Photo: Chevrolet
Long before the biggest of the Big Three in Detroit pulled the veils off the Silverado ZR2, we all knew that the half-ton pickup won’t receive the LT4 supercharged small block. As for the question that hasn’t been answered by General Motors thus far, our friends at GM Authority are much obliged to explain why the Silverado ZR2 doesn’t rival the F-150 Raptor.
According to an insider close to the largest automaker in the United States of America, bean-counting mentality is to blame. A boanafide rival to the Raptor “would involve added complexity at GM’s plants.” A widened and taller pickup would understandably necessitate plant modifications, deemed way too pricey. What’s more, low sales figures compared to lesser variants of the Silverado 1500 would result in rather slim profit margins.
That’s it! That’s the gist of it, and General Motors couldn’t care less about the peeps that would be glad to shell out their hard-earned cash for something different from the Raptor and TRX. As for the biggest tragedy of the bunch, General Motors could have very well treated the Silverado ZR2 to the aforementioned powerplant. Remember the Cadillac Escalade-V? The crown jewel of General Motors has shoehorned the LT4 engine under its hood, giving birth to the most powerful full-sized SUV in the world.
There is, however, a bit of a problem with the 682-horsepower utility vehicle with half-ton pickup truck underpinnings. The sticker price of $149,900 including destination charge makes it prohibitively expensive for many prospective customers, and that kind of hard-earned cash is better spent on unibody utilities that include the likes of the Porsche Cayenne.
Expected to receive an AEV-tuned Bison variant next year, the Silverado ZR2 makes do with the L87 small-block V8 that pushes out 420 horsepower and 460 pound-feet (625 Nm) of torque from a displacement of 6.2 liters. The free-breathing mill is complemented by a ten-speed automatic tranny. The party piece of the Silverado ZR2 comes in the guise of Multimatic Dynamic Suspensions Spool Valve shocks, as used in the Colorado ZR2.
That’s it! That’s the gist of it, and General Motors couldn’t care less about the peeps that would be glad to shell out their hard-earned cash for something different from the Raptor and TRX. As for the biggest tragedy of the bunch, General Motors could have very well treated the Silverado ZR2 to the aforementioned powerplant. Remember the Cadillac Escalade-V? The crown jewel of General Motors has shoehorned the LT4 engine under its hood, giving birth to the most powerful full-sized SUV in the world.
There is, however, a bit of a problem with the 682-horsepower utility vehicle with half-ton pickup truck underpinnings. The sticker price of $149,900 including destination charge makes it prohibitively expensive for many prospective customers, and that kind of hard-earned cash is better spent on unibody utilities that include the likes of the Porsche Cayenne.
Expected to receive an AEV-tuned Bison variant next year, the Silverado ZR2 makes do with the L87 small-block V8 that pushes out 420 horsepower and 460 pound-feet (625 Nm) of torque from a displacement of 6.2 liters. The free-breathing mill is complemented by a ten-speed automatic tranny. The party piece of the Silverado ZR2 comes in the guise of Multimatic Dynamic Suspensions Spool Valve shocks, as used in the Colorado ZR2.
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