just saw an ad for the new Blazer. Man....between Nissan with the "new" Pathfinder a few years ago, Jeep with the "new" Cherokee, and now this, the auto industry has almost entirely crushed what those nameplates once were, and turned them into un-memorable blob crossovers. Just hoping against reality that Toyota doesn't do that with the 4Runner.
Not that any of this is news, but still a bit sad.
Nothing was as soul crushing as when the Daewoo Pontiac LeMans came back.
This name will never be cool so no worries about the name getting watered down.
Dumbest vehicle name ever.
I just don't understand the Blazer's purpose. It's a 2-row crossover that is slightly larger than the Equinox, and I mean very slightly, and different drivetrain options. When we got our first one at the dealership we parked it next to an Equinox and the size difference was barely noticeable. So why didn't they just off the Equinox (not like that nameplate has much cachet after the timing chains and oil consumption debacles) and replace it with this? How many 2-row crossovers does GM need? They already have the Trax, Encore, Envision, Equinox, Terrain, XT4 and XT5. And now they are bringing back the Trailblazer name on another 2-row crossover that will be larger than the Trax and smaller than the Equinox. And they also announced that there is a 3-row Blazer XL in the works that will be slightly smaller than the Traverse but not replacing the Traverse. And GMC has trademarked the "Granite" nameplate, which will likely be the GMC variant of either the Blazer or Trailblazer.
What is the deal with manufacturers needing 10 vehicles in the same class with each one just slightly larger than the last, instead of the 4 or 5 with clear delineations in size (compact, intermediate, full size)? It just seems like at some point they all start stealing sales from each other. And its not just a GM thing either. For example, Mazda just announced that they may be bringing a CX40 to market that will be slightly bigger than the CX3 but smaller than the CX5 (and Mazda receives extra penalty points for throwing their naming convention to the wind. By their previous logic, a CX40 should be the size of a school bus).
In reply to NickD :
I still get behind vehicles in traffic and am amazed that I’m finding vehicles I’ve never heard of before.
SUVs and CUVs are hot right now, so that's what they're making (and selling). They have to do something with all those assembly lines that used to make sedans, right ;-)
Chevy should've brought back the Captiva nameplate for it.
It looks like a puffy new kia soul. Predator-face bucket front end with squinty eyes. I pretty much wrote off buying a new car already due to looks. This confirms it. Fish mouth grills were bad enough, now i guess squinty headlights are the common styling move.
Anyone remember when you could tell what a vehicle was from some distance?
Some of it is differentiating the look for different people. Grandma wants a small SUV and your 17 year old wants a small SUV for the same reasons, but they want different things out of them visually, feature wise, and cost. Better to sell several different SUV's on the same lot than have them go to your competitor. They learned from the Aztec.
I thought the Blazer was just a rebrand/rename of the Traverse. No?
What is it then, some sort of middle size player between the big Traverse and the mid Equinox?
John Welsh said:I thought the Blazer was just a rebrand/rename of the Traverse. No?
What is it then, some sort of middle size player between the big Traverse and the mid Equinox?
As I said in my long post, it is a 2-row crossover that is slightly larger than an Equinox but with the 3.6L V6 instead of the Equinoxes 1.5T/2.0T/1.8TD engines. There will be a 3-row XL variant that will be slightly smaller than the Traverse.
I think there’s a market for a capable off road SUV that isn’t a Jeep.
On paper this Blazer may not be a fail but looking at the success of the Ford Raptor, I think it’s a total miss.
I guess auto manufacturers are turning into the movie industry. Why come up with original content when you can just remake someone else's?
You mean like the "new" Honda Passport?
- Same V6 found in the Odyssey, Pilot, Ridgeline, TLX, and MDX.
- Same chassis as the Pilot but with one less row of seats.
- Gauge cluster from the Odyssey, Dashboard from the Pilot/Ridgeline
- Similar size to the CR-V but advertised as a man's CUV with "off-roading and overlanding" capabilities.
- Priced like the other Honda vehicles it shares a platform with.
The bottom line is that the CUV market is so hot right now, the automakers are slicing it into as many thin little pieces as they can.
I like options. No problem with it from my point of view. I like the look of the Blazer too, and even though I was slightly annoyed intitially that it is a CUV and not an SUV, I got over it when I realized that it is way more capable in the real world than the car it "replaced" by name. Would love if they made a 2 door Tahoe again though--think of it as a "real" Blazer, which they haven't made since 98 or 99 while the S-10 Blazer continued on for another 6 years.
Think of it, this is basically the same thing as having an RX7, Miata, MX3, and MX6--all of them are basically 2 seat "sporty" cars--all at the same time, or the Supra, Celica, and MR-2. Don't hear anyone complaining about those. (I know some have back seats. Sort of).
Datsun310Guy said:Nothing was as soul crushing as when the Daewoo Pontiac LeMans came back.
I don't think I've ever seen one of those. Wow.
In reply to ebonyandivory :
I was behind a brand new, still had paper tags, Kicks yesterday, I thought it was just a trim level of a Rouge, then we passed a Rogue (they're everywhere you look down here) and I saw it was indeed a different model, but basically the same as a Rogue. I had similar thoughts to others in this thread, why does it exist?
As for the new Blazer, I actually liked the first renderings, and even like the looks of the real deal, especially the RS, but as others have pointed out, it's a solution looking for a problem. Oh, look another transverse engined, FWD based, unibody, soccer mobile, yawn.
The AWD RS starts at $43K, Yikes! I am not their target demographic.
ebonyandivory said:I think there’s a market for a capable off road SUV that isn’t a Jeep.
Agreed, and that makes me wonder what's taking Ford so long with the Bronco. Although they may have been waiting for this Blazer to premier first, just for lolz.
ebonyandivory said:I think there’s a market for a capable off road SUV that isn’t a Jeep.
Agreed. I love my FJ Cruiser. Resale on them says all there is to know :) I would love a Ford Raptor. Can't afford it, unless I sell other toys, which I am not willing to. Only ford vehicle in high end CA Zip Codes that can be seen these days. It is cool even among the ultra rich.
I don't understand why they made it, but I think they did a good job from a modern automotive design perspective. It's a shame it's not based on something with off-roading potential though.
In reply to TJL :
It is unreal how similar those look
It's an SUV--thing. They're hot right now, I hear. I looks good for an SUV thing, especially compared to the Equinox. Blazer is a cool name. Why not bring it back? Brand association is why we have like 14 Spider Man reboots and sequels.
And nostalgia for Blazers confuses me -- they were steaming piles of crap from my memories growing up riding around them. And in the early 1990s, most people who bought new ones were using them for the same thing that people will use the 2019 Blazer for: mall crawling and kid hauling. They just really sucked at that 30 years ago.
But, it is entering a crowded market. Good luck going head-to-head with the 4Runner. Ladies freaking love 4Runners. They're the go-to 'cool mom' mobile, so they'll have to be priced underneath that. And agree with NickD -- There isn't room enough in the Chevy corral for the Equinox and the Blazer.
My impression was the Blazer is supposed to be a higher end more performance oriented model. That makes sense as the equinox and traverse are neither of those things.
But I’m not sure why it’s being sold as a Chevy then, and not one of the more “premium” GM brands, and I’d think they would have wanted to do a little more to make it visually distinguishable from the lesser models.
BlueInGreen - Jon said:But I’m not sure why it’s being sold as a Chevy then, and not one of the more “premium” GM brands, and I’d think they would have wanted to do a little more to make it visually distinguishable from the lesser models.
Probably because despite every effort, the rest of GM's nameplates have been unsuccessful at attracting younger buyers? Buick Blazer just doesn't have the same ring to it.
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