# 5 The resurrection
Inexorably, the years continued to pass. Eventually, GM decided it wanted a new utility model it could slide into its lineup between the Equinox and the three-row Traverse. Rather than go fishing for a new name, maybe that of a rare albino gazelle or a tribe of pygmies able to run the 100 metres in seven seconds, the carmaker reached into its archives and dusted off the name… Blazer. Coincidentally, just like Ford was doing with its Bronco nameplate.
# 6 Pretty face
Looking over at GMC, which already had the Acadia in its stable, Chevrolet decided to borrow that model’s platform (C1). Except that the chassis of the new model was to be much sportier. Michael Simcoe, the new Blazer’s head designer, instructed his team to get the old SUV’s looks right out of its head, and instead take inspiration from the Camaro the better to draw in younger customers. By June 2018, the modern Blazer was ready and Chevrolet rolled it for a premiere in Atlanta. Sales began in December 2019.
# 7 Breaking with tradition
In adopting the C1 platform, the new Blazer breaks with tradition by adopting, for the first time in the history of the nameplate, a monococque body in lieu of a ladder construction. Cue the inevitable squawks from purists screaming “We want a real SUV, not some effeminate crossover!”
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# 8 Stretched version
Starting this year, a longer, 7-opccupant version of the Blazer has been sold in China, market from which the Traverse is absent. Consumers first got to know the idea with the FNR-CarryAll concept, presented at the Guangzhou auto show in November 2018.
In the end, however, the differences between the 5-seat version and what was originally called the Blazer XL before GM changed its mind are not that major. There’s a mere 4-mm difference between the wheelbases of the two models, for example.
