CarBrandLogos archive · General Motors · 1998

General MotorsChevrolet Silverado

The nameplate that carried Chevrolet's pickup out of the C/K era.

Photo: Elise240SX · CC BY-SA 4.0

The story

A defining chapter in General Motors history.

Explore the ideas, engineering and context that shaped the General Motors 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 for two decades before it became the truck itself in 1999, when GM's new full-size pickup replaced a design dating to the 1980s. The rename was a marketing decision that stuck, and the Silverado has been Chevrolet's highest-volume product ever since.

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

Design and engineering

The range is deliberately enormous: regular, extended and crew cabs, rear- or four-wheel drive, half-ton 1500 models through heavy-duty 2500 and 3500 versions with Duramax diesel and Allison transmissions, and medium-duty chassis cabs sold to body builders. It is assembled in Michigan, Indiana, Ohio, Canada and Mexico, and it exists in a permanent sales fight with the Ford F-Series and Ram that shapes almost every decision GM makes about it.

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

2015 Chevrolet Silverado double standard rally 1 observe

In production

Later generations added aluminium panels, cylinder deactivation, a straight-six diesel and, most significantly, the battery-electric Silverado EV built on GM's Ultium architecture, a separate vehicle sharing little but the name, which is roughly how the nameplate has always worked.

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

At a glance

The facts that define it.

Produced

1998–present

Body

2-door regular cab

Technical specification

The Chevrolet 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