Just last week, we poked fun at the antenna design on GM’s full-size pickups as part of our annual April Fools’ article series, joking that GM was deleting the “whip-style” antenna from the Chevy Silverado and GMC Sierra. As entertaining as that may have been, there’s actually some real ambiguity when it comes to the new antenna design for the next-generation 2027 Chevy Silverado 1500. In fact, of the two 2027 Silverado prototypes we’ve seen thus far, neither appear to be equipped with an antenna – at all.
The Whip
For context, the current-generation Chevy Silverado 1500 is equipped with a traditional whip-style antenna mounted on the passenger-side fender, which is responsible for handling AM/FM radio signals. However, both of the 2027 Silverado prototypes seen thus far aren’t equipped with a whip-style antenna. It’s possible the antenna was simply removed for testing, but its repeated absence across multiple prototypes raises a few questions.
The Sharkfin
Meanwhile, the sharkfin-style antenna, which is used to manage 5G connectivity and SiriusXM radio, also appears to be missing. Typically positioned on the roof just above the driver’s seat, the sharkfin is once again absent from both 2027 prototypes seen thus far, which could signal the forthcoming launch of a more integrated antenna design.
From what we’ve seen so far, there are a few possibilities when it comes to antenna placement for the 2027 Chevy Silverado. First, the antenna may be integrated inside the rear roof lip, hiding within a subtle rearward extension at the edge of the cab roof. Another possibility is that the antenna is embedded directly in the front or rear glass, which is a solution seen on a few other modern vehicles. Finally, the antenna may be located within a small, barely discernible bump on the roof, though this could also just as easily be a distortion in the prototypes’ camouflage.
Either way, GM will still need to modernize the Silverado’s profile, especially in light of the competition. The Ford F-Series, for example, now uses twin “puck”-style antennas mounted at the rear of the cab, offering a cleaner appearance than the offset fin design used by the GM pickups.
Ford F-150
Naturally, we’ll serve up additional details as we get them. Stay tuned.
Comments
There’s a small bump on the hood where the antenna will attach. Looks like they removed it so they wouldn’t need to penetrate the canvas covering the hood.
No other mount point listed for a roof antenna would be big enough for good signal.
Really hope it’s not “The roof metal is so thin, they can put antennas in the headliner and not lose any signal”.
(The way car washes can warp the sheet metal on multiple late-model vehicles, and GM’s fix is literally band-aids, I wouldn’t put it past them to use thin metal a feature…)
And they took more than two plus years to fix on the Colorados/Canyons….I don’t know if that has worked because the last time people still had the same issue. Welcome to post covid quality
Then again ….competition also has problems. Nothing is perfect.
Fussing over nothing.
I could care less about antenna. I blue tooth everything from Amazon music.
What i want to know is the specs for the new small block V8s. GM can’t mess this up. Been way to long since they increased hp/tq and please oh please get rid of AFM/DFM garbage.
Best thing I did is get rid of it on my 18 Denali. Runs so much better.
I don’t use blue tooth for anything, as I do not own a cell-phone. So this article is interesting to me. I still listen to FM radio. I prefer to listen to playlists from my iPod, but out 2024 Trax LS will not recognize our iPods as an audio source, which is frustrating.
I had a 1986 Silverado and the antenna was built into the windshield. It even worked pretty well.
GM has had a boat load of vehicles patents in the last year or so with attennas either in the windshield or consolidated into other locations. They have been on a big push to reduce parts counts so let’s see what they do.
Windshield antennas are not a new idea at GM, they started doing that back in the late 60’s if I recall correctly. Better check why they stopped doing that, there may have been a good reason.
I remember my mothers 1970 Impala had a front windshield antenna built inside the glass.
First ting I did when brought my truck home, is get rid of that fishing pole. Who needs an antenna if you’re using CarPlay
What is car play?
People who are out in the sticks where cellular service is spotty and 5G is really hard to get by. Even if you got 2G or LTE service the data requirements these days for Spotify is enormous. I still use AM/FM on the regular.
Windshield antennas didn’t work as good and also raised the cost of the windshield substantially. Most of the time when replacing one for the fleet I worked for, they had to order it or get it from a dealer $$$
The mass antenna is placed in the ’70s where they belong..