American automobile giant General Motor's car brand Chevrolet has come out with its new SUV, the Trailblazer in India. Prior to this, Chevrolet had its SUV Chevrolet Captiva running on Indian roads, but that car did not match the ruggedness or glamour of either Toyota Fortuner or Ford Endeavour. With the launch of Trailblazer, Chevrolet hopes to make space for itself and edge out the premium SUVs currently running in India. Trailblazer will be available at a price of INR 26.40 lacs (ex-showroom Delhi).
The car is going to be sold in one single variant in the country. The Trailblazer has been made on a new global body on frame midsize truck architecture of General Motors. Trailblazer was first spotted as a concept car in 2011 in Dubai International Motor Show and later on launched in the overseas market before making its way to the Indian shores.
On the front exterior, Chevrolet has the heavy, bold and mean design. The headlamps are swept back projector type headlamps having integrated day-time running lights. The bonnet has lines running on each side lending a muscular bent to the SUV. The front grille has dual port which houses the headlamps on the either sides. The rear profile gets wraparound taillights cluster, the chrome accents fuse in with the exhaust pipe and have a striking resemblance to that of the SUV from Mercedes-Benz. The side look has huge windows but the wheels arches are not very impressive for a premium SUV of this time.
Inside the newly launched SUV, one will find seven-inch MyLink touchscreen infotainment system. The system comes with navigation maps, reverse parking camera, sensors to detect presence of objects or pedestrians. The SUV is seven seater and the seats have been given leather treatment. The second and third row seats can be folded completely to make extra storage space in the car along with the boot space.
Trailblazer has a 2.8 litre 4 cylinder Duramax engine which has a power output of 200bhp and peak torque of 500Nm. It comes mated to a six-speed automatic transmission gearbox. The SUV for now has only FWD and it is speculated that at a later stage, the company will take out AWD as is present in all the other premium SUVs.
The Trailblazer comes with a host of safety and security features for making the drive on Indian terrain more comfortable and secure. It has dual front airbags, Electronic Stability Control, Traction Control and ABS and EBD.
The mighty SUV will be rivalling Toyota Fortuner, Ford Endeavour, Mitsubishi Pajero, Hyundai Santa Fe, Isuzu MU7 and Honda CR-V. Though CR-V is a five seater, it becomes less of a competitor for Trailblazer but the other established players are sure to make it a tough game for Chevrolet.