The Chevy Colorado is one of the best trucks on the market today, and even the U.S. military has taken an interest in it. The Chevy Colorado is also a great work truck, and that’s very appealing to the military. That’s one of the reasons why Chevy has designed a version of the Colorado that no-one but the military can have.

What’s the same?

This truck, which is called the Defense ISV, or infantry squad vehicle, is based on the ZR2 trim of the Colorado. A lot of the ZR2 is staying the same, but for the purposes of the U.S. military, many things have changed as well. The biggest thing that’s stayed the same, however, is the fact that the ISV is keeping the 2.8-liter diesel engine of the Colorado. 

This diesel engine is very fuel-efficient on the Colorado, but it’s also loaded with a ton of other practical features that the military will have a good use for.

For example, the 189-hp and 369 lb-ft of torque of the diesel engine gives the Colorado a great towing capacity of 7,700 lb. It’s unknown what the towing capacity of the ISV will be, but given the fact that both have the same engines, it’ll likely be similar. 

Asides from the engine, the suspension and transmission systems are also similar to what the Colorado has. Furthermore, as MotorTrend said, Chevy claims that about 70% of the parts of the ISV comes from Chevy and General Motor’s standard catalog of parts. 

What’s different about this new Chevy truck? 

The biggest difference is the fact that the ISV has a lot of fat trimmed. There are no doors, no windows, and no roof. This was done to save weight, but it also allows the ISV to likely be faster than the Colorado. 

On top of that, the one thing that separates a truck from a car is its truck bed, and the ISV doesn’t have one. Instead, Chevy’s filled the Colorado’s rear-end with seats and racks to carry gear on. Rather than seating five people, the ISV can seat up to nine soldiers while carrying all the gear that a soldier has to carry. 

The front of the ISV can seat five people, just like a Colorado can. However, there are four seats on where the truck bed is. Surrounding the truck bed are metal bars that connect to the front of the ISV. These bars provide the space for soldiers to put their gear and other cargo on. 

And lastly, the other most significant change is the grille. The ISV simply looks meaner than the Colorado does. 

What is this truck capable of?

Because Chevy is making the ISV truck for the military, it’s capable of some things that a regular Colorado isn’t capable of. For instance, the military wanted the ISV to be small enough to fit inside a helicopter, and it does just that. It also needs to be light enough to be carried by a helicopter, and due to its weight loss, it does that too. 

Furthermore, despite having a diesel engine, it needs to be able to hit at least 60 MPH off-road. As MotorTrend mentioned, the Colorado, which is definitely heavier than the ISV, can hit 98 MPH, so the ISV meets that requirement as well. The military also needs the ISV to be able to handle all terrains, and the Colorado can do that just fine. 

But the main reason why GM’s ISV beat other automakers’ ISVs was because of cost. The military only gave GM $1 million to develop its ISV, and GM, by taking the Colorado and turning it into a military truck, beat everyone else. As a result, MotorTrend says that the military will order 650 ISVs from Chevy by 2020. A true win-win for both the military and Chevy.