Chevy lays claim to pickup bed crown as 2019 Silverado tops Ford, Ram in cargo space

Chevy 2019 Silverado 1500 rearview

Beyond the new body design, diesel option, and larger wheelbase, Chevy has added one more reason for you to buy the 2019 Silverado 1500 when it’s released this fall.

Chevy says its new “Durabed” design is its most functional yet, adding that it’s also the largest pickup bed available on a half-ton pickup.

If you’re thinking to yourself, “What the hell is a Durabed?” that’s because it’s the first time Chevy has actually branded the bed of one of its trucks with its own name.

The “Dura” in the name stands for durability. Chevy is standing by its use of high-grade steel in the beds of its pickups and is continuing to ding (pun not intended) Ford’s choice of aluminum in its beds. Chevy says the steel used in Durabed is stronger than the steel used in previous Silverado beds and has a rating of 500 megapascals, which is apparently a unit that measures the amount of resistance a material has to concentrated impacts.

Durabed high-strength steel floor on Chevy truck

The quality of Durabed’s high-strength steel floor has improved, from 340 megapascals to 500 megapascals.

“The bed is the heart and soul of any pickup, so we made several improvements to the bed of the all-new Silverado to give our customers an even better hauling experience,” Tim Herrick, General Motors’ executive chief engineer for full-size trucks, said in a statement. “We’ve added so many features and benefits that it deserves its own name.”

Chevy increased the cargo box space of the Silverado’s short box by 19 percent to 63 cubic feet. The standard box now offers 72 cu. ft., an increase of 16 percent, and the long box now has 89 cu. ft. of space, a 19-percent increase.

Here’s how those sizes compare to offerings from Ford and Ram.

2019 Chevy Silverado compared to Ford FSeries and Ram 1500

Chevy notes that its short-box volume is up to 20 percent larger than any competitor’s short box. Where’d all the extra space come from? Chevy says it widened the maximum width of the bed floor by 7 inches, a 10-percent increase. That wider bed floor was implemented across all three bed sizes.

But cargo space isn’t the only place the Durabed reigns supreme. Chevy says the new bed also offers best-in-class box depth, box length at floor and a segment-leading 12 fixed tie-downs. And if you gotta have more tie-downs, Chevy will let you add another nine in the bed for a total of 21, the most of any pickup. The beds will also be available with a power up/down tailgate and lighting packages to illuminate all of that new cargo space.

The Durabed is available with integrated in-bed LED lighting.