In more recent years, GM has found it in its best interest to reveal new products scheduled much farther out than it used to. We’ve seen this with its most recent EV projects like the Hummer and Silverado EVs, as well as Cadillac’s Celestiq sedan. It also uses its social media to post sketches from its design group. That’s where these two images come from.

What year do these Silverado designs represent?

These are real GM Design sketches, revealing the design direction of the next-generation Silverado. They call it a “mean and green fresh take” on Chevrolet’s 1500 pickup, penned by GM designer Ben Wilkins. It is exaggerated enough to allow GM some room to gloat. Yet it doesn’t represent specifically what the next Silverado will be.

The current Silverado 1500 is a facelift of the design that first hit showrooms in 2018 as the 2019 entry. Chevy’s 2023 model features a mild facelift. It got put off a year due to the pandemic. We expect the next version will retain the 2019 underpinnings. But offer fresh sheet metal fenders as well as new front and rear fascias. It will also have a refreshed interior and a new round of engine choices. 

What’s different from the 2023 Silverado HD truck designs?

It’s not that far removed from the new 2023 Silverado HD front ends. They feature the much-anticipated removal of those superfluous “horse blinder” front fender extensions. Coming around to the sides, the sheet metal gets more hard-edged sculpturing. It also eliminated the awkward and arbitrary design line on the front fenders that dies off in the doors.  

Instead, the body sides make the wheel openings more pronounced. They’re also slightly more squared off, a design feature many Chevy truck enthusiasts missed from the previous generation. 

While you might expect that the next generation of Silverado is already here with its EV version, the gas-powered ICE version will soldier onward for some time. There are plenty of truck fleets and individual buyers that want to stick with ICE trucks. They’ll continue to be in Chevy’s truck lineup for many years to come.

Will this still use the current GMT1000 platform?

So to that end, rather than developing a completely new truck for the next Silverado generation, as some have posited, expect Chevy to stick with the current GMT1000 platform for some time to come. It will have updates with new sheet metal, engines, and more towing and driver aids. Development dollars set for new truck platforms will, instead, be shifted to EV programs.  

And speaking of allocation dollars, Chevy also needs to develop a small truck competitor for the Ford Maverick. So, where development money would have normally gone to a new 1500 platform, Chevy has two new truck platforms. Its EV and small truck programs will bleed off those dollar allocations, as will GM’s drive toward all models becoming electrified.