Thanks to the watchful eye of the guys over at GM Authority, it's become apparent that General Motors has just registered the name "Badlands" with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). Not surprisingly, GM has so far refused to comment on this, but the filing specifies that the name will be used for "Motor land vehicles, namely, trucks." It actually does sound pretty bad ass, if you will, and we don't think it's just a clever name.

GM already has a full lineup of mid- and full-size pickup trucks, so "Badlands" more than likely refers to a new trim level. And now that factory-built hardcore, off-road trucks like the beloved Ford F-150 Raptor and recently revealed Ram Rebel exist, it'd make complete sense for GM to enter this segment as well. Question is, will "Badlands" be given to the Raptor-fighter GM could really use right about now? Remember, GM previously trademarked the name Z71 Trail Boss", so is this something new? Different? We'll hopefully get an answer in the near future.