The vast majority of patents I sift through every week are incredibly uninteresting, but every so often, there’s one that has the opportunity to upend a company’s entire product planning cycle. Automakers plan out vehicle launches and reveals months ahead of time, making sure the timing is just right to make the biggest splash and attract the most eyeballs. Then, a patent drawing will spoil it all, revealing designs, products, or new features to the world before the manufacturer can.
That’s exactly what seems to be happening here. A patent filed on December 9th and uncovered by Car and Driver seems to show the upcoming 2027 Chevrolet Silverado’s design totally undisguised. While there are no actual pictures, drawings of the truck show the fascias, the proportions, and the rest of the body.
The nice thing about this specific patent is that it has a drawing looking at every angle of the truck. So even though the car hasn’t technically been leaked, everyone now pretty much knows what it’ll look like.
How Legit Is This?
The patent was filed by General Motors, which confirms this is at least an official Chevy design. The patent describes the drawings as “a vehicle, toy replica, and/or other replica” showing a “new design,” but doesn’t name the year, make, or model.
I reached out to Chevy to see if it would confirm whether this is, in fact, the new Silverado or not, and a representative sent me the following statement:
GM regularly files with the US Patent Office to protect our IP, trademark, and technologies. Filings are not always indicative of future product. We cannot comment on speculation on future product.
Obviously, Chevy was never going to outright confirm this is the new, yet-to-be-revealed version of its most important truck. But designs that are this production-intent usually don’t make it into patents unless they’re going to be marketed and sold, so if I had to guess, this is very likely next year’s Silverado before you’re supposed to see it.
You Want Lights? You Got ‘Em
Huge headlights on American pickup trucks seem to be all the rage right now, with the current Ford F-150 sporting headlight assemblies that each look as big as my entire torso. Chevy’s gotten in on the fun, too, with its current Silverado HD’s headlights, which are literally over two feet all. You don’t realize how big these things are until they’re off the car, because proportionally, they make sense with the massive grille and bumper.
Going by these drawings, it looks like Chevy is leaning into the big headlight style for its standard Silverado 1500 as well for 2027. Like many new cars from Chevrolet right now, there are thin light strips at the top of the bumper area on either side of the grille, with a bigger cluster below, presumably for the main lamps. Though it’s tough to tell for sure, it looks like there’s also a central light strip running between the assemblies, bisected by a gigantic Chevy logo.
The rest of the front end carries its general shape from the outgoing Silverado, albeit with a few more design elements in the lower section to break apart the massive frontal area. There’s space for all the active safety tech, and what might even be a set of fog lights. The hood, meanwhile, features a more prominent version of the two-hump shape found on the current truck.
As for the rest of the design, it’s shaped very much like every other pickup truck in this segment. That’s to be expected—Chevy isn’t going to take a huge risk by pulling a massive departure from what its customers know and love. The bed and four doors make up a classic pickup shape that should be familiar to everyone.
The biggest question mark that remains is with the cabin. Spy shots published by Car and Driver earlier this year show an absolutely massive screen occupying most of the dashboard, which is a pretty big departure from the current truck’s setup. Big screens are a mainstay of every vehicle in this segment these days, so I can’t say I’m surprised.
So When Will This Thing Actually Come Out?
The current Silverado has been around since 2019, which means it’s very much due for a big update. Combined with the fact that prototypes have been driving around throughout the year and the timing of this patent submission, I suspect Chevy will unveil the truck by the springtime.
There shouldn’t be any big news in the powertrain department, according to Car and Driver. Currently, you can choose between two gas-powered V8s, an entry-level four-cylinder, and a Duramax turbo-diesel straight-six.
As for price, the current Silverado starts at $38,145 for the most basic, stripped-out, four-cylinder Work Truck trim. As with any model year changeover where there’s been a heavy update or when a totally new vehicle arrives, expect the price to jump by at least a couple of thousand dollars.
Top graphic images: General Motors / USPTO
Saw this on social media filled in with color yesterday, if anything it looked WORSE than the current truck.
Glad I won’t feel any FOMO when this comes out.
It would be really hard to be worse than the current truck.
Friendly neighborhood patent attorney here. That design patent was filed 08/12/2024 and issued on 12/9/25 (design patents do not publish before issuance, unlike utility patents). Only the areas that are solid lines are covered. The dotted lines are not within the scope of the patent. So the truck may look a little different than the patent images.
I hate full-sized American trucks. The threat to pedestrians of all ages and other drivers notwithstanding, these monsters get bigger and uglier with each new iteration, which all seem to take their inspiration from that most scentillating of building components: the brick.
“You Want Lights? You Got ‘Em”
And if you want to cause excessive glare causing anyone in front of you as well as oncoming traffic to get piss off at you? You’ve got that too.
And you want ‘Ugly’? Chevy, once again, has you covered there as well.
Patent attorney here. Just to clarify, the patent wasn’t “filed” on Dec. 9th, it was granted. Design patents are not publicly available until and only if they grant. So it would be better to say that GM was granted a design patent on 12/9/25, hence it was published. The design patent was applied for (or “filed”) on August 12, 2024.
By keeping design apps secret, applicants can file for multiple designs on vehicle concepts, for example, and only decide to pay the issue fee on designs actually for sale – they don’t want the competition to get any ideas. If applicant design patents grant but the vehicle or part is not going to market, the applicant may chose to not pay the fee and the patent never grants (and is never published).
Ha, you beat me to it! Guess I should have read the other comments before I jumped in with “well, actually”
Pickup Truck plus SUV talk did a video on it showing computer renderings of the finished product in various trims and it didn’t look as bad as these drawing make it seem.
I’ll hold judgement until I see them in sheet metal.
I’ll call it an improvement based on the sketch. Have to see it in real life.
Not difficult to be an improvement on the current design.
All that work in the plant, tarping anything that’s even partially assembled, and making us sign NDAs and only allowing very specific pictures to be *taken*, and of course never shared, and the government leaks the thing.
I can’t even confirm how accurate the images are, even if I was allowed to, since I haven’t even seen any part of the truck aside from the doors, despite being in the plant since August.
It’s not a leak on the government side if they issued the patent they were paid to issue. That would be entirely on the GM side, since they are responsible for the content and paying the issue fee that triggers the disclosure. Maybe a job opening in the legal department soon?
Looks like it’s going to the the 25+ tahoe/suburban front end with the silverado ev rearish
Well I for one am shocked. That doesn’t seem very GM.
The fascia is exactly the same split of DRLs and main beams that has been happening across Chevy’s lineup. Which is good, main beams on trucks should be way lower to avoid blinding everyone else on the road.
For me, there hasn’t been any true innovation in truck design since Dodge went from the D/W series pickups to the “baby-semi” design. When was that? 1993 or so? It’s been a long time since anyone has done something truly novel in pickup design.
Tesla?
That’s not a pickup.
That’s more an unintended evolutionary mutation than a groundbreaking innovation. It didn’t make doing truck things better or easier. It certainly didn’t make trucks more beautiful. Ram’s truck inspired Ford to attempt to copy their innovation. No one is clamoring for more Tesla inspired designs.
Yeah, 1993. I was a kid, and I remember what a big deal it was. Ram sold hardly any trucks the prior years, but those new trucks were EVERYWHERE.
Ford going to aluminum bodies or Ram going coil spring rear were fairly novel things for their time. Ram wasn’t the first with rear coils, but the last time that was offered was in the 60’s by GM. “Truck arm suspension”, and I believe it’s still used in NASCAR.
The Multi-pro tailgate was an innovative feature that has inspired other tailgate innovations. It seems Dodge inspired others to focus on design with that 1993. Dodge also elevated interior creature comforts in recent years. Ford has inspired improved efficiency with aluminum, while GM has focused on usability as demonstrated with their tailgate.
The Kia Tasman! That’s pretty ‘innovative’ in the looks department. Beauty is in the eye of the beer-holder…
That was a truly groundbreaking design. I never noticed a Dodge until that 1993 burst onto the scene. I believe that was the inflection point where manufacturers started paying attention and began to prioritize truck design. Ford then copied that semi-silhouette. Many trucks before that were indistinguishable by the average non-car loving humans. The 1980’s Dodge and Ford trucks were nearly identical with their 70/30 ratio stacked square/rectangle lights. Ford tucked them deeper into the grille while Dodge went with a flush turn signal. (Later copied on the Ranger) GM made theirs oh so different by going with a 60/40 ratio stacked lights. Shortly after the change in the law on sealed beam headlights, Dodge shattered the monotony in 1993.
Wow, that is still really ugly.
YES. They went from ugly to fugly