GM Authority has been following the development of GM’s next-generation full-size pickups for a while now, serving up a variety of exclusive information along the way. When it comes to the 2027 Chevy Silverado 1500 and 2027 GMC Sierra 1500, we’ve already covered the platform that will underpin the pickups, as well as vehicle launch timing. Now, we’re taking another look at the upcoming full-sizers, this time exploring the possibilities of what may be cradled under the hood.
First and foremost, GM has canceled plans to develop a new boosted six-cylinder gasoline engine, as GM Authority exclusively reported in March of 2023. As covered previously, The General was originally slated to develop a twin-turbo six-cylinder gasoline engine targeting around 500 horsepower, but ended up shelving the idea entirely.
With the turbo six-cylinder no longer on the table, there are still two obvious powerplants that will surely return for the next-generation Silverado and Sierra – the turbocharged 2.7L I4 L3B gasoline engine, and the 3.0L I6 LZ0 turbodiesel Duramax, both of which have seen a good amount of success in GM’s current full-size truck lineup.
From there, customers will almost certainly be offered a new Small Block V8 engine. However, the question is this – one V8, or two?
Currently, the light-duty Silverado and Sierra offer two V8 options, namely the naturally aspirated 5.3L V8 L84 gasoline engine, and the naturally aspirated 6.2L V8 L87 gasoline engine. But which direction will the next-gen trucks head? Will two gasoline engines really be necessary? What sort of displacement can we expect?
One direction may be a single V8 option, but in either pure-ICE or PHEV trim, a move that could line up with GM’s Winning with Simplicity strategy. The pure-ICE V8 would provide improved fuel economy compared to the current lineup, whereas the PHEV variant would deliver more power and improved fuel economy, potentially replacing the higher-displacement V8 option.
If that is indeed the case, the next-gen truck engine lineup would include the turbocharged 2.7L I4 L3B gasoline engine for base and mid-level options, followed by the Gen Six Small Block V8 in pure-ICE and PHEV trim, and finally, the 3.0L I6 LZ0 turbodiesel Duramax. Each of these four engine options would likely connect to the GM 10-speed automatic transmission.
What do you think, dear reader? Do any of these powerplants stand out to you? Let us know your thoughts in the comments!
Comments
How the hell is a PHEV “winning the simplicity” here’s a thought, when people hear 6.2, they think raw power, when they here 5.3, they think unmatched durability. The small blocks already are cheaper to build than their competitors, so keep the current setup.
Also, why is a PHEV needed? The incoming trump administration is planning on using oil as its biggest weapon against inflation, China and Russia. Sub2$ gas isn’t a possibility, it’s a guaranteed as the new administration will use it to put Russia and Iran out of the oil buisness and make China reliant on us.
Might want to look at what actually happened under the last Trump administration.
Gas was 1.80 here 5 years ago. If your in California, it will be 3$ vs the current 5$. ANWAR will be open for buisness. The strategy that we’ve heard from Mr T himself on podcasts all over is gas is the way to put Putin out of buisness and cripple the Ukraine war, and once Russia and Iran are out of the oil biz, China’s our B@tch
Check your facts, current US oil production is the highest it has ever been. Sub $2 gas is not a real possibility as it cuts too much into the margin that they will not refine enough for that kind of supply to be possible. And a Presidential term is rather short term in the automotive development time frame that it might relax the timing, but current mandates will still be in place.
Gas was $1.80/gallon during COVID lockdown. Average price per gallon during the period of January 2017 thru March 19th, 2020 was $2.67. That’s only about 5% lower than it has been in the last 12 months. With inflation, gas was actually more expensive in the first Trump administration. Unfortunately too many people think that gas was sub-$2 the entire Trump administration. It wasn’t. The president has almost no ability to alter fuel pricing in the United States. Oil production has been at record levels each of the last 4 years under the Biden Administration. Trump is going to be a one term president again. Odds are it will switch back to a Democrat at the next election. By the time the next gen Silverado launches late 2026/early 2027, Trump will be in the tail end of this term. Automakers plan their products in the 5-10 year spans, not what’s going on now or next month. Trump will have almost no ability to change the IRA due to the majority needed to amend the law. EVs are going to continue making up a larger portion of the market with each year. Fuel economy will continue to matter to buyers more. GM would be stupid not to have PHEV models under development for long term planning. Trump only won this election because too many Americans held Biden/Harris responsible for inflation when in reality it wouldn’t have mattered who was in office. After a global pandemic and after Trump alone signed $3.2 TRILLION into law in a 9 month period in 2020, inflation was going to soar. No president could have prevented it. Inflation was high everywhere in the entire world and compared to many countries what we experienced was actually pretty decent. Trump’s divisiveness and JD Vance’s unpopularity will make a continuation of the administration highly improbable. There’s already a large contingent of Trump 2024 voters who regret their decision to vote for him. The economy was not stronger under Trump than it was under Biden and wages were relatively stagnate. Statistically, Democrats have a stronger economic record than Republicans. If you don’t believe me go ask a Wall Street banker. They have tons of statistical analysis on the topic.
I thought people hear collapsing lifters on 5.3s and 6.2s😉
Someone else mentioned a 2.7 PHEV and I’d agree that’s the way to go as that would likely lead to other 2.7 rwd products.
That’s a lot of v8s ticking from the thumbs down 😉.
To be clear, I was agreeing the v8s shouldn’t be PHEV but the 2.7 should be the prime candidate for PHEV to share between the full-size trucks to smaller rwd vehicles..
Collapsing lifters do happen but affect between 10k and 30k units…they make hundreds and thousands of these engines every year…of course some will succumb to the issue.
PHEVs options of the current engines would be appreciated. The current line ups do have their own issues , but generally MOST of the issues are known (other than the bearing problem which seems concerning, but will get sorted by MY26 or MY27…
The option that makes more sense is the 2.7l turbo with the PHEV option. No one who’s looking to buy a truck with a V8 wants a PHEV. Plus with the smaller engine, there will be more room to accommodate electrical components and hookups in the engine bay.
The 5.3 is a smaller engine than the 2.7. the 2.7 is much taller and just as wide with the turbo housing. Also, when the current 5.3 is just as efficient as the 2.7, and new one is more efficient than the 2.7, if any engine is to be cut, in all honesty, it’s the 2.7.
I currently own a 24 2.7 LT. Great engine with one big draw back. Acceleration from a stop, the fuel economy absolutely tanks. We’re talking 2-3 mpg no matter how fast or slow you try to get her up to speed. A basic hybrid system would make it an absolute fuel sipper. I can get 29 mpg at 65 mph on the highway when it’s flat land. The city makes that number absolutely plummet to like maybe 14 mpg. I agree with other commenters, people buying the V8 probably aren’t interested in a hybrid, nevermind a freaking plug in hybrid. People who want the benefits of hybrids probably also want the benefits of the smaller engine.
Pretty sure 6.2L will be a carry over. Especially thinking of the recent E-Ray set up.
5.3 seems like the goner, unless it’s hybridized.
Yes, get rid of your best selling engine (laughing in Hemi)
I put 18k miles on ny 2024 LZ0 3.0L diesel since may (drove florida to CA and back and to PA and a bunch of other places. Truck drove very well in all conditions including snow covered high Sierra high desert, hot summer over 100f. You name it. Mileage average is 25 with me running 78-80mph. At 55-60mph I have seen avg over 30mpg. So it’s pretty speed dependent, but oh what a nice ride! Zero issues.
Keep both the 5.3 and 6.2 but would love an DFM delete, although not very likely!
Love the power and growl of my 6.2
Don’t make the same mistake as Ram killing off the Hemi
6.2L or nothing. If nothing, I’ll keep my current truck going until I can’t drive anymore.
I’ve had the same experience as don with my 24 3 .0 diesel. Currently 18,000mi. Mileage better then advertised. Would definitely buy another one.
They should return the 5.3L AFM back to the Silverado’s line of optional V8s. The L82 is a great engine. I prefer it over the DFM.
Keep an updated version of the 6.2 or go 6.6! No hybrid. Keep it simple and reliable. This is what sells!!!!
Get rid of dfm ! I had 3 trucks in a row burning oil. All 3 had less than 20,000
Miles on them.Dealer said G M would not repair until it burned more than a quart per 2000 miles.Had to put tool box on the last one to carry oil for the truck on trips.Drove G M for years.NOT ANY MORE!!!! I Drive Toyota now with twin turbo.20000 miles no issues and pull a 8000 lbs camper.You could not give me a G M DONE!!!
Calling bull. No TSB’s on any DFM engines, but a total recall of every Toyota turbo.
6.2s have been locking up as of late. 5.3s seem to be fine (lifter issues i hear less other than lemons..).
I hope the issue with the 6.2s is sorted by MY26 or MY27…
Great. Come back when the turbo engine hits ONE MILLION miles…your new engine is not even the same one as the 3UR-FE which breaks HGs, valve springs and others….when abused.
If you want to have the risk of paying 25k+ dollars out of warranty if ever your engine fails…be my guest. I personally will NOT risk it. Good luck.
Bring back a 5.7L with similar power to the 6.2L, but with better mileage. Then offer a HO option with an additional 50+ HP
That’s what you call a 6th gen 5.3.
Would have loved to see a straight 6 turbo. 2.7 plus math would have been a 4.1 liter-ish and could have done 400+ hp and 500+ torques. Would have been great. This old vortec 4200 six was one of wards 10 best engines years ago.
I own a 2.7 in a 2024 Colorado that sounds like a tractor taking off and doesn’t get good fuel mileage. Keep the 5.3 and 6.2 and straighten out your lifter issues and forget about the PHEV line up. Every time you come out with new engines there are nothing but problems. A 2.7 4 cylinder doesn’t belong in a full-size truck. Would rather have a 5.3 in my Colorado. Should have even kept your V6 and used twin turbos.
GM seriously needs to get their heads outta their tailpipes. They’ve lost their way. Need to bring back 80s/90s craftsmanship and reliability combined with today’s technology. Customer’s deserve better.
You must be kidding! The 80s/90s GM quality is what resulted in a significant decrease of their market share and killing off multiple brands.
Let us not forget the garbage that was the 5.7 diesel…the V8-6-4 ….HT4100…all of this caused them to fall and give market share to Lexus at that time….
Attention GM, for the love of gawd, don’t do anything to our Baby Duramax…if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!!!
Put it in all light duty trucks and SUVs, people will come into the diesel fold and become believers.
Leave the v8 options and the diesel. I wouldn’t buy anything smaller in a full size truck. I like to be able to pull what I need when I want to. I’m not a fan of the 2.7 , when I was in the market for a new truck they were trying to push those. I think the V8 gets just as good mpg as the smaller engines.
Keep the 5.3 liter .Had that engine in my 99 Sierra 176000 miles and in my 13 Silverado 114000 miles . No problems with those at all
. And got my 24 RST with the same engine . I get 25-26 mph with the 24 RST . And it’s a powerful engine with alot of get up and go !! Very smooth idling engine too . And mates well with the 10 speed tranny .
Please keep that 6 2 that’s the only Powerplant that has any guts ,and the sound from that is power, dont make a big mistake .If you guys say bye bye to that engine , I say bye bye to the General and Hello Ford.
It’s in your ballpark, Dont blow it.
Bring back the 6.6 l Duramax with Alison transmission, 2006 cateye was the best , and most sought after truck of all time . Best looking , most powerful awd of all time hands down next to the Cummins .
In a half ton???? The 6.6 Dmax never was in a half ton.
I think GM had better rethink their engine line up. Ram and Toyota will kill you with their turbo-V6 options. Inline twin turbo 6cyl, GREAT IDEA!!! Think your 4 cyl. in a full size truck is a flop!! Turbo Max sounds like an electric razor!! Looks like no new Sierra in my driveway unless I can get it with a V8!!!!!! 3 ltr Duramax, great power train, think better than the v8 durability wise. Why is Detroit and Cummins leaning more towards the inline engines? My work truck has a 9.0 ltr Cummins, great engine!! SCRAP THE TURBO MAX, BRING IN AN INLINE 6 TWIN TURBO!!!
They cancelled that I6 TT plan last year
Only reason Toyota and rams are blowing it out of the park is because they literally are blowing up on their way to the park 😂😂😂 unless you’ve been asleep and the new Toyota 6 has a recall on every tundra and Lexus with that engine and it gets worse real world FE than the V8
Don’t know if you know this, but Cummins has been an inline 6 since the 50’s, and just hasn’t changed their formula. Detroit was an inline 6 since the 90’s when they dropped the 2 strokes and were almost bankrupt, so copied Cummins. Hasn’t changed since. Both would be lighter and more fuel efficient as a V8
Where is the diesel electric hybrid?
Currently saving up for next vehicle. Hopefully they keep the 3.0 diesel. Good for towing a camper.
Bring back the 4.8L. What I’d love to see is a twin cam in block design like the xv8 concept engine (from 25+ years ago) with 3 or 4 valves per cylinder and a turbo.
It’s still just a pushrod engine but would get better airflow from more valves. A 4.8 would have enough torque to not always be spooling, which would make it better in fuel at part throttle, and really powerful at full throttle/full boost.
How would it get better airflow with more valves? FYI, the 5.3 vs 5.0 coyote from Ford the 5.3 can flow more air. Having 2 valves means bigger valves, means bigger port cross sectional area. The 5.3’s problem is the lower compression ratio and a very conservative cam profile. The 5.3 makes 500 HP with just a cam upgrade, and adding additional compression just goes up from there.
Wrong. Every DOHC 4 valve makes a higher hp/l because of increased airflow. The only LS/LT engine with stock heads that come close to the same flow rate as the modern coyote is the LS7 or maybe the LT2. Both have bore sizes significantly bigger than the 5.0l.
If 2 valves had superior flow, why would ford have switched the mod motor from a 2 valve to a 4 valve? Also, every Japanese and European engine for the last 3 decades have had 4-5valves per cylinder.
I’ve provided links to built motors, but the response is getting scrubbed because the URL.
Right now on all cylinders is reporting an over 500HP build on a 5.3 LS, so a low compression engine that makes more power than a 5.0 dark horse with less RPM’s. Those figures are regularly exceeded on 5th Gen L82’s as well. The dark horse is also an all out 5.0 and youll notice that it’s the max power you’ll see from swapping cams on a coyote as well.
As for the LS7, and engine which would have benefited greatly from the improved head flow of the Gen V engines, almost flows as much air as the heads from the LT6 despite both having bores within 0.04″ of each other. An LT7 would definitely outflow the LT6 as it barely exceeds the older 2 valve despite almost 2 decades of cad. Now LS7 ‘s frequently exceed 700HP when camed and given a Fast intake. One such example called “Project Rev” almost broke 1000HP naturally aspirated, with the readline raised past 10000 RPM’s.
Why do Germans and Japanese use DOHC, and conversely Ford as well? Ford follows, and the Germans and Japaness are incapable of making a good engine. German turbo sport car engines constantly make less power yet get worse fuel efficiency than their American muscle counterparts. They also require EGR to maintain CAFE regs, yet small blocks and Hemis are sufficiently clean without EGR. Ditto with Honda who has kept the same J35 engine for forever with minimal changes and is last in the pack of NA 6’s for HP TQ and MPG. Toyota is the only company with the money to engineer a motor to rival the hemi and small block, yet for some reason Toyota has an aversion to spending money on R&D and has their best performance engines made by Yamaha, who is significantly short changed compared to even Stellantis when it comes to engine R&D.
It never gets old, seeing whatever current model of modular that comes out (yes, Coyotes are modulars), hearing/reading about how its a “maxed out” effort. Yet we saw 412hp become 420hp, become 435hp, become 460hp, become 480hp.
Through in the 444hp Roadrunner and 500hp Dark Horse variants and what do we have… obviously an engine maxed out at 412hp, right?
Keep it simple and reliable but what I would like to know is why didn’t GM recall the 2018 sierra because of the transmission/torque converter problems.
The 5.3 is the most versatile engine it’s an good proven engine leave it alone, but GM always scraps good ideas take the 350 , from the sixties to late 90s bullet proof, stop trying to find new ideas, if you want a hybrid by a Honda Accord.
Cadillac’s Twin Turbo V6 and increase in Baby-Max displacement to 4.0L would also be nice, Also an increase in V8 displacement would be nice. Something between 400hp – 500hp. Ah I guess all we can do is dream …
Keep the 5.3 and 6.2 just fix your lifter, pushrod and injector issued. Four years ago I traded an 04 Escalade with 230k on it and my 01 Silverado with 235k on both had 5.3 engines. Never had to get into the engines they were still running strong. I got a 17 Sierra Denali with 6.2. I have 110k on it and have had to get #4 cylinder repaired twice. Each time had a bent pushrod and bad lifter. I have AFM fuel system. I feel like it’s been in the shop more than I have driven it. GM fix your problems. Keep your customer base you have the best looking truck.
They will not get rid of this system. EPA and CAFE will fine them…not as simple as you think it is..
I would expect them to consolidate to a single v8 option, probably 5.7-6.0l size with similar power to the current 6.2. Hybrid integration will be a must. I would expect the Gen 6 SMC to debut in the Corvette, maybe with a Grand Sport model in high performance tune the replaces the current LT2 with a little more power. Like 500-525 hp. The Gen 6 would then go into the next update for T1XX-2/T2XX (I have heard and seen both from reputable sources). I would also expect an improved DFM system, improved and maybe dual injection system.
Don’t forget, if it makes sense….GM will get rid of it.
Get rid of all the tailpipes, what about a Colarado EV?
Looking at a 2025 Sierra 1500 SLT 3.0L diesel or a F150 Lariat 5.0 v8.
Would it be wise to venture into a diesel having never owned one? It seems a diesel is more upkeep if your not driving longer miles daily although I love the wat it drives.
Any thoughts?
I’d love an updated 6.2! No phev or other complicated nonsense. My current 6 2 is 14 years old and still running like new! All that powerplant needs is regular maintenance and it’s perfectly healthy. There is no reason to fix what’s not broken. Just my 2¢.
Build the PHEV for fuel efficiency and cost efficiency!
In Cali we have solar panels and want the option for 70%+ of short haul trips to mostly pull off the battery charged by the sun for free.
PHEV 2.7L with 40 miles will buy 2 products if you build it. A new GMC pickup and a suburban (9 passenger)
GM is making a major mistake cancelling their turbocharged inline-6 engine. This engine would have been perfect not only for the body on frame trucks and SUVs, but also served perfectly as an engine for future Cadillac sedans/coupes/wagons/RWD-based performance SUVs. A future generation Camaro could have also made use of this engine perfectly. BMW’s B58 is so excellent that even Toyota wanted it. Dumping the old V6 engines for an I6 would have made so much sense. They’re much smoother, torquier, sound better, are much more efficient due to lower frictional losses, and they weigh less since they only have one head, one set of cams, one intake and exhaust manifold, and a far simpler block casting. Mercedes was able to go completely beltless on their M256 engine which kept the engine length to almost the same footprint as their older biturbo V6. The refinement of an I6 is second to none. I’m very disappointed they have cancelled it. With Stellantis joining Mercedes-Benz, Jaguar Land Rover, Mazda, and even Hyundai (I6 diesel) and GM’s own 3.0L turbodiesel, GM is really missing out on offering a powertrain that could finally get the one up on Ford. The 5.3L and 6.2L V8s don’t do anything that well. Their refinement is mediocre, fuel efficiency is not great, low end torque is lacking, and they’re downright ancient designs. A 2-valve per cylinder engine in the late-2020s is crazy. I hope they shock us all and unveil a new straight-six gas engine. If Cadillac has a chance of ever being taken seriously again as a true luxury brand they have got to do more than offer economy grade powerplants. Nothing about an inline-6 gives off the subpar vibes of a V6.