Chevrolet pares down four-cylinder availability in the Silverado range

It's becoming difficult for buyers to find a new Chevrolet Silverado powered by the 2.7-liter four-cylinder, according to a recent report. While the engine is normally offered on five trim levels, it's currently only available in two.

Enthusiast website GM Authority reported the first turbo-four ever offered in a Silverado is temporarily unavailable on most of the trim levels it can normally go into. Chevrolet offers nine basic flavors called Work Truck, Custom, Custom Trail Boss, LT, LT 2FL, LT Trail Boss, RST, LTZ, and High Country, respectively. Work Truck, Custom, LT 2FL, LT, and RST should be available with the 2.7-liter, yet buyers can only get it in Custom and LT 2FL models.

General Motors has been hit hard by the ongoing chip shortage, like all of its peers and rivals, and it was forced to ship Chevrolet and GMC trucks without cylinder deactivation technology to avoid creating costly delays, but paring down four-cylinder availability isn't part of this strategy. While nothing is official, GM Authority believes the company is shuffling its trim structure to prioritize more popular build configuration and streamline its production process. We've reached out to Chevrolet for more information about the report, and we'll update this story if we learn more.

What's seemingly certain is that this is a temporary move, and the four-cylinder engine will again be available on a wide range of trim levels in the not-too-distant future. Not much is changing for the 2022 model year, though the LT Trail Boss trim gains a 3.0-liter turbodiesel straight-six, but more significant updates (including the availability of Super Cruise semi-automated technology and a new, off-road-focused trim called ZR2) are on their way for 2023.

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