Which Cars Have GM's Duramax Turbo-Diesel Engines Under The Hood?

General Motors has long been a name associated with producing powerful cars, trucks, and SUVs. But since 2000, GM's diesel power has pretty much been personified in the turbo-charged Duramax diesel engine. The automaker's design team began developing the engine in 1998 with the help of engineers from Japanese manufacturer Isuzu, with their combined talents producing the powerful 6.6 liter V8 LB7. 

Those first Duramax engines would change the game in terms of mass-produced production diesel engines for the pickup truck and SUV arena, becoming the first to utilize aluminum cylinder heads and high-pressure common rail injection. In turn, the LB7 would become the first diesel engine made for a pickup truck to top the 300 hp mark. It also inspired its share of copy-cats, with the likes of Ford and Cummins following GM into the high-pressure common rail injection arena in the years thereafter.

Since its 2000 debut, various builds of the Duramax Turbo-Diesel engine have powered some of the most powerful and efficient diesel vehicles to reside under the General Motors shingle. That list obviously includes several trucks bearing the GMC badge, as that is indeed GM's Truck and SUV wing. These days there are several trucks and SUVs from both GMC and Chevrolet that boast Duramax power under the hood, and each of those vehicles indeed make different use of the engine's power output. Here's a look at a few GM vehicles that are powered by a Duramax Turbo-Diesel engine.

If raw power, torque, and towing capacity are what you're looking for in a pickup truck, GMC's Duramax powered Sierras are a solid place to start your search. In fact, the 2024 builds of the Sierra Heavy Duty and the Sierra 1500 rank among the most powerful pickup trucks ever produced. As the 2025 models are powered by the virtually same Duramax engines, they're obviously up there too. However, each of those Sierras is built to provide drivers with different levels of power output.

Since the Sierra Heavy Duty is the more powerful of the two, we'll start with it. And you'd better believe the vehicle's 6.6 L Duramax Turbo-Diesel V8 is packing some serious under the hood punch, with the vehicle delivering a whopping 470 hp and 975 lb.-ft. of torque. The vehicle can also be equipped with GMC's Allison 10-speed transmission, and the Duramax powered Sierra HD's are capable of pulling a payload of roughly 36,000 pounds.

Of course, not everyone needs quite that much pulling power in their pickup truck, with Sierra HD's best for folks who are regularly hauling a heavy load. If the HD is a little too much truck for you, the 3.0 L Duramax Turbo-Diesel available on the off-roading 1500 AT4 models and above might be a good fit. Though a step down in power, the 3.0 L version of the Duramax Turbo-Diesel is hardly lacking in capability, providing 305 hp and a punchy 495 lb.-ft. of torque, while still offering a towing capacity of about 9,000 pounds.

If you're at all familiar with the various trucks and SUVs currently in the General Motors family, you likely know the GMC builds have sort of counterparts in the Chevrolet branch of the family tree. On the pickup truck branch of Chevrolet, you will indeed find the manufacturer's long-in-production Silverado, which has evolved considerably over the years, and is now available with GM's Duramax Turbo-Diesel engine.

On the low end of the power front, the 3.0 L Duramax Turbo-Diesel is a standard feature on the Silverado ZR2, but is available as an upgrade in various other trim packages. As on the Slashgear approved 2024 ZR2, that engine provides drivers with a similar power output to the one powering GMC's Sierra 1500 AT4, including 305 hp and 495 lb.-ft. of torque. Per Chevy, that output gives the Silverado ZR2 a payload capacity of 2,260 lbs., and enough power to pull as much as 13,300 lbs.

Yes, the Silverado is also available in a Heavy Duty build that ups the power across the board. As with the HD GMC, the Silverado HD is fitted with Duramax's 6.6 L Turbo-Diesel V8 engine, which delivers a similar power output of 470 hp and 975 lb.-ft. of torque. The payload and towing capacity are also roughly the same between the Silverado HD and its GMC cousin, with the vehicle claiming a towing capability of 36,000 lbs. and a payload capacity of more than 7,200 pounds. So, if you're torn between GMC or Chevy, your choice largely comes down to exterior design and available interior features.

These days, diesel power may not be the ideal for many consumers when it comes to the full-size SUV market, as there are many builds now boasting more eco-friendly gas powered engines under the hood. That includes Chevrolet, who have begun equipping the likes of its beloved Suburban with EcoTech V8s. However, if you are looking to add some diesel punch to your Suburban, you can opt to add the 3.0 L Duramax Turbo-Diesel on both the Z71 and High Country models, whose 2024 builds ranked among the largest available on the market.

The 2025 builds haven't gotten much smaller, and this year's model is, in fact, the first time that Duramax engine has been made available in the sportier Z71 package. As you might expect, the engine delivers roughly the same power output to Suburbans with either trim package, including 305 hp and 495 lb.-ft. of torque, both of which are notable upgrades over the '24 models. Though towing and payload are maybe not the primary concern for consumers in the full-size SUV market, the diesel-powered '25 Suburbans should still be able to pull a load of 7,800 lbs., meaning you should easily be able to haul a fishing boat or certain campers with the right setup.

If the Suburban is a little too big for you, Chevy also offers the 3.0 L Duramax Turbo-Diesel as an option on their other full-size SUV, the Tahoe, which is reportedly more than a foot shorter. While the engine provides the same level of output as it does in the Suburban, one can imagine the hp and torque likely feel a little different in the smaller Tahoe.  

As previously noted, the offerings in the Chevy and GMC pickup truck and SUV arena generally have carbon copy versions available from each manufacturer. If you're looking for the GMC versions of the Suburban and Tahoe, it would seem they both fall under the Yukon shingle, with the Yukon mirroring the latter and the Yukon XL serving as the brand's bigger SUV.

Like the builds' Chevy counterparts, the slightly upgraded 3.0 L Duramax Turbo-Diesel in-line six is not the standard option for the vehicles, with gas-powered V8s instead coming in base models. However, the Duramax can be selected across the entire Yukon line — including the previously excluded off-road focused AT4 — if you prefer to pay for diesel fuel at your local filling station. Just for the record, the 3.0 L Duramax provides virtually identical numbers to those of its Chevy brethren in terms of hp and torque.

With the Suburban and Tahoe getting a bit of an exterior refresh in the '25 models, the Yukon also received a touch up, now fronting a beefy grill that is arguably just a little bit tougher looking than the sleeker Chevys. In the end, exterior looks and some interior design features are all that really set the GMC SUVs apart from the Chevys. So, if you're on the fence about which of the SUVs best suit your needs, it might be wise to focus your energy on those particular aspects.