Truck sales continue to dominate the automotive landscape in 2015. Affordable fuel prices, new products and incentive skirmishes are pushing overall sales in the market to be roughly 10% higher than what was seen last year in June 2014. Remember that 2014 was the year of the truck. That’s how hot pickups are right now. The strongest segment in the world of trucks right now is midsize pickups, currently enjoying a 61.4% increase in sales since the start of this year, according to GM.


With manufacturers seeing their pickups moving swiftly off dealership floors, you might think that its time for companies to make small tweaks to their product, finalize the updated vehicle release a few years off and rake in the money.

Not by a longshot.

Ford’s already announced a slew of new features for its F-150, Toyota’s defending its midsize-pickup crown with a new model and GM’s trying harder than ever to gobble up everyone’s lunch.

Case in point: with a scant two years on the market under their belt, The Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra are already up for a makeover.

Further details are slated to be released this coming fall, but pictures released by the manufacturer point to the obvious: GM’s fullsize trucks are getting an extra dollop of macho. New front end designs for the pair deliver a beefier look with angular, thick horizontal elements. Sculpted lines for the hood give a sharper look and new lighting elements complete the package.

Backing up the new look are new additions to the roster of creature comforts available for the fullsize pickups.

The respective infotainment systems of the Silverado and Sierra (Chevy MyLink and GMC IntelliLink) now support Android Auto and Apple CarPlay integration. Android Auto, a new feature of available to Android 5.x Lollipop users, essentially puts your phone and on your vehicle’s infotainment screens. Your phone then works like a cable box or DVD player, handling all the processing work and treating your infotainment system just like a tv on wheels. The advantage? You now have access to more complex apps supported by the Android Auto interface, including Google Maps, Google Now, Google Play Music and third-party apps that support the interface like Pandora and Spotify. Control by voice command is available through Google Now. Similarly, the also-new Apple CarPlay projects a basic interface of iOS that delivers equivalent functionality and is powered by Siri or the car’s physical interfaces. Apple CarPlay can only be powered by the iPhone 5 and newer models. If you’re planning on making the jump to either of these new platforms, we highly recommend making sure your cellphone has up-to-date security software (yeah, we never took it seriously before, either) and check out this article that shows you some current digital security woes affecting trucks.

Another welcome boon coming to the Silverado and Sierra is the expansion of available transmissions. For 2015 the pickups saw the addition of GM’s hottest new transmission, the 8L90 Hydramatic. The 8-speed transmission, allowing for more efficient power usage and better fuel economy, was introduced as a match for only the most expensive engine option, the 6.2-liter V8. For the coming year, the 8-speed tranny will be available for various models that are equipped with the middle-of-the-pack 5.3-liter V8 engine, as well.

Lastly, rumors are circulating of a seriously tuned version of the 6.6-liter V8 Duramax diesel coming to HD models of the Silverado and Sierra which will generate somewhere in the neighborhood of 450 horsepower and 855 lb.-ft. of torque. Until anything concrete surfaces, we’ll file that under “some guy getting carried away with wishful thinking on the internet”.

So why the early refresh? We think it has something to do with Ford’s current dip in dominance. The F-Series is still the greatest selling nameplate on Planet Earth, but it’s recent sales slide of around 8,700 units is giving GM the very rare opportunity to gobble up valuable market share in the fullsize truck segment. According to GoodCarBadCar.net, the Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra are on track to outsell the F-Series. The last time that happened was in 2009, when the market was nowhere near as robust. With analysts still wondering if consumers are leery of the new aluminum F-150, GM’s trying to dethrone the king in 2016.