As you might know, Ford has announced it will be creating a diesel variant of its half-ton pickup, the F-150, for 2018, and Chevy has recently been hinting at one as well. Now, spy shots obtained by off-road.com have confirmed the Chevy Silverado 1500 diesel is under development. Photos show a GM engineer filling up a heavily camouflaged 2019 Silverado 1500 with diesel fuel.
We already know Ford plans to release the F-150 diesel in the spring of 2018, but the deadline is a little foggier for the Silverado 1500. The forums speculate Chevy will use either a 4.5-liter diesel V-6 or the current 2.8-liter Duramax diesel four-cylinder found in the Colorado and Canyon. The current 2.8-liter Duramax would most likely be retuned for a higher output over the Colorado's 181 horsepower and 369 lb-ft of torque.
That being said, the Silverado 1500 is expected to make heavy use of weight-saving aluminum body panels, most likely for the corner panels, hood, doors, etc. Still, Chevy states they will not be using it in the truck of the bed, which makes sense, since half of the brand's Silverado 1500 ad campaign boasts about how they have steel beds—unlike Ford's aluminum ones.
The 2018 Ford F-150 diesel is confirmed and expected to go on sale in the spring of next year, but Ford is keeping the performance under wraps. Whatever the final powertrains for the Ford F-150 diesel and Chevy Silverado 1500 diesel may be, we assume the power will be somewhere in the range of the Ram 1500 3.0-liter diesel's 240 horsepower and 420 lb-ft of torque. It's worth mentioning Ram is still undergoing investigation for allegedly using emissions-cheating devices in the diesel 1500s, so both Ford and Chevy will likely be under a microscope throughout this whole process.