Let’s start at the front of the Blazer. The full-width front light bar looks great with the daytime running lights on, so hopefully it still looks great when the low-beam headlights are on. Moving down the fascia, there’s a lot of dark-colored plastic here with little actual grille surface area. It’s en-vogue and should age quite well, although it’s rather unnecessary considering an EV’s cooling needs.
Moving along to the side of the Blazer, you can’t help but feel that this thing’s a bit like a layer cake – black, body color, more black, some sort of skirt package. The first layer of black lowers the roofline, the second layer of black shrinks the visual height of the body, while the weird faux-splitters ooze the eBay-sourced false bravado so popular in modern performance cars. Like heartbeat graphics on Geo Trackers, these oddly-contoured bits of plastic imply a certain sportiness. On the plus side, the sharp character lines over the fenders are very Audi, and the steady roofline actually looks like it should allow for a rather usable cargo area.
Of course, while we’re at the side of the Blazer, we must address some weirdness. Oh Blazer! My, what large gills you have. Yeah, the fish-like apertures on the front fenders are a bit strange, but they’re likely placed there for a purpose. See, the Blazer rides on the BEV3 architecture that also underpins the Cadillac Lyriq, and the Lyriq has its charging port right on the left front fender. Judging by the fender cut line, there’s a solid chance that the Blazer’s left gill opens up to reveal a CCS port. Add in how the scalloping into the door tricks viewers into believing the Blazer’s dash-to-axle ratio is longer than it actually is, and there’s good reason for Chevrolet’s stylists to pull this trick. So how about underpinnings then? With Detroit’s pony car wars seemingly shifting into, um, Clydesdale wars, the Blazer takes aim squarely at Ford’s Mustang Mach-E electric crossover. How do we know for sure? Two little letters tell us so. While Juicy sweatsuits and trucker hats are back, this isn’t the 2000s when Chevrolet would slap an SS emblem on everything from the Silverado pickup truck to the Malibu midsize rental car. Over the past decade, the SS emblem has been applied to Camaros, rebadged V8 Holden Commodores, and that’s about it. Proper high-performance vehicles, so this Blazer must be packing some serious heat.
As a sign of Chevrolet’s seriousness, take a look at the Blazer SS’ tires. They’re Continental’s DWS06 Plus performance all-seasons, a rather interesting potential choice that seems to imply a few possibilities. See, the DWS06 Plus is quiet, grippy, and a solid all-season choice, but it isn’t the most crossover-focused tire on the market. The only off-the-shelf 20-inch size that would fit a typical modern crossover in a square fitment application is a 255/50ZR20. Everything else is either really wide or doesn’t have the sidewall. With a load index of 109 in 255/50ZR20 sizing, assume a total load rating of 9,084 pounds assuming even weight distribution. It’s no secret that electric vehicles are heavy, so the possibility of a 109 load index might somewhat kneecap the Blazer SS’ towing capacity. Of course, there’s also the very substantial chance that the Blazer SS won’t use a size or tire carcass off the shelf. See, GM works quite extensively with tire companies to develop high-performance tires for GM vehicles, with each high-performance GM OE tire often coming stamped with the characters TPC SPEC. Goodyear makes original equipment tires for high-performance Camaros like the ZL1 1LE, Michelin makes original equipment tires for Corvettes, so this could be the first time in recent history that Continental has been an OE tire supplier for a high-performance Chevrolet vehicle. Continental does offer a TPC Spec SportContact 6 SSR for the all-wheel-drive variant of the Cadillac CT4-V, so this should be a good connection to leverage. If the Blazer SS does end up with a bespoke tire, I assume several crossover owners with direct fitment options will be pretty excited.
A six-lug hub pattern is also a fairly interesting choice. GM’s no stranger to six-bolt-hubs on cars that shouldn’t need them like the first-generation Cadillac CTS-V, so it shouldn’t be hugely surprising that both the Cadillac Lyriq and Chevrolet Blazer feature six fasteners. Hey, EVs are heavy and torque-rich, more clamping force likely isn’t a bad thing. However, it does mean that future Blazer SS owners who want a separate set of winter wheels might have to look harder for wheels than anyone with a common 5×114.3mm or 5x112mm bolt pattern. Of course, the brakes will also likely be a complicating factor. If we crop in to the front wheel and lighten the image, we can see a pretty beefy brake caliper peeking out from behind the spokes. A rather nice thing to see, if I’m being honest.
Honestly, we don’t know much more than this about the Chevrolet Blazer EV. What we can tell you for sure is that the full reveal is set for July 18, with an on-sale date in the Spring of 2023. While this first look is certainly promising, it’s worth mentioning that the SS won’t be the only Blazer on the market. GM hasn’t yet released photographs of lower-trim models which will likely receive different cosmetic treatments from this high-performance trim. I’m quite interested in seeing where this crossover goes. More performance vehicles of any sort that aren’t from luxury brands seem like a good thing, and electric crossovers are genuinely pretty great. Take a propulsion tech that’s heavy but green, slap it in a practical but typically lumbering and inefficient vehicle, and get properly low running costs, heaps of space, and a relatively small handling penalty over a regular crossover or electric sedan. Plus, they’re great for hauling parts we can put on our fun cars. Now who’s going to be the first to pick up an LS3 crate motor in an electric Blazer? At least they didn’t call it the Camaro SUV, unlike what Ford did. On the plus side, if this thing has any combustible battery issues like the Bolt, it will be appropriately named. This is the Chevy Blazer EV. In SS trim. Get over the name. 99% of buyers do not care. In the crossover segment, the Blazer is more interesting than the majority of vehicles. I think this looks good and should be more enjoyable to drive than most crossovers. Good on GM. Professionally.. she was a good solid person. But as a consumer and or someone who spent a chunk of her paycheck on a car… made a shitty decision. First one she bought.. she got stolen cause she left the keys somewhere. — Thats why I started carrying her Keys around with me. Im safer and have more of an attitude problem.. than she did. Interesting… is truely in the eye of the beholder: Case in point the “Chevy Captiva.” That thing is a WHORE. It was NEVER sold to the American Consumer as a new MSRP vehicle. It was only rented.. and or sold from the Rent-a-Wreck operators. — Which btw still bothers the EVER LOVING SHIT OUT OF ME… how someone could buy such a filthy Orrible piece of shit. Then again… we live in a world where no one actually wants to drive… Where the RCMP have arrested a dude as they did Device err Phone ticket blitzes.. and found a someone scrolling his device for CAT pictures.. cause he was that bored. Cost him 400bux… cause couldnt be attentive enough to drive. Into a vehicle that has as much go.. as a bag of strawberry farts. Sure.. I go for substance over style. I want it worth something… not to look the part. I say burn it to the ground with all of the other new shit thats on the market. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yx3eeU8yRMk&ab_channel=4everdiesel The majority of Blazers sold were mediocre family cars that served as the precursor to the modern crossover. Yes, it became their compeditor to the XJ Cherokee and later, the Ford Explorer, but it was still BOF and could be outfitted to go off-road, with a powerful truck V-6 and decent towing capacity (and dreadful reliability, ask me how I know). The current debuted as a somewhat pricy FWD wagon with a standard naturally aspirated 2.5L I-4. It’s basically an updated, modernized, downsized powertrain 2022 Aztec, for all intents and purposes, even built in the same facility in Mexico. Ford reviving the Bronco as a true off-roader just salted the wound. People would have accepted a badass 4×4 BOF Blazer as a compeditor to Bronco and Wrangler, despite its watering down in its previous life. Even an EV version later. I don’t hate it, it’s a successful product for GM (that they needed), and so on. Besides, they killed the next-gen Colorado that would have spawned a Bronco compeditor in favor of a redesign based on the current platform. So, a true SWB BOF off-road Chevy SUV wasn’t gonna happen anyway. Exactly. I own two first gen K5s, a ’70 and a ’72, and the overwhelming response to them is confusion/hazy memories at best. For anyone under 60, the name “Blazer” generally refers to a pretty bland S10 version of the 90s. They were renowned for their unreliability. Id never seen a well orgasnized setup as that dude.
