GM's New Duramax Diesel Promises Segment-Leading Truck Power

If there's one segment of vehicles that are truly cutthroat, it's full-size pickup trucks. When one automaker does something, another feels the need to go even further. And while diesels are all but dead in regular passenger cars, it sounds like the diesel game is heating up. According to Automotive News, General Motors is set to introduce a class-leading Duramax diesel engine.

As the outlet states, GM's new Duramax 3.0-liter inline-six turbodiesel engine for the 2019 Chevrolet Silverado 1500 and the 2019 GMC Sierra 1500 will make 277 horsepower and 460 pound-feet of torque. If you're keeping score, those figures would make it slightly more powerful than what Ford and Ram currently offer.

Ford has a 3.0-liter Power Stroke V6 diesel in the F-150 that produces 250 hp and 440 lb-ft of torque. The Ram 1500 can be had with a 3.0-liter Eco-Diesel V6 that pushes out 240 hp and 420 lb-ft of torque.

GM may be claiming segment-leading power, but there's still a lot that we don't know about the engine. Fuel economy numbers, payload capacity, and towing capacity haven't been announced yet. As far as pricing goes, Auto News claims that the diesel engine with the 10-speed automatic transmission will be $2,495 more than a model with the 5.3-liter V8. Consumers looking to upgrade from a 2.7-liter turbocharged engine will have to pony out $3,890. Those prices are on par with what it would cost to upgrade to the 6.2-liter V8 engine.

There are a bunch of reasons to go with a diesel powertrain over a gasoline one. For one, fuel economy should be better, even if it's marginally so. Diesel engines also make a large amount of their grunt at the bottom of the rev range, which is crucial for towing. Lastly, we're expecting to see towing and payload capacity for both of GM's full-size pickups to grow.

Deliveries of pickups with the diesel engine will start later this summer.

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