The folks at Chevrolet apparently scoured the parts bin in a last-minute dash to create a SEMA show car and showed up with this: a 5.3-liter Silverado with a supercharger similar to the one found on the LT4 engine under the hood of the Corvette Z06 coupe and Cadillac CTS-V sedan. Chevy says the supercharger adds about 100 hp to the 5.3-liter, bringing it up from 355 hp to 455 hp.

That’s a good bump, but it’s still only 35 hp over the similarly sized available 6.2-liter V8. A better argument for a production version of this muscle truck would combine the best of both worlds — use the 6.2-liter V8 with the less aggressive supercharger from this concept. 

You can buy these two cool SEMA Camaros

Chevrolet unveiled two new Camaros ahead of next week’s SEMA show — the Hot Wheels 50th Anniversary Edition and the mighty and snarling COPO Camaro drag pack — and the world is a …

The rest of this SEMA show truck could follow along during its transformation from show car to a production vehicle. The six-piston Brembo front calipers will help slow down the now-fast Silverado. Cosmetic upgrades like 22-inch wheels, blacked-out taillights and a competition-style data logger might not be as necessary if this were to go the production route, but they look good on the concept.

Looking back through GM’s history of high-performance trucks, this could be a spiritual successor to the currently extinct Silverado SS. Of course, this supercharged version would be a perfect Ford SVT Lightning competitor — just about 13 years too late. Regardless, this could be the brawn Chevy needs to fill out its truck portfolio. With a performance-minded Tahoe on the horizon, there could be hope for a hot Silverado SS in the future.