This week in Detroit was, in a pleasant reversal of years past, all about pickups. Sure, there have been plenty of truck displays at past shows, but I’m struggling to recall the last time two of the Detroit Three unveiled a significant revamp while the other trumpeted a noteworthy new engine.
The one that made me sit bolt upright in my chair was not a top rung Limited from Ford, Laramie from Ram, or High Country from Chevy, although those are tasty trims indeed. No, the version which captured my attention is the one shown above: the poverty-spec Work Truck.
Like the menu at Subway, the choices of new Silverado are broken up into three main groups – High Value, High Volume, and High Profit. No, hang on. That last one is actually High Feature. Yes. High Feature. Sorry about that.
Chevy has stuck the Work Truck (W/T) trim on its most poverty-spec pickups for ages, with most of them destined for a lifetime of hard and difficult work, only to be mercilessly sacrificed to The Crusher once they were used up. Back in the ‘90s, Chevy also imbued the W/T with a vast plastic grill and, seizing on the opportunity, shrewdly used Mike Schmidt to market it as a benefit.
It’s the grille on the 2019 Custom W/T that hooks me and reels me in. From the press images released by Chevy, it seems that at least two of the trims in the so-called “High Value” group will earn it: the W/T seen here and the Custom Trailboss. That GM saw fit to craft a completely separate and bad-ass grille only to bestow it on the most affordable model is bloody fantastic.
Plainly, I’m choosing today’s Ace of Base completely on looks, just like I hurriedly did when the 3:00 a.m. closing time came around at Peddler’s Pub in St. John’s during my college years. Pricing for the new Silverado hasn’t been released and probably won’t be for a good while, but the 2018 W/T stickers at a reasonable $28,700 not counting rebates. Assuming a slight price bump for the new model year, the W/T should still represent a reasonable value.
What we have been told is that the Work Truck will feature that fabulous C H E V R O L E T billboard across the grille and tailgate, blacked-out trim, and rough-n-ready 17-inch steel wheels for a good dose of durability. The interior will be available in either skin-searing vinyl or cloth seats. It’ll even have a 7-inch color touch screen, likely with a backup camera.
No mention is made of a V6 powertrain in any of Chevy’s documentation, leading this author to believe the 4.3-liter has been jettisoned and the 5.3-liter V8 motor will be the base engine. Even better. Chev’s V8s in its trucks are promised to shut down “any number” of cylinders as it deems fit in a bid to trim fuel consumption.
I’ll reserve final judgement until I see the Monroney but, realistically, unless the sticker jumps to the mid-30’s I can’t see the Silverado 1500 Work Truck being booted off our Ace of Base list.
[Image: General Motors]
Not every base model has aced it. The ones which have? They help make our automotive landscape a lot better. Any others you’d like to see in our series? Let us know in the comments. Naturally, feel free to eviscerate our selections.
The model above is shown with American options and is priced in Freedom Dollars. As always, your dealer will probably sell for less.
Oh my, that grill! Toyota and GM have mastered the art of making an entire front fascia out of $3 of black plastic beads.
They seem to be aping the Ford Raptor type grill, Toyota has done this as well….doesn’t really work. I think it would look a *lot* better with a simple bow tie emblem the text across it.
Would most people just stick a push/brush/light bar on the front?
Breaks up all that matte plsatic ABS.
Again, an extended cab would be good here.
Yikes! That front end design is a hot mess.
548 HRs, 10 Gold Gloves, it doesn’t get much better. Enough about Mike Schmidt though, that’s a hideous looking truck. I have a soft spot for single-cabs too, but that grille is overwrought. The placement of the “Silverado” badge seems odd too, it should have gone under that unnecessary crease instead of above it. Maybe a black truck would look a little better, I dunno.
Propose new name for site: TTAT (The Truth About Trucks).
Back in the Bertel/Baruth days, it would have been Truth Written About Trucks.
I see your point, but I can’t ever recall a year when so many significant truck introductions occurred in such a short period of time. A major refresh from GM, a major refresh for Ram, the Ranger returns for Ford and a diesel option for the F150 all combine in just a couple weeks. Don’t forget that trucks are North America’s highest volume and most profitable segment.
I d wait to see if the GMC is less-ugly, because the Chevy has boat loads of ugly. It s a toss up which is less ugly, this or the F 150.
In fact, I m sick of these cartoonishly large trucks. These over sized monsters cant fit in a parking spot. So the drivers ding the door of your normal sized car. A large % of the drivers take off the mufflers so they can sound ‘bad.’ It s about 60% of all pick ups here in north Atlanta. And it seems to hold true …the bigger the pick up – the bigger the a**hole in driving.
And why is it, the average F 250 driver is shorter than the average F 150 driver…… HUM. I wonder why. Before the hate storm starts, do you own survey – OK>?
WRT door dings, full-size pickups have only been close to the 80-inch width limit (that requires wide-vehicle marker lights above 80″) for the last five or six decades…
If you ordered your Silverado back in the day with the excellent Quadrasteer, the width did require the cab roof lights due to the extra width. Not sure if it exceeded 80″ but it was certainly wide enough to trigger the requirement.
If you’re male and American, you want one or already have a fullsize pickup, unless there’s a mommy in your life calling all the shots for you, and or you get your A$$ waxed smooth.
Troll request declined.
DenverMike you’re crossing the respectability line here, reel it back in.
Only a real man knows what another real man really wants.
Wait, that sounds like a gender-bent line from a ’70s lesbian porno scene.
Yeah sorry about that! Some people I can’t help but give them “the business”. It’s what they’re looking for anyway, and of course you know (battle) “lines” have been drawn, it wasn’t by pickup owners necessary (mostly BMW drivers) , but I should’ve thrown in a coupe LOLs to show I wasn’t serious. OK maybe 3/4s serious!
PEP Boys is obviously now a major supplier of exterior (and interior) trim parts for General/Guangzhou Motors, and makes that spectacular Grade-A, Chinese Spec Matte Black Grille,’which is produced in the same facility that stamps out plastic wheel covers and girls Barbie Dream Castles sold at Wal-Mart.
http://www.made-in-china.com/products-search/hot-china-products/Plastic_Toy_Making_Machinery.html
Hey to be fair, I’ve been in a Chinese factory that spit out Grade-A Chinese Spec Matte Black grilles for Audis (wait, they did glue the chrome plastic 4 rings to the black plastic)…. Under the same roof as the Grade-A Chinese Spec Shiny Colored plastic they made for various garbage small appliances that might work long enough to keep 1 can of Coke cold for an hour or two.
I don’t like it, but can’t single out General Motors on this stuff.
Heck you can get an entire Grade-A Chinese Volvo S90 if you want! And pretty soon the same in Ford Focus format!
I like the grille, rather a lot actually. I hate the headlights and the stupid size of the truck, the ridiculous height in particular.
But as base as possible while still having A/C is the ONLY way I would ever buy a pickup. If you can’t hose out the thing, what’s the point? It’s a TRUCK. If I am not doing pickup truck things with it, I won’t be driving it anyway.
I wasn’t going to describe the grill as “fabulous.” But what bothers me the most are the two plastic panels flanking the grill which are painted body color. It won’t be long before we see these running around with a gaping hole where they used to be.
Woah – that front end is something to behold. It looks like a very unhappy guppy. A little chrome or any color would help break up that big black plastic maw.
Whoever designed that front end must be a big Family Truckster fan, note the double front end.
“You think that you hate it now, wait ’til you drive it!”
It’s a shame because if they got rid of the double grill treatment and shaved about 6″ off the front and rear decks of this it would be a good looking truck.
Yeah, dropping the beltline down to where the door handle is would get rid of the shrunken-head look and the double-height bumper assembly.
“shrunken-head look”
That describes it to perfection.
Does Ford have a design patent on the dropping beltline of their front doors? Because if not, the other manufacturers should just bite the bullet and copy it, because it is fantastic.
The 1998 Suzuki Vitara had the belt line drop down first! It is more subtle than the F150 however.
The producers of “Free Willy” called. They want their orca back.
Can you get these regular cabs with a bench seat? For three passenger duty that is.
Woof
I don’t hate it, can not say i love it.
But a half hour with a hair dryer or politely ask the selling dealer and the Silverado nonsense on the hood is gone.
That alone cleans things up quite a bit.
We truely live in glorious times, with rebate this rig will go out the door for sub 25k or at that figure with 4×4 and you have a ‘poverty’ spec truck with nice cloth seats, AC, 5.3 v8, back up camera most likely and a radio that does not need to be replaced immediately or ever. All i see is a great value for someone who wants a pickup with few frills. Paint it blue and gm is calling my name in 6 years
30K seems pricey to me but maybe it is because i am a boomer? My first truck was under 4K out the door. with a V8.
under $4k!
What year? What was on it?
I started following car prices in 1976 (as a kid)
A base Nova then was in the low-mid $3,000, and I think the lowest priced Chevy C10 was mid to high $3k.
BASE meant six cyl, 3 on the tree. In the US, I’ve only been in two cars that had 3 on the tree: My friend’s dad’s 68-72 C10, and my dad’s friend’s 74-76 Valiant.
So your truck must’ve been pre-1974, I estimate.
If you have the window sticker, you should post it!
My dad’s demo ’76 GMC with I-6, 3 on the tree, power steering (optional in ’76!) and heavy-duty springs went out the door for $3150. This was after considerable negotiation.
I suspect that pickup was no newer than about 1972.
I like it !
A little premature to call this an Ace of Base without knowing what is even going to be under the hood.
I hope the GMC looks better. It usually does.
GM designer: “I like the new F-150 headlights. Can we use them?”
Team leader: “yeah, just put them on the opposite sides and nobody will know.”
Man I love those wheels.
If those are the base wheels can I order them for a LT trim truck?
Agreed.
-ITS A WORK TRUCK-
I think it looks great for what it is
Why do WORK TRUCKS have to be ugly?
The biggest problem I have with the latest mid and full-size trucks, is the extremely high cowl, where the leading edge of the windshield is actually higher than the bed height, I assume to accommodate the biggest grille possible. This makes for very awkward proportions, and the “shrunken head” syndrome that someone stated, not to mention, terrible outward visibility. This is an awful design trend, and the new Silverado definitely takes it to the extreme.
I agree. It’s grotesque to me, solely because of that. Needs more photoshop.
I bet the tires and wheels look tiny in real life.
This truck speaks to me as well. I like the ‘blank canvas’ aspect of a base level rig. Nothing turns me off faster than 20”+ wheels, a sea of chrome and some paint color that would be spot on for grammas buick century. The only higher end trucks that are my style are the likes of the Rebel, Raptor, Power Wagon etc which have a similar visual impact of a muscle car and a Wrangler applied to a pickup. This truck is perfect for someone who wants to build his own dream truck, not be sold a one size fits all version of several focus groups’ perfect rig.
It’s not the grille specifically that looks wrong on this. It’s that stupidly huge and low hanging bumper that sacrifices approach angle and durability in favor of aerodynamics. Id immediately rip off and sell everything under the grill and replace it with a combination skid plate/ heavy tubular pre-runner/rock crawler type setup front and rear and an old school rollbar in the bed—all black and a few KC lights. About 4-6” lift, 17×10 Ansen slot mags and a good all terrain with RWLs would have this looking like my type of rig. Of course, Id start with an equivalent Hemi non eTorq 4×4 Ram…
I actually like that grille … there’s something about the grille in the non-WT that’s tough to get a good visual grasp on. The headlights don’t stick out as discrete elements; it’s hard to see where they end and the grille beings. There’s just no clear definition to it, it all seems to blend together into one incomprehensible jumble. Although to be fair I’ve only seen it in photographs, so maybe it’s better in person, but that’s not exactly a good thing.
Like others I also don’t like the way the body colour wraps under the headlights, but maybe it’s something we’ll get used to.
Gimme that GMT400 W/T. And quit hitting it with a bat!
This.
I was just pining for a 4.3+5spd GMT400 W/T truck last week in one of the discussion threads, now low and behold!
Would make more sense if the grill has Tonka on it.
Amazing that someone in some design studio looked at this and nodded his head in approval.
Another gallon (pint?) of white* paint would solve this truck’s basic problem.
*Or whatever color is used to paint the rest of this ghastly thing.
You know, there was a time when a grown man of average size (5’9″) could actually see over the roof of a full size pickup truck, and could get in and out of the back without having to have a special step, and found the floor of the bed just below waist height. Check it out the next time a truck from before about 1990 pulls into the gas station next to you.
Can we get a “Non Compensating Edition” that just has a normal grille and is of normal size, leaving the Tonka Special Edition for those guys who feel their natural equipment is undersize and need a giant vehicle to feel better about themselves?
I wonder how many they would sell. I would buy one. Maybe this is the untapped niche that on of the automakers should try.
Funny as I absolutely love this new Silverado. Not a truck guy, but always found the current GM trucks to be classy and understated, if not a bit boring. Ford I have no doubt makes good trucks but they always seem to look ridiculous. RAM is nice too, but again a bit boring.
This new Chevy, particularly in that off-road or whatever trim (Trailboss?), just does a great job of looking good, looking beefy, without resorting to too many gimmicks. Proportions are spot on. Just enough angles with enough curves. I don’t know, I love it.
Honestly this truck jumped itself from probably last in the segment (Nissan is pretty ugly tho) to absolutely my Number 1. If I were ever to buy a truck I would also tend to prefer GM V8s to any Ford turbos…so, Chevy, convince me I need a truck and you’ll probably sell me one of yours.
$28,700
This Silverado is for the plutocrat White/Trash
Am I the only one who sees a lot of the 1973 Chevy truck in profile?
Only thing this is crying for is a 6-speed manual.
The part that jabs me the most visually is the awkward spot where the grille and fender meet between the upper and lower headlights. Extending the grille out another few inches to made a smooth line with the headlights would make it less visually jarring.
https://i.imgur.com/FTe30SL.png
A few minutes in mspaint gets the general idea. I suppose $5 in plastidip would solve the problem for any owner who cared, which is probably none of them since this is a work truck.
You’re absolutely right – that does look a lot better
Much better.
This is coming from somebody who owns a “newer” poverty spec truck, 2004 Tacoma, 2wd, base trim, reg cab, 5 speed, 4 cylinder. This was the last year for the smaller 1st gen Tacoma. It has such luxuries as A/C, carpet, 1 piece cloth bench seat that doesn’t recline and a cab that is so small you can’t cuss a cat in it. Dad bought this new in 2004 for $12,000. I now drive it daily, its a great paid for commuter that allows me to own more “interesting” weekend cars.
Getting back to this new Silverado “Work Truck” trim, they are high as a kite with that $28,000 base price. I feel like GM is a snake oil salesman with their MSRP, buy a truck during the “Truckuary” sale, you get $6000 off MSRP. Same truck might only net you a $3000 off MSRP during “4th of Truck-ly” sale. Then your own deal is kind of up to your dealer and where you live, trucks in someplace like Newark NJ are sure to be marked down way more than they are in a less congested place like Nashville, where trucks are way more desirable.
Also my other big rant/rave about this new Silverado work truck and my old Tacoma, its the ride height/bed height on all new trucks. I love how easy it is to load crap into my Tacoma. I can reach right over the side of the bed and put stuff in it. Hopping up into the bed, no problem. Newer trucks, yeah they are a PITA to load, especially for a short guy like me.
Also, didn’t mention it earlier, but this new Silverado fell straight out of the ugly tree and squashed all the designers who had better sketches and concepts.
Get it in black, shave the badges, substitute in slightly larger wheels, and lower it just a bit.
It’ll be gorgeous.