Some Camaro In Your Blazer? The 2019 Chevrolet Blazer Premier AWD

The 2019 Chevrolet Blazer Premier AWD.

The slicing and dicing of the crossover/sport utility vehicle market is a wondrous thing to watch. 

The 2019 Chevrolet Blazer is Chevy’s sixth SUV.  That’s right.  Sixth.   The bowtie boys and girls (check the Chevy logo if that reference escapes you) have found a space of daylight between the compact Equinox and the midsize Traverse and thus we have the Blazer.

Actually, there’s some fair amount of good sense involved here, since the Blazer pretty well goes head-to-head against the Toyota Highlander and that’s a vehicle worth competing with. 

Tantalizingly Close: The 2019 Chevrolet Bolt EV

The 2019 Chevrolet Bolt EV.

It has become clear, at least to me, that the time is coming, and soon, when there will be an electric vehicle (EV) with so few compromises in terms of range and charging time that it will tip the scales and the internal combustion engine (ICE) will become merely a segment of the automotive marketplace, one that, from that point on, will be doomed to shrinking market share and an eventual extinction.

In the past two years, two automobiles have arrived that some have said are those cars---the Tesla Model 3 and the Chevrolet Bolt.  Another much-anticipated electric, the Hyundai Kona EV, is on its way.  We've yet to drive the Tesla (but until one can actually be bought for anywhere close to the promised $35,000 price---most are rolling out the door well over $50,000---it's not going to be the car that alone turns the tide) or the Hyundai, so that leaves us, for now, to examine the Bolt.

Ready For Battle: The 2016 Chevrolet Malibu 1LT

The 2016 Chevrolet Malibu.

I had just begun my career as a professional TireKicker (automotive journalist) when Chevrolet announced it was bringing back the Malibu. The name, first used in 1964 for the top-of-the-line midsize Chevelle, was retired in 1983 and replaced by the now-unloved, unmissed Corsica.  Needless to say, as a child of the 60s and 70s, I was excited...until I saw the 1997 Malibu.  If ever a car was destined to be seen more often at airport rental car lots than in the driveways of actual car-buying people, the '97 Malibu was it.

Each generation of the Malibu since has been an attempt to crawl out of that hole and make a car that Americans would choose to spend their hard-earned money on instead of a Toyota Camry, Honda Accord, Nissan Altima, Mazda 6, Subaru Legacy,  Hyundai Sonata, Kia Optima, Ford Fusion or Chrysler 200.

It appears the fifth time could be a charm.

GM Unveils Chevy Volt MPV5 Crossover At Beijing Auto Show

Chevy's getting this PR momentum thing down cold. Just days after WXYZ-TV in Detroit spotted one of the first pre-production sedan models of the electric Chevy Volt parked on the street, the wraps have come off a crossover Volt.

Full details, including more pix and the GM press release at Autoblog Green.

TireKicker Time Machine: 1978 Chevrolet Caprice Classic

(UPDATE:  Sharp-eyed TireKicker reader Paul Duca spotted the clues that this is in fact a newer Caprice. We've been able to narrow it down to 1982, '83, '84 or '85. Hit the comments section if you can help us pinpoint it to a single year. We'll change the headline and tags once we've got the right vintage)

It wasn't that long ago that you couldn't drive a city block without seeing three of these.

Oh, wait...it was that long ago. 32 model years since this '78 Chevrolet Caprice Classic rolled off the showroom floor...20 model years since its clean, classic lines were replaced by the dumpy upside-down bathtub models that themselves are becoming (mercifully) scarce.

                          

Hard to believe it now, but this was the downsized full-size Chevrolet...and GM was thought to be taking a big risk when it introduced this body style in the fall of 1976 as a '77 model. 637 pounds lighter than the previous generation, 10 inches shorter and 4 inches narrower.

What nobody realized until they saw the new one was just how badly the Caprice needed a diet. The big Chevy had been packing on the pounds since 1971 (kinda like Elvis at the time).

The new Caprice rapidly became its own benchmark.

TireKicker Time Machine: 1971 Chevrolet El Camino

Now here's a genuine survivor....a 1971 Chevy El Camino that hasn't been jacked up, painted metallic whatever or any other attempts to make it look "bad".

                          

In fact, these delicate paint accents, hand-done and signed by the artist, are the only appearance mods to this 39-year old El Camino. And from the looks of them, they were probably done in the 1970s.

Chevrolet Posts Topless Photos To Facebook: 2011 Camaro Convertible

It's just a fact of modern life...drop your top in front of a camera, and it's going to wind up on the internet. But this isn't the work of an ex-boyfriend a disgruntled GM employee...not an invasion of presumed privacy by the long lens of Brenda Priddy.  Nope, Chevrolet has found its inner exhibitionist and outed the 2011 Camaro Convertible with the first official photos (two of them).....on its own Facebook page.

Oh, Chevy, you tease.

TireKicker Time Machine: 1955 Chevy

Welcome to a new feature...TireKicker Time Machine. And what better way to start than the car widely credited with beginning the "modern" era of post-war cars...the 1955 Chevy.

Chevy Volt On The Street

The first pre-production Chevrolet Volt electrics (built just last week) are popping up on the street in Detroit.

A crew from ABC affiliate WXYZ-TV caught one parked in the Motor City and has a slideshow here.

2011 Camaro V6 To Mustang: I'll See Your 305 And Raise You 7

A mere two weeks after Ford announced a 305 horsepower rating for the 2011 V6 Mustang, (one more than the 2010 Camaro's 304), the Bowtie Boys are upping the ante by raising the horsepower rating for their six to 312.

Full details (how they did it, new colors, a heads-up display and production date) from the GM press release here....and discussion on the GM Inside News forums here.

More Chevy Volts Roll Off Assembly Line

One week after the first "manufacturing validation" example was built, three more Chevolet Volt electrics have rolled off the assembly line. They are the first of a few hundred preproduction models that will be built this spring and summer.

Full details from The Detroit Free Press.

6 Million GM Light-Duty Trucks Under Fed Investigation: Rusty Brakes

The feds say they've had 110 complaints, 37 confirmed by dealer inspections. Full details from Automotive News (free registration required).

2011 Chevrolet Volt: First One Built

The first "manufacturing validation" example of the Chevrolet Volt electric car went down the assembly line earlier this week.

The Detroit News reports that several hundred more will be built for evaluation and testing before production of for-sale cars begins this fall.