Docs Show Chevrolet Colorado ZR2 Coming, But What's a 'Colorado Bison'?

General Motors has a hit on its hands with the Chevrolet Colorado and GMC Canyon midsize pickups, but the Renaissance Center braintrust seems to feel the automaker’s growing slice of the segment’s rising market share should grow faster, and sooner.

According to uncovered documents, GM appears ready to diversify its midsize pickup offerings for those who feel a full-size pickup is just too much, but still want piles of choice.

The first likely offering is the Colorado ZR2 — an off-road 4×4 variant with a more aggressive stance modeled after the ZR2 concept truck unveiled in 2014. That concept packed a 2.8-liter diesel four-cylinder, which later found its way into the Colorado/Canyon line. Don’t expect that mill in a production version, though.

A California Environmental Protection Agency-Air Resources Board certification document published by The Fast Lane Trucks lists a 2017 model year Colorado ZR2 4×4. The document reveals a conventional powertrain, which GM just happened to upgrade for 2017. If we’re to believe it — and why would a regulator make a fib on paper? — the Colorado ZR2 should sport a 3.6-liter V6 producing 308 horsepower and 275 lb-ft of torque coupled to an eight-speed automatic.

What the document doesn’t provide are details on the ZR2’s off-road prowess. The concept bowed with a host of goodies — body cladding, skid plates, upgraded shocks and locking rear differentials — which should appear, to some degree, on a production version.

While the ZR2’s true nature is hardly a mystery, there’s plenty of head-scratching over another name attached to the Colorado. GM Authority reports that GM has filed a trademark application for “Colorado Bison.” The application, filed for on motor vehicles, namely trucks, is dated October 10.

Bison? It certainly ties in with the Colorado nameplate. The shaggy things once roamed the Great Plains in huge numbers before the advent of trains and repeating rifles. And man, it’s a delicious meat.

Now, what does the name signify in the Colorado lineup? Our money’s on a high-end trim line, not unlike the Laramie Longhorn and King Ranch models from those other automakers.

[Image: General Motors]