Watch out, 2022 Ram 1500 TRX! Walkinshaw's Chevrolet Silverado 1500 officially brings crazy supercharged V8 power to super ute fight

Walkinshaw Performance, HSV’s sister company, will soon release its much-anticipated supercharger kit for the fourth-generation Chevrolet Silverado 1500, which is locally ‘remanufactured’ by its parent company, Walkinshaw Group, and sold via GMSV.

As promised, the supercharger kit takes the Silverado 1500’s performance to the next level, with the outputs of its 6.2-litre ‘L87’ petrol V8 engine from 313kW/624Nm to what Walkinshaw Performance describes as “conservative” maximums of 485kW/839Nm.

Those peaks are developed when the supercharger kit (with an Eaton TVS2650 blower co-developed with Harrop Engineering) is fitted in conjunction with Walkinshaw Performance’s full sports exhaust system, which liberates a little more and torque from the whole set-up.

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The end result? A quarter-mile (0-402m) time of just 12.66 seconds (at 177km/h) during Walkinshaw Performance’s testing, with 100km/h reached in a scant 4.76 seconds. For reference, that’s a claimed 1.3s and 1.23s quicker than a factory Silverado 1500.

And given no internal engine modifications are required to accommodate the supercharger kit, an ECU recalibration means all the V8 retains all its factory features, including the cylinder deactivation technolog, idle-stop system and 4500kg braked towing capacity.

Speaking to CarsGuide, Walkinshaw Group general manager Rick Perchold confirmed the supercharger kit's on-sale date will be “sometime in December”, with Walkinshaw Performance set to sell it for $21,990, excluding fitment but including a three-year warranty.

The supercharger kit will be available via Walkinshaw Performance’s 31-strong dealer network across Australia and New Zealand, with it able to be fitted to both of the Silverado 1500 variants sold by GMSV: the LT Trail Boss ($106,990 plus on-road costs) and LTZ Premium ($114,990).

Needless to say, the supercharger kit arrives at the perfect time as another full-size pick-up remanufactured by Walkinshaw Group, Ateco Group’s DT Ram 1500, is about to get a new performance flagship with a blown V8, the TRX.

The Ram 1500 TRX is said to produce more power and torque, at 522kW and 868Nm, and sprint quicker to triple digits, at 4.5s, but only time will tell how a Silverado 1500 with Walkinshaw Performance’s supercharger kit stacks up in the real world. Stay tuned.