Report: Chevrolet's Colorado ZR2 to Gain Big Brother?

If the current vehicle landscape tells us anything, it’s that Americans have never gone so far afield, well beyond the reach of pavement, in as many numbers as they do today. How else to explain the emergence of so many off-road focused pickups and SUVs? Road infrastructure maintenance costs should decline in the coming years as new vehicle buyers blaze their own trail to the office and supermarket.

Watch out, nature.

Or maybe people just like the ability to do such things. Whatever the reason, the list of brush busters grows by the year, and might soon include a new entry from Chevrolet.

The bowtie brand already flexed its off-road chops with the Colorado ZR2 and Bison, but that truck’s a midsize. Ford and Ram are having fun in the full-size space, so why not Chevy? An unconfirmed report in Muscle Cars & Trucks claims a Silverado ZR2 in in development, slated to appear for the 2023 model year.

Allegedly, the Silverado ZR2 will follow the same recipe as the Colorado, with an improved suspension and a reworked front and rear bumper aimed at favorable approach and departure angles. Given that the current Silverado’s chin is mighty flush with the model’s extremely upright face, one wonders what the resulting product will look like. Front and rear electronically locking differentials and Multimatic DSSV dampers also form part of the rumored package.

Going far beyond the existing Trail Boss trim would give General Motors a useful product with which to temp buyers who don’t plan to get too wild, as this thing wouldn’t be a direct rival to either the Ford F-150 Raptor or Ram 1500 TRX. Those musclebound rig are meant for extreme use and high speeds; with the Silverado ZR2, GM will reportedly source power from its existing truck engines. That means a 5.3-liter or 6.2-liter V8, but not the 3.0-liter inline-six diesel (which apparently doesn’t conform well to changes planned for the model’s reworked face.

It’s not like the 6.2L is any slouch; it just won’t win any bragging rights in this segment. Perhaps GM can focus on price?

As the automaker hasn’t copped to the development of the Silverado ZR2, we can only take the report at face value. It definitely feels like something GM would do, however. That, and, as MC&T notes, GM already turned a Silverado into something ZR2-worthy with the creation of the Chad Hall Racing Truck at the 2019 SEMA show.

[Image: General Motors]