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The Chevy Silverado is one of America’s favorite trucks, and the Silverado is constantly fighting with Ford’s F-150 for the hearts and minds of America’s truck lovers. Unfortunately for Chevy, however, the 2020 Silverado HD has a big hill to climb. Here’s why.

The 2020 Chevy Silverado HD on display at an auto show.
The front end of the 2020 Silverado HD | Raymond Boyd/Getty Images

The 2020 Silverado HD is pretty weird looking

This is America, and by now, many people have heard the axioms, “Don’t judge a book by its cover,” or, “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder,” etc. But every now and again, a carmaker designs something so ugly and hideous that everybody kind of just agrees that it’s not a good looking car. That’s exactly what happened with the 2020 Silverado HD. 

And to be fair, it’s happening with the Tesla Cybertruck. Unlike the Cybertruck however, where there is a pocket of Tesla fans who do like the looks of the Cybertruck, the same can’t be said for Chevy’s fans. The best thing that anyone can say about the Silverado HD is that it looks fine and that it’s function over form. 

But still, that doesn’t change the fact that the 2020 Silverado HD is generally agreed to be a big ugly truck. While Chevy and, by extension, General Motors can shrug off this fact, they probably won’t be. GM and Chevy both know that the interior of its trucks can’t compete with the interiors of its competitors. And if a truck is ugly on the outside and ugly on the inside, then it’s simply a totally ugly truck.

Why does the new Silverado HD look so bad?

According to Jalopnik, the reason why the 2020 Silverado HD looks so bad is because of the design of the grille. As Jalopnik showed, the 2020 Silverado HD looks like any other truck when its grille isn’t in the picture. The moment that the grille enters the frame, however, is the moment that people understand what everyone else means when they say that it’s an ugly truck. 

As Jalopnik pointed out, the grille of the 2020 Silverado HD looks like a big square face with a bar of chrome saying “Chevrolet” slapped on the forehead. But again, it’s a big world and there might be some people who’d find that appealing or attractive. Those folks are few and far between, however. 

Most Chevy fans would’ve been fine with a truck that looked boring. Most trucks are going to look dirty and ugly after a few weeks at work. But Chevy had to go and design a simply ugly looking truck and that’s just a step too far for many Chevy fans. 

Still a good truck, though

With all that said, the 2020 Silverado HD is still a great truck. It’s still equipped with some big and powerful engines, including an option for a 6.6-liter V8 diesel engine that can generate about 445-hp and 910 lb-ft of torque. This powerful engine allows it to tow over 18,500 lb of cargo, which is far more than what a regular Silverado can tow. 

And while the interior of Chevy’s trucks may not be the best, the 2020 Silverado HD is a more expensive truck, and as a result, it will have more premium offerings in its interior than a regular Silverado will.

On top of that, in part because of how big of a truck it is and because of the amount of safety features that Chevy has on it, the 2020 Silverado HD is a very safe truck as well.

So, while it’s an ugly looking truck and owners of the 2020 Silverado HD may turn a few heads, it, at the end of the day, is still a pretty good truck.