There are over 2,000 2019 and 2020 Silverado trucks still on dealer lots, in spite of the news of short supplies. But the catch is that they are all medium-duty trucks. Though it is not unusual for medium-duty trucks to sit on lots longer than Silverado 1500 trucks, these are languishing longer than in the past. 

What is typical for Silverado trucks to be sitting on dealer’s lots

For regular vehicles, about 60 days is considered a normal time. This represents the amount of time from when it first goes onto the lot until it is sold. For Chevy, the Blazer has a 16-day supply, which signifies it is a hot-selling vehicle. 

GM Authority first noted back in April that there were about 2,400 of both 2019 and 2020 medium-duty trucks. So that number has only been lowered by about 400 trucks. For comparison, 2021 Chevy medium-duty trucks at dealers right now are about 2,500 units. 

While these numbers seem very low, Chevy doesn’t sell a lot of medium-duty trucks each year. You might be surprised to know that in 2020 there were only 7,419 Silverado medium-duty trucks sold. Granted, sales were down due to the pandemic. But that figure is fairly representative of the rate of medium-duty vehicles sold compared to other years. 

Chevy doesn’t sell nearly as many Silverado medium-duty trucks as light- or heavy-duty versions

As an example, in the first quarter of 2021, there were almost 113,000 Silverado 1500 trucks sold. Heavy-duty sold almost 31,000. For medium-duty Silverados, only a bit over 1,000 found buyers. 

One thing that could be slowing down medium-duty sales is engine availability. Only the 6.6-liter turbodiesel Duramax was available in the medium-duty trucks. However, this year Chevy has added the 6.6-liter V8 L8T gas engine. It is naturally aspirated and offers an alternative to diesel.

Especially in California, diesel engines are slowly being legislated out of use. Some older heavy-duty trucks are hard to sell within California. They need to be updated with more current emissions equipment that can be costly. Owners end up selling to buyers in neighboring Arizona or Nevada where emissions laws are less stringent. 

Silverado medium-duty trucks are based on the previous K2 platform

So only offering diesel lowers sales in California. But there is another reason why these trucks may be slower sellers. They don’t feature the latest 2020 version of truck bodies. They instead are made from the earlier K2-based platform. 

Since sales are low they are assembled by Navistar for Chevy. And they are for a very narrow segment that needs this style of a truck when a 1500 or heavy-duty version won’t work. Also, they are only available as chassis cabs so no pickup bed is available except for custom applications.

It is all a bit of a mish-mosh once one delves into the MD and HD GM lines. That is why there are salespeople versed in fleet sales to help wind a buyer through the different body styles and configurations.