Flex center console, though, as it unfolds into a handy workspace. Now, it’s true that Ford did this first, but Chevy didn’t have to design a fancy folding shift lever because all of its Silverados have column shifters (as God intended).
Bigger V8s? In This Economy?
Headlining the reinvigorated full-size range are the next-gen small-block V8s, which measure 5.7 liters and 6.6 liters in displacement. GM actually hasn’t 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-liter TurboMax four-cylinder as the standard engine, though it’s now paired with the 10-speed transmission instead of the old eight-speed. And truck lovers will be glad 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 the compression-ignition lump.
It’s impossible to say if this engine lineup is any better than Ford’s or Ram’s without testing it first, but I will say, it has a ton of promise. GM is the only manufacturer introducing truly new V8s in its full-size trucks right now, given that Ford has used the same 5.0-liter for a while now, and Ram just brought back the old 5.7-liter Hemi. I’m slightly annoyed that we don’t have power specs yet for the new GM small-blocks, but hey, they’ll come eventually.
Off-Road Trail Boss and ZR2 Aren’t Left Alone Either
Chevy is sticking with its pair of dedicated four-wheelin’ variants for the Silverado: Trail Boss and ZR2. The former is a bit milder, though still capable of crawling over rocks and digging through mud with a two-inch 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 partners with Multimatic again to offer a trail-armored truck with stronger bumpers, rocker rails, and skid plates for the front, transfer case, rear diff, and fuel tank.
The Bowtie brand threw a little something extra into the ZR2’s cab, with true carbon fiber inserts on the doors and console. It’s apparently the first time Chevy has implemented that material on its trucks, and y’know, I believe it. All the dark weaving is complemented by Torch Red accents, as even the seatbelts have vibrantly colored edges that pull everything together. I’m a sucker for that.
Reworked Trims, With a More Platinum-Like High Country
In all, there are seven trims for Chevy’s new 1500. It starts with the Work Truck and goes on to the Custom, Custom Trail Boss, Trail Boss Silverado (that’s the trim name as well as the model name), ZR2, and High Country. That means the automaker ditched the LT trim and simply renamed it as “Silverado.”
The range-topping High Country is a hot seller for Chevrolet as truck buyers keep shopping farther up-market. It’s always been sort of cowboy chic or, at least, adjacent to that—not quite as western as Ram’s Longhorn or Ford’s King Ranch but in that same vein. For 2027, Chevy went a sleeker route by adding microfiber suede materials inside, Tritan Satin accents, a Silverado-first panoramic sunroof, and screens. By golly, does this truck have a lot of screens.
Chevy says there are more than 60 inches of digital surfaces in the 2027 High Country (as well as the rugged ZR2, strangely). That number accounts for the aforementioned digital gauge cluster, center screen, and passenger screen, along with the heads-up display and digital rearview mirror. At least the HVAC still has physical knobs and buttons.
That tangent aside, the High Country is more Cadillac than it is Chevy these days. It’s yet another example of something I’ve been saying for a while now: Mainstream brands keep closing the gap to luxury automakers, blurring the line between what’s “normal” and what’s “premium.” Buyers don’t seem to mind, though, as you can bet on seeing these rigs everywhere at rodeos and Costcos alike.
We don’t have any word on availability or pricing for the 2027 Silverado 1500 yet, so we’ll have to wait to find out exactly how much more it will cost than the old one. One thing Chevy does say in its press release is that the truck “will be built at GM’s full-size truck assembly facilities in North America.” That’s not quite the same as being American-made, though.
Got a tip or question for the author? Contact them directly: caleb@thedrive.com
From running point on new car launch coverage to editing long-form features and reviews, Caleb does some of everything at The Drive. And he really, really loves trucks.
