According to TFL Car, General Motors is considering making a production truck based on the Chevrolet Trailblazer (the SUV’s in the gallery here). Apparently, the company believes it could open up a new market segment with a Trailblazer pickup and better compete with the other manufacturers.
The original crossover has so far sold around 80,000 units in the USA this year, which is a rather impressive result. Furthermore, recent studies have shown that the market was rather hungry for light passenger pickups/utes. Recent examples of these include the Hyundai Santa Cruz and the Ford Maverick, which comes based on the Bronco Sport chassis.
At 5 meters (16.4 feet) long, the Maverick is considerably longer than the Trailblazer and comes with more powerful engine options at 194 PS (191 hp / 143 kW) and 254 PS (250 hp / 187 kW). However, producing a smaller pickup with smaller engines would enable the company to cut costs, increase profits, and achieve better fuel economy.
General Motors has not commented on these rumors so far, although they first emerged two years ago. With the recent launches of other light pickups, however, these plans may become reality soon.