We’ve known Chevrolet is planning a new, medium-duty truck of sorts in partnership with Navistar, but earlier this week, we finally got some solid intel on the forthcoming truck.
Chevrolet referred to the vehicle as a flagship, medium-duty truck and we speculated it could make for the return of the Chevrolet Kodiak. But should it be a proper Ford F-450 rival with a Silverado cab? That’s today’s Community Question.
The Kodiak was originally introduced in the 1980s to fulfill a commercial sector for garbage trucks, ambulances and more. The nameplate ran through 2009 when GM announced it would discontinue the Kodiak after original deals with Isuzu and Navistar fell through. Since then, GM left the space vacant until relaunching a line of medium-duty commercial trucks in a newfound partnership with Isuzu.
But, if this truck uses a Silverado as a base, we could be looking more squarely at a Ford F-450 Super Duty rival, which would play in a very different market altogether.
Chevrolet stated the flagship truck will marry a Duramax diesel engine, likely the new 6.6-liter L5P V8, and an Allison transmission. With that information, it certainly sounds more like an F-450 rival. But, the fact Navistar is involved leads us to believe otherwise.
We want to hear from you. Should Chevrolet chase the F-450 Super Duty, or do you want to see the Kodiak make a return? Sound off in the poll down below.
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The new trucks will be a Navistar frame with a Silverado body and a Duramax engine, designed to compete with the F450/550 and the Ram offerings in these higher payload classes. They will technically be classified as medium duty trucks because of the GVWR class ratings. While a true Kodiak with even higher capabilities would be nice, that's not what this new joint venture is going to be with Navistar. Who knows what the future will hold?
The Chevy dealer I work for is a Medium Duty dealer again. These trucks will only be available through those dealers who have signed up (and invested quite a bit in infrastructure as well) to be Medium Duty dealers. These dealers also are the ones who are designated to sell the Low Cab Forwards. There is also going to be a 6500 series LCF for 2018 using Isuzu's heavier low cab design. Top GVWR will be just under 26,000 pounds, keeping the truck still under CDL regulations.
If Ford has it, Chevrolet absolutely should have an apples to apples direct competitor. Not just here, but across their entire vehicle lineup from Spark to the "HD" trucks.
Make it an F450 rival. Call it the Silverado 4500. I bet you it would be built with the other HD models in Flint.
Build it both ways but definitely prefer it built with Silverado cab , needs huge fuel tanks , 4x4 , an not derated horsepower for 4500 , built for heavy commercial use ,
GM ought to concentrate on competing with FORD and RAM instead of itself. GMC and CHEVROLET are the same truck and the brochures often state this. GMC really only exists so that BUICK dealers can sell pickup trucks and SUV's just like the CHEVROLET dealers.
I say bring it back exactly as it left in 2009. The van style cab enabled it to have comfort, high gvw and turning radius. There is NOTHING on the market today as good as a 2009 5500 for the (rollback) towing industry. Also the pickup style cabs do not have the required headroom for functional air seats. We have a '17 f550 , a '13 f650, and 3 c5500's . The 5500's are the ones that get used.
Hell yes.. we want a new kodiak...I'm pretty sure the kodiak community agrees !!