Manoli Katakis 
Make no mistake, trucks these days are bigger, more stylized, and more technological than they have ever been. And with each generation, their exterior styling gets evermore taut, more chiseled and as aggressive looking as the engineering and manufacturing processes can physically allow them to be. As for where the design of the future pickup truck may be headed? 2020 GMC Sierra HD designer Karan Moorjani has a prediction.
“Maybe the next generation could be more industrial as opposed to expressive. What I mean by that is how the 2020 GMC Sierra has an angry front end… maybe an industrial one would be more Tron and things like that. I think that industrial trend might be the next big one for trucks to explore, where things are more flush and the offsets from bumper to headlights are not as extreme as they are right now,” Moorjani told MC&T.
The 2020 GMC Sierra HD exterior designer’s reference to Tron would imply a futurist and sci-fi take on pickup truck design, especially when it comes to lighting. Tron is of course a reference to the 1982 Disney film that saw a popular follow-up in 2010. Its highly stylized CGI costumes and special effects consisted of beams of light and minimal, sleek lines (as pictured above). Immediately, our minds went to the Rivian R1T electric pickup truck (pictured up top).
The Rivian R1T aims to break a lot of ground when it comes to pickup trucks, such as being the first truck with an estimated 400 miles of electric-only range and unique storage solutions. Importantly, the R1T pickup and R1S SUV will both be built in the United States. Its design could be an early indicator of a design trend that’s to come for the truck market that Moorjani eluded to. And if that’s the theme of the moment, it’s likely that both GMC Sierra and Chevrolet Silverado design teams are toying with this futuristic look on pickup trucks as we speak.
We’ll have to wait a few years to see if the 2020 GMC Sierra HD exterior designer’s prediction is true, but right now, we have little reason to doubt him.
