CHEVROLET MAY LAUNCH ALL NEW TRAILBLAZER SUV TO INDIA

CHEVROLET MAY LAUNCH ALL NEW  TRAILBLAZER SUV TO INDIA

Chevrolet may launch all new SUV, the latest Trailblazer, to India on end of 2013 or early 2014. Slated to compete with the likes of the Toyota Fortuner & Ford Endeavour, this body-on-frame SUV will be powered by a choice of 2.8-litre, 180bhp or 2.5-litre, 150bhp diesel units. The larger 2.8 common-rail diesel makes a very strong 47.8 Kgm, incidentally 10kgm up on both the 3.0-litre Fortuner & Endeavour.

The Trailblazer is an attractive looking SUV and the company says it will be the most clean-sheet truck it has designed in its 100-year history. On the inside too, the SUV is expected to have more space than the Endeavour and the Fortuner. Chevy claims the Trailblazer will sport car-like features and will be a proper seven seater.

GM is hoping to assemble the Trailblazer at its Halol facility, where it currently carries out all its CKD operations. We expect the SUV to be priced around Rs 17 -22 lakh.

The broad-shouldered design is neither overly geometric nor remotely feminine, conveying more strength than any GM sport-ute currently available here. LED lighting details add pizzazz, and the seven-seat, two-tone interior features modern treatments and a load of comfort and convenience features. We imagine some of these, such as the overhead video screens for the second- and third-row seats, would be quite a shock in developing markets.

For power, the TrailBlazer concept relies on a 2.8-liter turbo-diesel inline-four. The concept is all-wheel-drive, and, as a body-on-frame truck, boasts the ruggedness that is a virtual requirement in emerging markets where not all of the roads are as smooth and well-maintained as ours.

Indeed, despite our crumbling infrastructure, roads in the U.S. are veritable silk-covered ribbons compared to those in many parts of the Middle East, China, and South America & india . So, for the time being, GM feels it has America covered with its bevy of trucks and other truck-like things. Much of the rest of the world, though, is about to get a cool new SUV.

Source – autocarindia,, .caranddriver