Chevy Deletes 1LT Trim on Blazer EV, Report

Matthew Guy
by Matthew Guy

A few days ago, we brought you news of the entry-level Blazer EV vanishing off the order sheet, a development caught by eagle-eyed fans and confirmed by General Motors. Now, the gearheads at Automotive News have learned the trim has been permanently deep-sixed for the 2024 model year.


This is significant since it marks the end of any chance the Mexican-built ’24 Blazer EV will be available in at least one iteration for around $45,000. That was the figure tossed out by execs when initial announcements about this rig were made approximately one year ago, a sum that would have at least kept the Blazer EV within reach of a wider swath of the buying public.


Instead, shoppers venturing into a Chevy showroom this autumn will be facing a $56,715 2LT with all-wheel drive as the least expensive option. A $60,215 RS all-wheel drive model is what The General is planning to launch with this summer, if you’re wondering. There is apparently a two-wheel drive 2LT in the hopper for next year, though its price has yet to be disclosed. Given traditional price premiums for AWD in both ICE and EVs, you gotta figure its sticker will certainly be over $50k.


An official platitude being mouthed by the company is that these pricing decisions will help prevent the Blazer EV from overlapping the Equinox EV, a type of ladder system that dates to the days of Alfred Sloan. If trims such as Premier or even High Country (hey, it’s on the Traverse) are affixed to the Eq then it could certainly have an asking price pushing $50,000 after options are added.


It's well within an OEM’s rights to reposition trim levels as it sees fit, of course, but shifting the Blazer EV even further upmarket in terms of price is not without its risks – especially with the affordable Bolt set to evaporate next year. Sure, that model is allegedly coming back but no timeline has been given as to a concept’s unveiling, let alone the car itself.


Chevy has been touting a $30,000-ish starting price for a base Equinox EV 1LT, a figure to which they will need to get close if they wish to aggressively grow their market share in this space. Here’s hoping the 1LT trim fares better in the hands of Equinox planners.


[Image: Chevrolet]


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Matthew Guy
Matthew Guy

Matthew buys, sells, fixes, & races cars. As a human index of auto & auction knowledge, he is fond of making money and offering loud opinions.

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  • Jose R Monsegur Jose R Monsegur on Aug 06, 2023

    Don't you hate when you reserve a vehicle at a price and then tell you is $8,000 more expensive. I have a reservation for a Blazer EV in RS trim, at the time it was it was supposed to start at around $52,000, now the model I would want would be the RS RWD but that price is almost $62,000 to start, without options. So I'll guess I'll get another Model Y, a fully loaded Performance is $57,000 . Does the Blazer offer so much more than the Tesla to justify the extra money?, I don't think so. We may see a lot of Blazer on the lots like other manufacturers who refuse to lower their prices.

  • Dukeisduke Dukeisduke on Aug 07, 2023

    Stupid, for a brand that used to be one of the "Low-Priced Three" along with Ford and Plymouth, and sold tons of Biscaynes, Bel Airs, etc.

    • Art_Vandelay Art_Vandelay on Aug 08, 2023

      Bel Air was the mid to high trim. This would be like killing the Biscayne


  • Varezhka I have still yet to see a Malibu on the road that didn't have a rental sticker. So yeah, GM probably lost money on every one they sold but kept it to boost their CAFE numbers.I'm personally happy that I no longer have to dread being "upgraded" to a Maxima or a Malibu anymore. And thankfully Altima is also on its way out.
  • Tassos Under incompetent, affirmative action hire Mary Barra, GM has been shooting itself in the foot on a daily basis.Whether the Malibu cancellation has been one of these shootings is NOT obvious at all.GM should be run as a PROFITABLE BUSINESS and NOT as an outfit that satisfies everybody and his mother in law's pet preferences.IF the Malibu was UNPROFITABLE, it SHOULD be canceled.More generally, if its SEGMENT is Unprofitable, and HALF the makers cancel their midsize sedans, not only will it lead to the SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST ones, but the survivors will obviously be more profitable if the LOSERS were kept being produced and the SMALL PIE of midsize sedans would yield slim pickings for every participant.SO NO, I APPROVE of the demise of the unprofitable Malibu, and hope Nissan does the same to the Altima, Hyundai with the SOnata, Mazda with the Mazda 6, and as many others as it takes to make the REMAINING players, like the Excellent, sporty Accord and the Bulletproof Reliable, cheap to maintain CAMRY, more profitable and affordable.
  • GregLocock Car companies can only really sell cars that people who are new car buyers will pay a profitable price for. As it turns out fewer and fewer new car buyers want sedans. Large sedans can be nice to drive, certainly, but the number of new car buyers (the only ones that matter in this discussion) are prepared to sacrifice steering and handling for more obvious things like passenger and cargo space, or even some attempt at off roading. We know US new car buyers don't really care about handling because they fell for FWD in large cars.
  • Slavuta Why is everybody sweating? Like sedans? - go buy one. Better - 2. Let CRV/RAV rust on the dealer lot. I have 3 sedans on the driveway. My neighbor - 2. Neighbors on each of our other side - 8 SUVs.
  • Theflyersfan With sedans, especially, I wonder how many of those sales are to rental fleets. With the exception of the Civic and Accord, there are still rows of sedans mixed in with the RAV4s at every airport rental lot. I doubt the breakdown in sales is publicly published, so who knows... GM isn't out of the sedan business - Cadillac exists and I can't believe I'm typing this but they are actually decent - and I think they are making a huge mistake, especially if there's an extended oil price hike (cough...Iran...cough) and people want smaller and hybrids. But if one is only tied to the quarterly shareholder reports and not trends and the big picture, bad decisions like this get made.
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