American Expedition Vehicles hooked the Canyon up with some heavy-duty gear.
GMC is giving its smallest truck an off-road-ready upgrade, similar to the one it gave the Sierra 1500. It’s called the GMC Canyon AT4X AEV and is essentially the GMC version of the Chevy Colorado ZR2 Bison.
Just like its Chevy sibling, the Canyon AT4X gets some solid off-road upgrades from American Expedition Vehicles (AEV), who’s specialized in off-road equipment for 25 years. From the factory, it gets a 4.5-inch lift kit, which is 1.5 inches more than the normal Canyon AT4X. With the added lift, bigger fender flares, and 35-inch Goodyear Wrangler Territory MT tires, the Canton AT4X AEV has 12.2 inches of ground clearance, said to be best in class. That ground clearance helps it achieve a 38.2-degree approach angle, a 26-degree departure angle, and a 26.9-degree breakover angle.
It isn’t just a lift kit, though. The off-road Canyon packs some seriously rugged AEV gear, like the stamped steel front and rear bumpers, boron-steel skid plates for all of its important underbelly bits, heavy-duty recovery points, and a winch-capable front bumper. It also gets beadlock-capable Salta wheels. If you do hook up winches or any other off-road accessories, there are three additional auxiliary switches as-standard.
The powertrain remains the same as the normal GMC Canyon, a 2.7-liter turbocharged four-cylinder, making 310 horsepower and 430 pound-feet of torque, which pairs to an eight-speed automatic. Unsurprisingly, it’s also the exact same powertrain as the Colorado ZR2 Bison.
That’s essentially what this is anyway, a GMC-branded ZR2 Bison, with slightly different looks. It has the same AEV skid plates, bumpers, and winch adapters as the Bison, the same tires, and the same lift kit. Since the AEV logo is a Bison (hence the Chevy’s name), it even has the same logo on its headrests.
GMC hasn’t released pricing for the Canyon AT4X AEV but it’s said to be going on sale later this year. Expect it to be a bit more expensive that its bowtie-wearing counterpart, though, as the Canyon is a bit more expensive than the Colorado in general.
Got tips? Send ’em to tips@thedrive.com
