The Chevrolet Avalanche is certainly not intended for the Netherlands, but we see it quite often here. So no ‘In the Wild’ material, but this copy is not just any Avalanche.
Look closely. It ‘just’ looks like a dark blue Avalanche, but there is more going on here. It’s not very clear, but he seems just a bit tougher. Perhaps it is because of the exterior mirrors, which are clearly larger than with the regular Avalanche and on double legs. We don’t see eight lug nuts per wheel every day, even on a beast like this.
The real giveaway, however, is simply the nameplate: on the flanks it says ‘Avalanche 2500’. This means that this is a heavy duty truck, with an even heavier chassis, a sturdier chassis and a thicker engine than a regular Avalanche. There is no ‘modest’ 5.3 under the hood, but an executioner of a V8 with no less than 8.1 liters of displacement.
This category of pick-ups, which are popularly referred to as ‘three quarter ton’ (and the 1500 ‘half ton’), are intended for heavy (pull) work. Therein lies the problem, because it provides a somewhat wonderful combination with the body of the Avalanche. After all, this special pick-up is intended as a kind of hybrid between an SUV and a pick-up, with a relatively short cargo box fused to the passenger cabin and a very large and spacious passenger cabin.
Not exactly an ideal body shape for those who daily roll through Texas with a ‘gooseneck trailer’. The Avalanche 2500 was therefore only built for a few years and has always remained very rare, even in its home country. Forum topics on this topic don’t reach a consensus, but it can’t be more than a few percent of the total. The fact that this copy has a Dutch (truck!-) registration number is, of course, extra special.
– Thanks for information from Autoweek.nl