The redesigned 2023 Silverado HD and Sierra HD are continuing their development and inching closer to being production-ready. Over the weekend, a pair of camouflaged prototypes were photographed pulling trailers, giving us a better look at the pickup’s new grille designs.
Check out our past spy shots of the duo here.
Our spy photographer reports:
We caught prototypes for the GMC Sierra HD 3500 and Chevy Silverado HD 3500 with their redesigned grilles completely free from camouflage mesh, giving us an uncovered look at what’s in store for their mid-cycle facelifts.
The prototypes were towing gooseneck trailers, and the Sierra dually was essentially hauling a copy of itself in the guise of a current dual-rear-wheeled Sierra Crew Cab. That heavy load must’ve required optimum cooling air-flow, leading to the removal of the front camouflage mesh, thus revealing a key element of both brands’ HD-range redesigns.
GMC HD’s Cleaned-Up Face
It’s now clear that the facelifted Sierra HD will get a simplified grille shape, with a new flat-bottomed design. The current grille’s drooping lower corners brings unnecessary visual complexity and a bit of a “frowning” countenance, so the new grille’s squared-off shape cleans things up. The facelifted Sierra 1500—debuting on October 21—appears to have a similarly simplified shape to its redesigned grille.
While this latest Sierra 3500 HD prototype was still equipped with placeholder lighting, earlier shots revealed production lighting with a more organically-shaped and brighter LED signature. Also revealed were new projector-beam headlights for a more modern look.
Chevy Silverado 3500’s New Grille Uncovered
Like its GMC counterpart, this 3500 dually prototype was testing with a fully-exposed grille. The new grille—which appears to be for the High Country trim, based on the slat arrangement and the presence of the bow-tie badge instead of the “CHEVROLET” bar—is a thorough departure from the current design. While the grille’s primary crossmember once separated the upper and lower lighting elements, it is now aligned with the main placeholder headlight units.
More Design Convergence Likely Between Silverado HD and 1500
While the final production lighting still hasn’t reached roadgoing Silverado HD prototypes, early indications point to a design more in line with the Silverado 1500 refresh. The prototypes’ placeholder lights consist of primary lighting units running horizontally at the top corners of the front-fascia, with a large LED strip running on a downward diagonal. If the general placement of the early lighting elements translates to the production units, then it appears that the current Silverado HD’s large vertically-stacked headlight clusters are going away. Just as the 2019 Silverado 1500’s funky “sideburn” air curtain design was toned-down on the 2022 facelift, it appears that the polarizing two-tiered lighting design that defined the 2020 Silverado HD is getting a more conventional treatment for its 2023 update.
2023 Silverado HD / 2023 Sierra HD Photos
