Chevrolet is capitalising on the Aussie love of V8 engines with its Silverado pick-up truck that is proving a popular beast.

While the rival Ram 1500, Ford F-150 and Toyota Tundra have all moved to turbocharged six-cylinder engines, General Motors Specialty Vehicles (GMSV) continues to offer the Chevrolet Silverado with a naturally aspirated V8 – and the company says customer demand makes the case for keeping it.

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“It’s hugely important when you look at what that truck’s used for,” said Jess Bala, managing director of General Motors Australia and New Zealand.

FULL DETAILS: Chevrolet Silverado 1500
FULL DETAILS: Chevrolet Silverado 2500 HD

“You need the power of that powertrain behind it to help with the towing and the hauling and everything else that goes with it.

“So being able to have a monopoly in that space, we’ve seen huge benefit from.”

The V8 love comes despite the six-cylinder rivals outpunching it; the Ram 1500 high output and Toyota Tundra each beats the Silverado 1500’s 313kW/624Nm outputs while the F-150 is marginally down on power but beats it on torque, with 678Nm.

Not that that appears to be making much of a difference for customers who clearly love the sound and characteristics of an American pick-up truck powered by a V8.

“There’s just something about it, and for us we’re driven by what the customer wants,” said Bala.

“If the customer is going to keep asking for a V8, we’ll bring in a V8 truck.”

In the full 2025 calendar year, the Silverado 1500 recorded 2209 sales for a 25.2 per cent market share in the over-$100K pick-up segment, down from 2389 the year prior.

Add the Silverado HD and the combined GMSV tally rises to 3863 units — commanding a dominant 44 per cent of the segment.

The Ram 1500 led the light-duty category with 2674 sales, but that was itself a 17.4 per cent drop year-on-year, while the Ford F-150 suffered a 67.4 per cent slide to just 792 units as it navigated a model-year transition.

Up until the end of June 2026 – the latest sales figures at the time of publication – the picture is more mixed, with the Silverado 1500 down 15.4 per cent compared with the same six months of 2025, though the HD variant is up 11.3 per cent.

The F-150 has surged back strongly in 2026 and was leading the sales race year to date until a solid June sales result from the RAM 1500 saw it edge ahead (1082 sales versus 1049) and sharp deals on the Tundra have seen it continue to grow, albeit with the lowest overall numbers of the American quartet (551 YTD).

Bala says GMSV is not concerned about the competitive pressure.

“There’s a lot of opportunity, especially in Australia, around the towing market – equine, boating, off-road,” she said.

GMSV recently competed at the Finke Desert Race where Craig Lowndes won the production car class, providing some marketing impetus for the more off-road focused ZR2 variant.

As for whether the big-truck segment has hit a sales ceiling, GMSV’s internal modelling suggests the market will hold around the 10,000-unit annual mark.

“It’s always going to be a percentage of total sales just because of the cost of the vehicle and what it’s used for,” Bala said.

“But there’s still a market there that you can tap into.

“There are people potentially towing with the wrong vehicle.”

For now, the V8 remains Silverado’s point of difference – not just in engine specs, but in what it signals to the buyer.

In a segment where rivals have rationalised to more efficient but arguably less characterful powertrains, GMSV is betting that sound and heritage still sell trucks.