Chevy’s revisiting the time-honored idea of a lightweight performance pickup truck at this year’s SEMA show in Las Vegas. The Silverado Cheyenne was unveiled today, following in the footsteps of past hot-rod Chevy pickups like the SS 454 and Silverado SS. That’s Cheyenne, not to be confused with the Porsche Cayenne: Chevy also had a slick restomod 1970s Cheyenne on hand, just to remind the crowds of the name’s provenance.
The Cheyenne’s a hard-core performer, with a well-balanced regular-cab layout and obsessive attention to weight. There’s a 420-horsepower 6.2 liter V8 under the hood, and Chevrolet has removed an additional 200 pounds from the Cheyenne with carbon-fiber bumpers, tailgate and cargo box. The trailer hitch, spare tire, and center console have been ditched in the name of weight savings, and some sound deadening has been pulled out as well. The interior is further dressed up with Recaro seats and a sport steering wheel. The Silverado’s standard safety features (including a hill start assist and backup camera) are still installed.
The engine is enhanced by a Borla performance exhaust, and is hooked up to a production six-speed automatic transmission. Brembo carbon-ceramic brakes borrowed from the Camaro Z/28 reduce unsprung weight, and the nineteen-inch wheels are Z/28 parts as well. The driveshaft is aluminum.
Are they gonna build it? Chris Perry, vice president of Chevrolet Marketing, said, “It is only a concept right now, but we are continually exploring new ways to give Silverado customers more.”
