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2022 Chevy Silverado 1500 ZR2 Teased As Future Ford F-150 Raptor Rival

Chevrolet relaunched its off-road focused ZR2 trim on the mid-size Colorado pickup back in 2017 but hasn’t bothered to apply it to the full-size Silverado thus far. However, that is apparently changing, as the automaker has teased the 2022 Chevy Silverado 1500 ZR2 with a short video and a single photo of the truck’s badge. This more rugged version of the Silverado will compete directly with the Ford F-150 Raptor and Ram TRX, although with a bit of an asterisk.

2021 Chevrolet Colorado ZR2

The 2022 Chevy Silverado 1500 ZR2 will feature the same new front fascia and interior design as the rest of the Silverado family, along with the requisite host of upgrades designed to make it more capable off the pavement. This will center around a trick suspension system designed for hardcore off-roading, but the ZR2 is expected to be powered by the same atmospheric 6.2L L98 V8 as the regular Silverado.

Currently, that engine is rated to produce 420 horsepower and 460 pound-feet of torque, which places it a bit behind the Raptor’s 3.5L EcoBoost V6 and its rating of 450 horsepower and 510 pound-feet of torque, and far behind the forthcoming Ford F-150 Raptor R and its 5.2L Predator V8, which is expected to produce around 725 horsepower. The ZR2’s V8 will also likely be backed up exclusively by Chevy’s 10-speed automatic gearbox.

2021 Chevrolet Silverado Trail Boss Z71

Regardless, the Silverado 1500 ZR2 should follow in the Colorado ZR2’s footsteps with some serious suspension upgrades. The current mid-size model features a two-inch lift, front and rear locking differentials, Multimatic spool-valve dampers, and a host of additional upgrades. We can expect much of the same from the Silverado 1500 ZR2, including larger off-road rubber, skid plates, and other goodies that make it more capable than the existing Trail Boss model.

Given how red hot the off-road vehicle market is right now, it’s certainly no surprise that Chevy is expanding its offerings in that regard. The only real surprise is why it took so long for it to join the party.

We’ll have more on the Silverado 1500 ZR2 as soon as it’s available, so be sure and subscribe to Ford Authority for 24/7 Ford news coverage.

Brett's lost track of all the Fords he's owned over the years and how much he's spent modifying them, but his current money pits include an S550 Mustang and 13th gen F-150.

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Comments

  1. A naturally aspirated V8, good news for the Chevy truck guys, does it put out Huge HP, no, but it should last a long, long time, as so many of the old V8s did( gm/ford/dodge). Competition is always good, makes for better product and better price.

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  2. We all know that this is just going to be another stupid appearance package with all terrain tires and fake carbon fiber in the interior and even if it wasn’t it still couldn’t remotely compare to the TRX and Raptor in both performance and reliability but regardless some GM sucker is going to fall for it regardless. Smh.

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  3. Another half baked effort. Basic GM trying to fool its customers withe marketing and trim appearance stuff. They seem to be so off course. They just can’t get it right.

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  4. GM loves to use stick on packages instead of building in this case a truck that could come close to competing with the Raptor. For those that keep complaining about the heavy developed Ecoboost like found in the LeMan and Rolex 24 winning Ford GT. It’s a great engine in all it’s current formats and capable of producing over 650 horsepower as seen in the Ford GT. If you want a V8 Raptor. Get ready to pony up some big bucks for the Raptor R either later this year or sometime during 2022.

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