General Motors will stop producing the Chevrolet Blazer come year-end, sources tell Headlight.News. The automaker will instead shift focus to the all-electric version, the Chevy Blazer EV.
At 595 hp, the Blazer EV SS is one of the most powerful mainstream EVs now available.
With sales of midsize gas-powered SUVs on a decline, General Motors plans to end production of the Chevrolet Blazer as the year comes to a close – but the nameplate won’t vanish entirely, Chevy set to continue marketing the all-electric Blazer EV.
The demise of the Blazer using an internal combustion engine isn’t entirely a surprise, sales of midsize SUVs sliding over the last several years as buyers either trade up to larger 3-row packages, or downsize to compact offerings, such as the Chevrolet Equinox.
The decision to retain the Blazer EV, meanwhile, underscores GM’s determination to keep migrating to battery power, even though growth in the electric vehicle market slowed last year.
Farewell, Blazer
The gas version of the Blazer is now in its seventh model year.
“We have the gas-powered Blazer set to end production in Mexico (where it is built at a factory in Ramos Arizpe) by the end of December,” said Sam Fiorani, lead analyst with AutoForecast Solutions. That would mean dealers would likely run out of supplies by early in calendar year 2026.
The Blazer name will live on in several other forms, however. An extended, three-row version currently produced and sold in China is expected to remain in production, at least for the next year or more.
Chevrolet, meanwhile, has no plan to pull the plug on the Chevrolet Blazer EV it launched in late 2023 as a 2024 model. While it ran into some serious production glitches that initially caused a months-long stop-sale, the automaker has had reasonably good success moving the battery-powered model since then.
Asked for comments on reports of the gas model’s demise, a Chevrolet spokesman responded with a statement saying, “We have no portfolio changes to share and will not comment on speculation.”
No reprieve likely
Front 3/4 view of the 2024 Chevrolet Blazer EV RS in Galaxy Gray Metallic driving down the road.
General Motors has been one of the most aggressive manufacturers when it comes to making the transition to EVs, CEO Mary Barra repeatedly insisting the company is “on a path to an all-electric future.” But, like so many competitors, GM has been tweaking its plans in response to slowing growth in the EV segment. Among other things, it plans to launch several plug-in hybrids over the coming years as a bridge technology.
Asked if the slowdown in sales growth – and the anti-EV actions being taken by Pres. Donald Trump might force GM to keep the ICE Blazer in its portfolio, Fiorani said he doubts it.
Production can’t continue at the Ramos Arizpe plant which has other commitments coming next year. And, added Fiorani, “It’s very unlikely they would move it” to another plant.
More Chevrolet Blazer EV News
- Review: 2024 Chevy Blazer EV Hints of Great Things to Come
- Chevy Finally Launches, Base and Performance Versions of Blazer EV
- Stop-Sale on Blazer EV Lifted
Nowhere else to go
The old Jeep Cherokee on the assembly line in Belvidere, Illinois. A replacement model will debut later this year.
That, he explained, “would require an investment (to update what is now a dated, 7-year-old SUV) and calling back suppliers. They currently don’t have plans for a next-generation model.” It would be a big problem getting suppliers to keep things going because they have already made their own plans for new products.
Even if suppliers could be coaxed into helping out, there really is no place else to go. The Mexican government in January 2023 issued a statement noting that the Ramos Arizpe plant would go all-electric – though that didn’t happen in 2024 as the Economic Ministry stated. It now looks like that won’t happen until 2026 or later.
The only other plant where GM might be able to move the ICE Blazer would be in Spring Hill, Tennessee, said Fiorani, but that is also being converted to an all-EV plant.
Even so, not everyone is convinced Blazer’s days as a gas model are done for good. Like GM, rival Stellantis thought the midsize segment was losing momentum when it decided to kill off the old Jeep Cherokee. That move proved to be flawed, contributing to Jeep’s recent downturn in sales. A replacement model – widely expected to revive the Cherokee name – will debut later this year. If Blazer EV doesn’t prove a successful alternative, one GM source said on background, the automaker may need to revive its gas model, as well.
0 Comments