As expected, the 2021 SEMA Show in Las Vegas was overflowing with impressive custom builds and one-off concepts, including a range of interesting debuts from Chevrolet Performance. One of the Bow Tie brand’s big highlights was the Chevy Off-Road Concept, previously known as the Chevy Beast. Now, we’re revisiting this hulking slab of off-road goodness with the following walkaround video.
Clocking in at just one minute, 16 seconds, the video is brief, but includes some lovely shots of the Chevy Off-Road Concept looking tough on the floor of the 2021 SEMA Show, as well as some specs and facts about the build.
The Chevy Off-Road Concept is based on the same chassis as the Chevy Silverado 1500, and cradles the supercharged 6.2L V8 LT4 gasoline engine under the hood. For those who may not know, the 6.2L V8 LT4 is the same powerplant found in the sixth-gen Chevy Camaro ZL1, the third-generation Cadillac CTS, the C7-generation Corvette Z06, and the new Cadillac CT5-V Blackwing.
Output is rated at a very healthy 650 horsepower and 650 pound-feet of torque, all of which is harnessed by the 10L90-E 10-speed automatic transmission. The transmission is hooked up to a two-speed transfer case.
So then, power isn’t a problem. But what about the suspension? To help it navigate uneven terrain, the Chevy Off-Road Concept is equipped with long-travel shocks, plus a newly developed five-link rear end. Keeping it shiny side up is a set of 37-inch-tall off-road tires, which wrap 20-inch beadlock wheels. Under the wheels, Chevrolet Performance added a Big Brake upgrade.
As GM Authority covered earlier this month, the Chevy Off-Road Concept was previously called The Chevy Beast, but was later renamed. In a statement to GM Authority, Chevrolet Communications Director Shad Balch said that Chevy was “approached by an entity objecting to our use of the Beast name,” prompting the name change.
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Comments
Why a Chevy like that ? Africa Safari or something related ? South Africa Plant ? Do not understand, MadMax film ?
A Dune Buggy for Surfer ? really, in which market this goes ? know street in front of home is bad, but we can tolerate
Understand is something military to Syria Wars, isn’t it? ok, USA wins lot of money with Guns, it could have a sense
How much money did GM throw away on this? GM, you forget that “bread & butter” vehicles pay the bills. Vehicles like the humble Chevrolet Astro that proved a tough work van could easily be turned into a Family Vehicle … and even include the “All Wheel Drive” variant for those living in snow country. I had the privilege of owning three Astros, 1-cargo, 2-wagons. What’d you bring, just another SUV (stupid useless vehicle) that no one wants or needs.
This came from GM Defense and cost pennies to manipulate. A vehicle like this would be easy provided it was based on product already being sold to the government who always over pays.
FCA blew money on Wrangler. Ford on Bronco. This Beast is already paid for!
If chevy made this it would sell out . People are into these things big time even though most never leave the blacktop. This is a jumbo polaris RZR.
Another dream vehicle that will never be built sadly. If only there were pictures of Joe Biden init or if it had lithium filled battery init instead of an ICE, i bet Mary Barra would be on board to mass produce it, lol
i want one with doors and a heater for canada.
What is the point of any effort into this?
Yeah no doubt. Its like, look what we can do, but you will never have. lol
For the commenters having a hard time figuring this truck out, it was built to be a show truck. If you’ve ever attended the SEMA show you would understand the need for manufactures to stand out. What’s more interesting than what we see on the surface is what’s under the wrapper. Long-travel, five-link rear end, 37’s, supercharged LT4, and Silverado 1500 chassis sure sounds like a perfect recipe for a future Raptor/TRX contender to me. While very cool, this is not street legal as is. What would make sense however is this with an aggressive Silverado body and renamed the ZRX! Whether it be this generation of Silverado or the next, I just hope they follow through with a truck based on this concept.
I worked in GM research/product development for 16 years.. (best part of my career) what many of you have never been exposed to is that, groups are occasionally given a blank sheet to stretch the imagination, and come up with something new. This is the result of just that. From this comes the opportunity to get feedback and some testing results too. All companies do this, not just GM. It’s their money they spend, nothing comes out of your pockets, so stop the complaining. On a side note, with the popularity of trucks, I threw a number at this and I came up with $90k because GM knows customers would love those and trucks aren’t priced on component cost these days, I believe they’re priced on what the market will bare. Chevrolet could polish this up, and then take a cue from the Corvette group and price it for the masses and sell the sh_t out of it. But trucks are GM’s only cash cow, so I predict they’ll price it into the stratosphere. And THAT, we can complain about.
This reminds me of when Jeep hinted at the wrangler 392. Look we can throw a big V8 in lot this. Hope it gets produced. Would love to tow this to trails and go mall crawling in something like this. If I have to guess, $100k+
Anyone else think this might make it into the live action Halo show coming next year? Looks awfully like the Warthog from the games.
I think there still is a group of people inside GM that want an off road toy like a Wrangler or Bronco.
While what they may end up with would not be this they are trying to show public interest to those opposed.
This was not done on a whim it was to make a point.
They saved money by using the military division product. But they could easily make a smaller production like version for the public that falls into line with the others. Just don’t get too attached to the Corvette engine.
I expect they would push a short Colorado ZR platform with a 2.7 four.