Chevrolet will discontinue its Silverado 4500HD, 5500HD and 6500HD this fall, ending a short run in the medium-duty commercial truck market and closing out a production agreement that began in 2015 with International Trucks.
Production of the Chevrolet Silverado medium-duty lineup is scheduled to stop on Sept. 30 at International Trucks’ Springfield, Ohio, facility. International’s own CV Series production will end earlier, on Sept. 10, as the plant’s work tied to the two truck lines winds down.
The trucks were built for fleets, contractors, towing operations, utility work and heavy hauling businesses, not consumer buyers looking for a daily pickup. All three models used GM’s Duramax 6.6-liter turbodiesel V8, rated at 350 horsepower and 750 pound-feet of torque, with power routed through an Allison six-speed automatic transmission. Chevrolet also offered four-wheel drive and a range of cab and wheelbase options, from regular cab, double cab and crew cab layouts to wheelbases stretching from 165 inches to 243 inches depending on the application.
The three trucks sat in different weight classes. The Silverado 4500HD carried a gross vehicle weight rating between 14,001 and 16,500 pounds, the 5500HD went up to 19,500 pounds and the 6500HD reached 23,500 pounds. GM sold only 1,273 Silverado medium-duty trucks, a small number for a lineup that was meant to serve commercial customers with much heavier needs than a standard pickup could handle.
That weak sales total helps explain why the end came so quickly. Chevrolet decided not to renew its production agreement with International Trucks, and International earlier this year sold the Springfield facility to Canadian defense contractor Roshel. The plant had relied heavily on Chevrolet’s trucks for much of its manufacturing workload, and the loss of that business now leaves the Ohio site heading into another change in ownership and production plans.
The timing also closes a chapter on a truck family that was built to fill a very specific gap in Chevrolet’s lineup. With the medium-duty Silverado models leaving after Sept. 30, the company is stepping away from a commercial segment where volume was limited and the economics no longer supported a continuing partnership.
