Many if not most heavy-duty truck owners bought their rig for its towing capabilities. But apart from reading the statistics online and watching or reading reviews, it’s hard for consumers to know which heavy-duty truck they would prefer for towing. They obviously can’t tow a heavy trailer and test out a truck’s various towing-related technology and safety features on a dealership test drive, so how are they supposed to know which one feels best with a 20,000+ pound trailer hitched up to it?
Chevrolet looked to remedy that problem in its latest ‘Real People, Not Actors’ style advertisement. Instead of surprising the so-called “real people” with a number of new Chevrolet vehicles behind a moving wall, as we’ve seen in the past, the Chevrolet spokesman in this ad offers to take them on a brief helicopter trip. We’re not sure what kind of day these folks had planned, as they have time for a helicopter ride with no questions asked, but we digress.
When they land, the customers and Chevy spokesman are greeted with a heavily wooded area and a number of 2020 Silverado HD trucks with heavy logging trailers hitched up to them. The customer is then offered to drive one of the trucks up a nearby hill with the trailer attached to feel the power and torque on offer from the 6.6-liter L5P turbo-diesel V8 that’s part of the Duramax engine family. One customer rhetorically asks if the truck is even pulling a trailer due to the ease with which it was hauling the logs up the hill, apparently impressed by the powertrain’s capability.
Silverado 3500HD with gooseneck hitch towing
As the advertisement points out, the 2020 Silverado HD is capable of towing up to 35,500 lbs. when properly equipped. A Silverado equipped to haul this much, that being a 2020 Silverado 3500HD Regular Cab with two-wheel drive, a long bed and gooseneck hitch, is also seen in the advertisement towing one of the logging trailers uphill.
Check out the ad embedded below and feel free to let us know what you think in the comments.
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Comments
Where is Mahk? This material is gold.
So Louis I own a 2019 Silverado Custom Trail Boss Z71 and it is awesome.This is my 12th GM truck and I have never had any issues with my GM trucks.I was a parts guy for 15 years, that’s why I don’t own Frauds.Point is that GM needs to step up the advertising big time.I barely see GM commercials and when I do they are too soft.Dodge shows Chargers and Challengers doing burnouts around town and Rams off roading and pulling massive loads.Dennis Leary continues to lie about Ford while the Chevy spokesman brings in “real people”.Those ads might be OK to sprinkle in but the competition shows their rides in extreme situations,which is what sells!I look around and see more Slowstangs and Challengers than Camaros.Trouble is that the Camaros are better and mostly faster cars as evidenced by the top magazines praise them as better cars!I know this because in 2016 I ordered a 2017 Camaro SS and it is a fantastic car.It is also undefeated on the street so far,I have beaten 4 Slowstangs(all V8’S) and a Shaker R/T Challenger with the 6.4L and those races were fun and I never came close to losing.I miss the days that GM showed off their products,Mary Barra if you pay attention to this blog please take notes!GM guy forever.
As an HD buyer, I thought on the surface, as long as you don’t get in the weeds and think too hard, I think it is pretty good commercial. The issue is the 35K plus capacity comes on a regular cab, two wheel drive, DRW pickup. Give it that capacity on a CC 4X4, DRW and you have pickup that people buy. No one is hauling logs out of the mountains with a 4X2 pickup to reference the commercial. GM was able to claim the highest towing capacity up until Ford released their 2020. All that said, I am very happy that GM is finally competitive on their tow ratings, it has been a long time coming.
Chevy does an exceptional job with that. The 4×4 crew cab pulls what? 33500lbs (not sure exactly just remembered they were close) in the 30000+ lbs of things that’s nothing. Rest is all about weight.
Every manufacturer is the same, they all rate the maximum towing capacity with a standard cab drw long bed truck. For every option you put on a truck the weight of that option is deducted from the cargo carrying capacity and towing capacity.
This is a good AD but I want to see more of the old school commercials like when Bob Seger’s “Like a Rock” was playing and the Silverado was out mudding and such.Those commercials stuck with people and decorative license plates and decals and hats were made and sold as a by-product as well as a bunch of trucks.Same for the Camaro and Corvette.Where are those commercials?The latest ad guy is a bit too soft,I hate Ford but their commercials are more what the truck audience is looking for.We need to see trucks outdoing the Ford and Ram trucks (if you want to call them that) and the Camaro and Corvette doing burnouts around Slowstangs and Challengers.That excites people who are in the market for such vehicles.If you want to beat the Junk150 do a better and more exciting advertising campaign.Just saying…..
They should place a few Silverado Medium Duty’s in the background.
Good day Joshua Coker,
Some people applaud the competition as it helps drive change to improve a vehicle. The new GM trucks are a better truck than the last version. This is in no small way due to the F150 and the Ram. Styling is of course subjective and I still have some concerns with the front end on this truck but it is an improved vehicle. I thank the competitors for making this. I have friends who drive the Ram and the F150. They are extremely happy with their choices. The Silverado in all its many forms is a solid truck and is worthy of the praise it gets. Nothing is perfect though, all the trucks have areas to be improved. We have all heard stories of people having problems with Rams, Fords, and the GM pair.
Sorting out the interior of this truck is coming soon and GM will soon have a world class interior to go with the rest of the truck. I can’t think for one moment that the people at GM are not sitting there checking the competition and seeing where they are ahead and behind in all areas. Same goes for Ford and FCA. Too much at stake. So in my opinion I feel that thanking the competition not hating them is a logical choice. My opinion. And always happy to see the manufacturers bring out new trucks as this is one sector of manufacturing where they truly put their best efforts into. Never been a fan of these commercials but will say that this a slightly better example. Still cringeworthy while still in the showroom though. Thank you.
I think in part you are right. The interior upgrade is coming on a fast train due to Ram’s sales run….agreed. However on the HD trucks, GM has been behind for about 15 years that I can remember. I have always bought GM HD’s and medium duty trucks, but if I were buying by the spec sheet which many do, GM would not be my pickup choice. GM actually said in the last gen of HD trucks that, most buyers don’t need 30K plus capacity and most buyers are pulling within GM specs. That philosophy changed for 2020 but it took an awfully long time for that to happen. GM has also been typically the lower specing truck on engine hp and torque (Ram is usually lower on hp but higher in torque) and they are in that same position for 2020. The saving grace if you can say that, has been their performance on the IKE Gauntlet has usually resulted in a GM win even with the lower specs. Again, the amount of buyers aware of that is considerably fewer than the amount of buyers exposed to FORD or RAM’s ads featuring best in class Torque or HP ratings.
We can thank the competition for making the GM truck better, but GM has historically been slow learners on the HD trucks.
Good commercial because it shows the truck’s capability, but the “real people, not actors” thing is terrible.
Just show more of the truck doing hard core work. Preferably in any other color but white.
Agreed, but your probably like me and if you competitive truck shopping the Chevy is already on your radar. The real people not actors resononates with a certain demographic, probably the same one that can relate to those weird super colorful Honda commercials that make no sense.
Also I live and work in Arizona,Morenci specifically at the FMI Copper mine.The company gets a sweetheart deal from a Ford dealer in New Mexico and we drive the vans and Super Duty trucks.These vans and trucks fall apart folks, specifically the beds.Entire bed sides have fallen off many of the Ford mine trucks,so much that we put on custom flat beds now.They have brand new beds stacked up in a storage yard area.”Built Ford tough”- get real!There are left over Ram and GM trucks here as well,funny thing is that they all still have their beds on and intact.The company claims that Ford holds up better but I only see trucks without their beds,just saying.I have seen Ford’s recall on the transmission in action also,as I took one to the lube center and it rolled backwards after putting it in Park and setting the emergency brake.Garbage.
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