Yahoo Sports 2021 Chevrolet Silverado HD adds more towing capacity, tech and special editions
The 2021 Chevrolet Silverado HD can tow even heavier loads than last year! Shocking, we know. GM has upped its maximum towing capacity from 35,500 pounds to 36,000 pounds in its most capable variant (which happens to be the 3500 HD Work Truck with a Regular Cab, rear-wheel drive, dual rear wheels, 6.6-liter Duramax diesel and Max Tow Package).
Deviate from that setup, and your tow rating will vary. Chevy says it was able to eke out the extra 500 pounds by making some hardware updates to the suspension and packaging changes to the wheels. For those who care, that does make it best in class for maximum towing capacity. Yeehaw!
Chevy’s towing technology also takes a step forward for 2021, similar to what we saw for the Sierra HD a few weeks ago. GM has added a number of features this year. The first is a Trailer Length Indicator. When trailering, putting your turn signal on will bring up a camera feed of your blind spot with a red overlay showing the area where your trailer will be in the lane next to you. It’s designed to help give drivers a better idea of the traffic around them and aid in safer lane changes. This view is also available when you’re backing up for side visibility when parking a trailer.
There’s a new Jack-Knife Alert that tracks the position of a trailer in relation to the vehicle. It’ll alert you if a potential jack-knife situation is imminent. A new Cargo Bed Zoom View is available for the bed camera. It allows for a better and closer view when you’re trying to hook up a gooseneck trailer. The backup guideline indicator functions with trailers now, giving you an idea of where the trailer is going. Plus, it also shows a Trailer-Angle Indicator that’ll give you a precise measurement of the relationship between truck and trailer.
It’s not towing-related, but GM has also added wireless Apple CarPlay and wireless Android Auto to the LT, LTZ and High Country trims this year.
Beyond that, Chevy has added a number of special editions to the lineup. There’s a Midnight Edition (top left) that blacks out every piece of trim on the truck. A Z71 Sport Edition (top right) deletes chrome in favor of paint color-matched accent pieces. It also comes with either mud-terrain or all-terrain tires as standard equipment. As a foil to that, Chevy also has a Z71 Chrome Sport Edition (bottom right) that adds the chrome back in and skips the off-road tires.
Lastly, the Carhartt Special Edition (bottom left) is available on the HD this year. As you might guess, it includes a ton of Carhartt logos all around with unique trim and styling pieces meant to make the truck feel a bit more outdoorsy.
The 2021 Silverado HD started production in September, and Chevy says they’ll be arriving in dealerships throughout the fall.
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