Chevrolet Silverado: 5000th right-hand-drive in Australia as US pick-ups hit overdrive

The 5000th locally-remanufactured Chevrolet Silverado pick-up from the US has rolled off a new dedicated assembly line on the outskirts of Melbourne – after moving from the former home of Holden Special Vehicles in August 2022.

The milestone comes after Ram Trucks Australia tripled its capacity and took over the assembly area previously used by Chevrolet at the Walkinshaw Automotive Group facility.

The two arch-rival US pick-up brands were initially assembled under the same roof but on separate lines – and with separate engineering staff and production workers.

Under the new arrangements, both Ram and Chevrolet have the ability to ramp-up production even further – before Ford's local F-150 program commences from mid 2023, and ahead the anticipated arrival of the Toyota Tundra in late 2023 or early 2024.

Despite the Chevrolet milestone – 5000 vehicles in about three years – arch rival Ram Trucks Australia is on track to clock up its 20,000th vehicle by the end of this year, after launching at scale in 2018.

Today, Ram Trucks Australia outsells Chevrolet by more than two-to-one. Ram's year-to-date tally of 4810 vehicles reported as sold is more than 50 per cent higher than for the same period last year. Chevrolet sales (1971) are up 14.5 per cent over the same period.

Year-to-date, Ram Trucks Australia has grown to establish a commanding 70 per cent share of the US pick-up market locally.

Drive has asked General Motors Specialty Vehicles (GMSV), the distributor for Chevrolet in Australia, why it has such conservative production estimates for the Silverado given the runaway success of Ram. We will update this story with GMSV's response.

In a media statement, GMSV said the new dedicated remanufacturing facility will “enable improved flexibility and capacity, with a significant increase in the number of Silverados coming off the line.”

An updated version of the Chevrolet Silverado 1500 – with minor exterior styling changes and a larger infotainment screen – is already on sale in the US and due in Australia mid next year. The Chevrolet Silverado 1500 range will also expand to include the off-road focused ZR2 edition.

All four US pick-ups – Ram, Chevrolet, Ford and Toyota – have factory backing and imported in left-hand drive before being remanufactured with more than 500 locally-engineered parts.

The engineering cost for each right-hand-drive variant – remanufactured to factory quality and safety standards – is estimated to be in excess of $10 million before a single part is made, and before a single pick-up rolls off the local assembly line.

The four big US pick-up brands have all but wiped out smaller independent "chop shops" that lack the engineering capacity and financial resources to convert vehicles to right-hand-drive to factory-backed standards.

US pick-ups have become so popular in Australia, the independent crash test authority ANCAP is considering including the vehicles in future assessments.