Motor Trend is following up its somewhat controversial decision to crown the Chevrolet Volt as its 2011 Car of the Year with a safer call for its 2011 Truck of the Year award. The 2011 Chevrolet Silverado HD was announced as the magazine’s TOTY during a ceremony before the 111th Army-Navy Game at Philadelphia’s Lincoln Financial Field on Saturday, giving General Motors’ volume brand a pair of golden calipers to crow about all next year.
Chevy’s heavy-duty version of its Silverado pickup truck was significantly upgraded this year, though it faced a tough pair of competitors in the equally improved 2011 GMC Sierra HD and the also-upgraded 2011 Ford F-Series Super Duty. The Sierra HD looks almost identical on the outside compared to the 2010 model, but Chevy engineers worked magic on all the mechanicals beneath the surface. A significantly more powerful Duramax turbodiesel, excellent six-speed transmissions, reworked suspension and fully boxed frame were enough to put the Silverado HD ahead of its corporate cousin and crosstown rival in the minds of Motor Trendeditors.
Curiously, the magazine claims it doesn’t often have an apples-to-apples fight for its Truck of the Year award, but this year just happened to line up a trio of new-enough heavy duty pickups. The only truck missing was the Ram Heavy Duty, which was new for 2010. Chevy should probably be glad the Ram HD missed the cut off mark, as Dodge’s heavy hauler holds the crown as Motor Trend‘s 2010 Truck of the Year.
