Although we don’t know what the ZR2 Bison actually is, it sounds amazing.
Update: Off-Road.com reports that the Colorado ZR2 Bison is a vehicle designed for overlanding. Chevy is reportedly teaming up with American Expedition Vehicles (AEV), a company that uses a bison logo as its logo, to create the custom truck. At a Las Vegas conference, the ZR2 Bison was displayed to dealers. It should be available in dealers by the end of this year.
The ZR2 has a 2.8-liter turbodiesel motor that produces a modest 186 horsepower (138kilowatts) as well as 369 pound-feet (599 Newton-meters) of torque. There are also a few off-road components, such large wheels or a raised suspension. It may not be the only option. New patent filings suggest Chevy could be developing a ZR2 variant.
According to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Autoguide Chevy filed trademarks for “Colorado Bison” and “ZR2 Bison”. The latter uses the ZR2 logo underneath and the Bison wordmark. Both filings specifically mention their intended use for motor land vehicles, namely trucks. We have a few ideas, but it’s not clear what the new nameplate will be used for.
We first suspect a Colorado ZR2 Work Truck, which is similar to the prototype that we saw last October. You’d expect the same off-road features on a standard ZR2, such as larger wheels, skid plates and Multimatic shocks. The utility bed is an added feature. Chevy used the same vehicle to test the Colorado on Rubicon but has not spoken much about the intriguing prototype.
The ZR2’s more powerful version is our second guess. It is unlikely to happen. The diesel model has the same 186 horsepower and 369 lbft of torque as the V6-powered gasoline model, but the V6-powered model produces 308 HP (229 kW) more power and 275 Lb-ft (378Nm) more torque. Although it is difficult to imagine a Colorado with more power than this, it is possible. We’ll have to wait for Chevy to officially reveal the new nameplate, whatever it is. We should see it by the end of this year.