The Chevrolet Blazer May Return in 2017
General Motors has been repeatedly busted testing a vehicle that should be Chevrolet’s next midsize SUV. The automaker has been restructuring its model portfolio to fulfill the desires of today’s crossover-obsessed consumer and needs a model between the Traverse and soon to be downsized Equinox.
Recent spy shots of a moderately camouflaged test vehicle seem to allude to dimensions similar to GMC’s Acadia, refuting theories surrounding earlier photos that it might be the redesigned 2018 Traverse.
The CUV in question is anticipated to revive the Blazer name and share the same C1XX platform with the Cadillac XT5 and aforementioned Acadia. The upcoming Buick Enclave is also making use of the “Chi” platform, but the vehicle in the covert images is definitively a Chevrolet — given away by the slats on its Equinox-like front grille. The headlights and taillights are almost as equally telling.
Chevy mentioned that it would have big plans to for its crossover lineup at the unveiling of the 2018 Equinox. Since then, the insider buzz has suggested that 2017 will usher in the revamped 2018 Chevrolet Traverse and 2018 Chevrolet Blazer. However, nobody has said anything about renaming the Acadia the Jimmy.
Expect the Blazer to arrive with a modest 2.5-liter four-cylinder or an optional 3.6-liter V6. Front-wheel drive should be standard, with something identical to the Acadia’s selectable All-Terrain AWD package for buyers outside southern cities. It should launch a few months after the next-gen Equinox goes on sale in the first quarter of 2017.
[Image: Spanish Coches/ Flickr ( CC BY 2.0)] [Source: Automotive News]
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A Blazer based off the Colorado could be really sweet. Offer it with the diesel and figure out how to stuff the 4.3 in the engine bay. There's GM's Jeep fighter right there.
Make a new version of the GMC Typhoon and I would be excited.
We knew this was coming for a while, just not that it would take the Blazer name. So can we also have a Colorado 7/TrailBlazer to compete with the Ranger-based Bronco?
The Equinox is already on the larger side for a small CUV and the Traverse has the three-row segment covered. Unless the new Equinox will be smaller than the current one (unlikely because there's the Trax) why do they need this car?