Last month, our sister publication Ford Authority received a 2018 Ford F-150 Raptor for evaluation and after our time spent with the off-road pickup, it’s clear the Blue Oval offers something distinct Chevrolet does not.
The 2018 Chevrolet Silverado will certainly handle itself off the beaten path, but it will not be a happy camper should drivers even begin to attempt an outing at Silver Lake Sand Dunes in western Michigan. The F-150 Raptor delivered, according to lead Ford Authority writer Aaron Brzozowski, a “stupid amount of fun.”
But not only did it execute its mission off-road, it coddled occupants on the road and was no match for eastern Michigan’s crumbling roads and legendary potholes. Meanwhile, the truck shocked as surprisingly luxurious with a suite of lovely features that make the Raptor a bearable pickup when it’s not in its element. Our Raptor rang in with an as-tested price of around $70,000, however.
Chevrolet will gladly sell buyers a Colorado ZR2 for off-road shenanigans, but the mid-size pickup is more rock crawler than sand dune brawler. The Raptor’s sense of speed adds a special sauce to the off-road formula the Colorado ZR2’s 3.6-liter V6 will never match.
And that’s what the Silverado is missing.
Considering the market’s massive swing to pickup trucks, we’d find it hard to believe Chevrolet isn’t at least considering an answer to the Raptor with a new Silverado variant. Unfortunately for Chevrolet, the Raptor has had two generations to leave a lasting imprint on the off-road crowd. Such a Chevy is likely years out still.
Comments
This is awesome. I love that it looks so nice but is utilitarian also. Wish we had space for it. It would solve all my clutter issues by the me.
GM used to be a performance leader and now it is missing the boat. Buyers of suvs also include performance enthusiasts. GM is the only one not making a performance mid-size suv.
Chevrolet needs to offer an SS/ZL1 variant of truck with off-road capabilities as well with the 6.2L Supercharged V8 with 650HP -or- better yet, offer the same in the Colorado ZR2 with a 3.0TT V6 with 400HP. Both trucks need a performance variant.
It’s insanity to simply give a segment of the market to the competition without even attempting to engage, Mary Barra needs to get to work and make the calls necessary to develop a Silverado SS with the 650 hp LT4 supercharged 6.2L V8.
How big is the segment with a starting price of $70,000? Not too big i would imagine.
Even the Chinese are buying Raptors by the boat load. Literally.
And it’s Ford’s most profitable vehicle.
So, 10,000 units a month, then…
That’s what it takes to make a profitable/marginal line in an auto plant these days.
Maybe in the 50-70’s but with flexible manufacturing, this no longer applies.
Total Camaro sales in 2017 was 68,000. So the entire line isn’t profitable?
Ford’s previous most profitable vehicle was the GT-500 and now it’s the Raptor. Neither were close to 10,000/month.
So what was the market volume in total sales? Less than 10,000 units a month?
You have to be careful with any public domain information from the manufacturers. Quite often they will hide the “true” profitability of a specialized model, say the F150 Raptor, in the TOTAL production of F150s. This is a well-known marketing ploy where the specialized model is a loss leader subsidized by the production and sales of ALL models in a model family ie. F150s.
I think GM is not willing to compete because a specialised Silverado would butcher the profitability of the entire line, and they might only end up with a 5K units per month production runs.
But I’m not an accountant inside GM Manufacturing or Ford so who can really say. Any GM accountants in the blog who want to spill the beans on Silverado line profitability?? (pun intended).
It’s well known in the industry that Total Truck production subsidizes car manufacturing because the level of research & compliance on cars is higher on cars than trucks. Also the rather basic technology of trucks is easier to manufacture (cab on frame) than cars (unibody). So yes, maybe the Camaro is “break even” at best, but it’s ‘THE” average guy’s muscle car at GM so it won’t be killed off as long as there’s Mustang and Challenger in the market. (NB: The Corvette is the ‘halo” car, not for everyman’s budget).
GM is so far behind on a “raptor fighter” it may be better to leave this niche alone. Why? Ford is nearly 10 years and well into the second gen of their Raptor. Also, can anyone guess what GM would charge for a truck even just equivalent to the current Raptor? $79,995? More?
Are you saying that GM can’t be competitive with Ford?
Yes.
Did you mean to say it the roads were no match for the Raptor? or the Raptor couldn’t handle the roads?
And with the TRX about to come out, GM is now usurped by Dodge as well.
But hey, at least the new Silvy fascia is gorgeous … oh wait.
Another possibility would be to re-visit the XTREME SHOWTRUCK 4X4 Offroad option previously used in a 2016 Colorado Showtruck http://gmauthority.com/blog/gallery/2016-chevrolet-colorado-xtreme-show-car/ but apply it to the 2019/2020 Chevy Silverado. This was a beautiful truck! Drop in a powerful 6.2L V8 Supercharged 650HP engine w/10 speed Automatic Transmission. GM is very capable of competing with Ford & Ram truck. See the YENKO SILVERADO & HENNESSEY SILVERADO aftermarket trucks. An XTREME OFFROAD 4X4 Variant would be a great option & a strong name to go against RAPTOR or TRX.
I once had high hopes for the new GM. But as the years go by it seems that they are becoming more and more like the old GM. It seems that they don’t want to be the leader in the auto industry and are content with being second or third best. Then there are areas the areabsolutely afraid to compete in and if they finally do make a half hearted attempt the competition is ins about its third generation. Where are the type of leaders that made GM the Titan of the industry?
GM was a leader post WW2 when the European auto industry was wiped out and when the Asian Auto industry almost didn’t exist. Their domination is accelerating and auto tariffs will accelerate it.
GM isn’t perfect but many have described their current management as the best in its history.
“Their domination is accelerating and auto tariffs will accelerate it.”
If you mean solely on US soil, and maybe want to be ‘smaller’ #2 or #3 in the market, then sure.
Pulled out of India, pulled out of Europe, sold Opel-GM to PSA Group, killed off Australian manufacturing! This is not synonymous with this so-called “domination”.
fleetman,
I wasn’t clear. The domination I was referring to was by the Asian and European brands on the world stage.
GM is currently #4
https://focus2move.com/world-car-group-ranking/
Meh, for $70K a Camaro SS would be way more fun. Just rent a truck for the 2 – 3 times you use the bed to haul stuff.
Saying this for the typical truck buyer, not for those who actually use their pickups as intended.