The official General Motors Design studio account does not refer to this sketch as a Chevrolet Blazer. We want to be very clear because this Chevy-badged two-door off-roader has had quite a few people talking about the Blazer on GM Design’s Instagram account. In fact, there is no mention of it being anything other than stance – and the “tough and mighty sketch” by Brian Malczewski.
As it turns out, the Blazer connections aren’t just in our heads. Jump over to Malczewski’s Instagram account, and you’ll see do call it Blazers. Specifically, he said it was envisioned as a “slightly different” Blazer in 2015. The key word in that sentence was beforebecause we all know what the moniker the reborn Blazer eventually became, for better or for worse.
With all that said, it’s easy to see the classic Blazer persona in this creation. The upright wheel arches contain tires that look ready for extended off-road action. Body lines are sharp and mostly flat, and while we don’t technically see any doors, there’s only room for two.
As of 2015, the Jeep Wrangler is the only one available in the US with two doors and some off-road styling. Given the success of the Ford Bronco when it launched in 2020, we wonder if Chevy will now make the same decision to skip this design in favor of the Blazer crossover arriving in 2019.
Not that the revived Blazer hasn’t been successful. Chevrolet sold nearly 100,000 in 2020 (94,599 to be exact), its best sales year so far. Of course, automakers have struggled in recent years and sales of the Blazer have fallen to 67,246 units in 2022.
However, we suspect there are some folks at GM headquarters who saw 117,057 Bronco sales and 181,409 Wrangler sales from last year, pondering what might have happened if slightly different design has entered production.
