CarBrandLogos archive · Chevrolet · 1998

ChevroletSilverado

The truck that keeps General Motors solvent, whatever else the company is doing.

Photo: Elise240SX · CC BY-SA 4.0

The story

A defining chapter in Chevrolet history.

Explore the ideas, engineering and context that shaped the Chevrolet Silverado, then continue into its specifications and place in the marque's lineage.

Origins

Silverado had been a trim level on the Chevrolet C/K pickup since the mid-1970s. In 1998 it became the name of the truck itself, when General Motors replaced the ageing C/K with a completely new platform — stiffer, roomier, and equipped with the new Vortec V8 engines derived from the Corvette's LS architecture.

'03-'05 Chevrolet Silverado 3500 · Bull-Doser · Public domain

Design and engineering

Everything about the Silverado's development since has been driven by the same competition: Ford's F-Series has led American sales for four decades, and the Silverado, together with its GMC Sierra twin, is the main challenge to it. That contest has pushed the segment through aluminium panels, ten-speed automatics, cylinder deactivation, diesel inline-sixes and cab configurations that have grown steadily larger while the beds have grown shorter.

'15 Chevrolet Silverado 1500 Crew Cab · Bull-Doser · Public domain

2015 Chevrolet Silverado double standard rally 1 observe

In production

The range spreads far beyond the light-duty truck. Heavy-duty 2500 and 3500 versions carry the Duramax diesel and are the tools of American towing; medium-duty chassis-cab models, developed with Navistar, serve trades and municipalities; and since 2022 there has been a battery-electric Silverado EV on the Ultium platform.

2015 Chevrolet Silverado double standard rally 1 observe · Rjluna2 · CC BY-SA 4.0

Legacy

Financially it is the most important vehicle General Motors makes. Full-size trucks generate the profit that funds everything else in the company, which is why the Silverado has survived bankruptcies, restructurings and strategy reversals with barely a pause.

At a glance

The facts that define it.

Produced

1998–present

Body

2-door regular cab

Technical specification

The Silverado, in detail.

Production: 1998–present
Class: Full-size pickup truck ; Heavy-duty pickup truck ; Medium-duty chassis cab truck
Body style: 2-door regular cab (1999–present) ; 3-door extended cab (1999–2000 1500 and 2500 only) ; 4-door extended cab (2000–2014) ; 4-door crew cab (2001–present for HD; 2004–present for 1500)
Layout: Front-engine, rear-wheel-drive layout; Front-engine, rear-wheel-drive ; Front-engine, four-wheel-drive layout; Front-engine, four-wheel-drive
Assembly: United States: ; Flint, Michigan ; Pontiac, Michigan (Pontiac East Assembly) ; Roanoke, Indiana (Fort Wayne Assembly) ; Springfield, Ohio (Medium Duty) ; Canada: Oshawa, Ontario ; Mexico: Silao, Guanajuato
Manufacturer: General Motors