The Chevy Silverado and the GMC Sierra are sister pickups, sharing many of the same features and power train specs. Since both come from the same manufacturer, we see a lot of similar design characteristics with each truck’s interior as well as exterior.

With all the similarities, though, with both trucks, why is it that the Silverado appears to be the most popular one of the two? Here, we’ll look at each truck’s sales figures and see what makes the Chevy come out on top.

How the trucks stack up to each other

According to Digital Trends, both the Chevy Silverado and the Sierra come from the same GM family of trucks. In both pickups, you’ll find trim packages that appeal to those looking for basic, workhorse or luxury trucks.

By the same token, each one also has the same options when it comes to cab and cargo box lengths as well as engine and transmission choices. Both trucks offer a lot of the same interior features and even look a lot like each other.

Fuel economy is also pretty close with the 5.3-liter V8 engines. Each truck can get around 18 or 19 highway miles per gallon. The Silverado offers a turbo-diesel motor that can get up to 33 mpg on the highway which makes it slightly better than the Sierra, but not by much.

Towing capacity is also pretty close, however, the Chevy can tow a few thousand lbs more provided you choose the max towing package along with the four-wheel drive option.

Is the Silverado really more popular than the Sierra?

Looking at the sales charts from GoodCarBadCar.net, we see that the Silverado consistently sells over 20,000 trucks a month over the Sierra. For quarterly sales, the Silverado comes in third with 155,482 purchases, which puts it behind Ford’s F-series trucks and the Ram Pickup. The Sierra slides in the fourth spot, right behind the Silverado, but it only has a sales figure of 66,199 purchases.

So far, in 2019, the Sierra sold over 163,000 pickups, which is pretty good. However, the Silverado’s figures are much higher at just over 412,000 truck sales. It’s obvious the Chevy sister pickup to the Sierra is way more popular with truck buyers this year. The question though, is why is the Chevy more favored than GMC’s Sierra?

Why is the Silverado more popular than the Sierra?

Despite all the features that these two pickups share, the Silverado brings in more buyers every month. We feel there are two main reasons why this could be. The first one has to do with the markets that each truck is targeting. The Sierra sells as a luxury pickup class, while the Silverado is more down to earth.

Luxury is nice, but it comes at a higher price, which brings us to the second reason. The Silverado starts out at a lower base price than the Sierra and offers more affordable options with a lower price point than the Sierra 1500.

Digital Trends called the Silverado the “People’s truck”, which is quite accurate since it appeals to the average person who doesn’t necessarily want all the fancy items with the higher price tag.

We suspect that Chevy’s Silverado will continue to outshine the Sierra as long as it continues to appeal to your average pickup buyer. Even though Sierra’s sales are significantly lower than the Chevy’s, it’s still pulling its fair share of the pickup sales so far this year.

The Silverado may be the one pulling in its weight in sales, but the Sierra just might have the luxury features you’re looking to buy in your next pickup truck. In the end, it’s a win-win because both trucks are great.