Chevrolet Adds Trail Boss to Silverado HD

Matthew Guy
by Matthew Guy

It’s a great time to be a fan of burly off-road pickup trucks from the Bowtie brand. With multiple flavors of dirt road fun in three different sizes, Chevy has covered just about all bases.


Proving things don’t always happen in order, the Silverado HD is getting a Trail Boss trim for 2025, a model whose off-road chops slide in between the Z71 and ZR2 – though both of those have options been available on the HD trucks for a spell already. Adding this trim to the Heavy Duty line completes a trifecta of sorts, with Trail Boss now showing up on midsize Colorado, half-ton Silverado 1500, and now these brutish HDs.


What makes a Trail Boss? Hove underneath the truck in LT or LTZ guise are a set of suspenders from the Z71, including specially tuned shocks which are not the trick DSSV units. If you want those, get a ZR2. Meaty tires on unique 20-inch wheels are part of the deal, as are swaths of blacked-out trim and badges. Stickers don’t add horsepower or off-road prowess but at least advertise the fact you’re not rocking a bog standard Silverado HD.


The 6.6-liter V8 gasser is standard, a mill which showed up this year with 401 horsepower and 464 lb-ft of torque; there’s no indication those numbers will change for 2025. Meanwhile, the 6.6L Duramax diesel is the one you really want, belting out 470 horses and 975 lb-ft of twist. Both engines dance with a ten-speed automatic.


Elsewhere, the interior got a much-needed revamp last year, so other changes are minor. Park assists now appear on more trims, as does adaptive cruise control. Note that adaptive cruise is not Super Cruise – nor is it Ultra Cruise, a tech innovation The General has folded into the Super Cruise family and will no longer market separately. There’s a spate of black-out packages for 2025 as well.


These trucks will be available in summer of 2024. Pricing will be announced closer to the start of production.


[Image: Chevrolet]


Become a TTAC insider. Get the latest news, features, TTAC takes, and everything else that gets to the truth about cars first by subscribing to our newsletter.

Matthew Guy
Matthew Guy

Matthew buys, sells, fixes, & races cars. As a human index of auto & auction knowledge, he is fond of making money and offering loud opinions.

More by Matthew Guy

Comments
Join the conversation
3 of 13 comments
  • Olivehead The Honda Civic wins on looks and interior material quality and style. The Civic looks like a scaled down "real" car (i.e., midsize) while the Corolla never lets you forget what it is-a compact car, harkening back to the Tercel, etc. No comparision either in the interior materials of the Civic (a notch below Acura level) and general layout. There too, the Corolla comes off as a compact runabout. The Civic hatchback is especially cool.
  • Mike Beranek While the product may appear to be "better", only time will tell. The American automotive environment can chew a car up and spit it out. Will these Chinese EVs survive like a quarter-century old Cavalier, or will they turn out like VinFast's "cars"?
  • Mike Beranek This police vehicle will be perfect for when the State of Florida starts tracking every pregnancy.
  • Dave M. The Highlander hybrid, a larger, heavier vehicle, gets better mpgs. Why? Also, missed opportunity - if Toyota had made this a hatchback, they could have scooped up the "want a Tesla S but not ready for a full EV" crowd, however small or large they may be....
  • TheMrFreeze Difficult call...the more the mainstream automakers discontinue their more affordable models and only sell crazy overpriced EVs and trucks, the more appealing the idea of letting in cheap imported cars becomes with the buying public. If the government is going to impose tariffs on Chinese vehicles, at the same time they need to be getting with the Big 3 and telling them to fill the void with affordable models and not use the tariff as an excuse to simply raise prices. Otherwise, public pressure could see the tariffs withdrawn.I seem to recall the last administration put a 25% tariff on Chinese steel, at which point the US manufacturers immediately used the opportunity to raise their prices 25%...that needs to not happen.
Next