For one reason or another, crossovers remain the fastest-growing vehicle segment in the world. And as luck (and great product) have it, General Motors has been very successful when it comes to selling crossovers in North America with the Chevrolet Equinox and GMC Terrain being some of the most popular CUVs on the market. To remain competitive against the onslaught of newly-redesigned vehicles from rival automakers, General Motors will replace its compact crossoves with all-new models (not pictured) sometime around 2015.
The spy shots, presented by autoevolution here, show an early development mule of what we believe to be the next-generation Opel Antara and Chevrolet Equinox/Captiva wearing the body shell of the Chevy Orlando MPV. Spotted in Northern Sweden, the mule sports an all-wheel-drive system as evidenced by the drive shafts that are clearly visible from the rear of the prototype. To note, the Orlando does not offer AWD.
The Antara launched in 2006, and its North American-market cousin — the Saturn Vue — launched in 2007 before being discontinued in 2007 with the demise of the Saturn brand; in 2011, General Motors began offering the Antara exclusively to fleets in the United States as the Chevrolet Captiva Sport, while the vehicle continues to be offered directly to consumers elsewhere around the world. Meanwhile, the second-generation Chevy Equinox (and platform-mate GMC Terrain) launched in 2009 and even though highly popular, remained exclusively for the North American market.
GM’s next-gen compact crossovers will ride on the automaker’s new global D2XX modular vehicle architecture shared with the upcoming 2015 Chevy Cruze and Opel Astra, among other compact vehicles. In migrating to the compact D2XX platform, the Chevy Equinox and GMC Terrain are expected to become somewhat smaller than the current generation of vehicles, as Chevy’s CUV becomes a truly global vehicle. In addition, the D2XX platform might even spawn a compact crossover for the Buick brand that would slot between the Encore and Enclave (Envision or Enspire, anyone?); such a vehicle might be aligned with the next-gen Antara.
Comments
so it won’t come out till 2016?
I think that Mister Luft meant model-year (MY) 2016, which would actually be sometime during 2015. But I rather suspect it’ll be during MY2015, which starts in 2014…
It’s a bit difficult to tell at this point, but from what we know right now, the Nox will be a 2015 model, unveiled beginning of 2015.
I just kinda want to know IF the Terrain is going to D2XX, then does it still count as a midsize or compact?
@vic1212 the D2 vehicles will all be compact cars… Terrain included.
so the next one will count the Terrain as a compact?
I’m not feelin’ it. The rear end looks dorky when compared to the last one.
Paul, it’s a mule with the body of an Orlando. The styling you see here is no styling at all 🙂
Thank you for that. It’s nice to Know that hopefully it won’t look like this because it is early in the development stage.
Wondering if it will have a diesel engine for the nox
That Orlando look was scaring me. It makes sense that is just camo.
Tony Orlando was lost…
He was found at the crack of Dawn !
Will they be built in Europe?
I hope they will reduce mass for those SUV’s, just like they promise recently…
As of now they are expected to hit the market on Aug 2015 as a 2016 model. We may see them better later this years as a show vehicles in NY or Detroit.
I would not put too much into these photos yet as this is only a mule under a older Orlando body so there is little to tell here.
Keep in mind how this platform is expandable and will be used for longer and wider applications. I expect the Euro version to be a little smaller as it is now and the American one may grow a little more.
This one looks a little small & it reminds me of a Subaru (not off roader & not estate)
Sounds like it will be a Astra SUV along similar lines as Mokka & rivalling X1 & Q3.
Personally, I hope the next next-gen Equinox/Terrain are first of all lighter, and second shorter without losing much interior space.
Holden is rumoured to be building a small crossover too wonder if these are all similar cars based on one. If this is the next big thing no wonder Vauxhall, Opel, Holden, Chevrolet, Buick & GMC all want a piece of the action.
Wonder if the name Antara will be changed for a more debatable one like Mokka, Adam & Cascada. It gets people talking about it.
Hopefully the sheet metal is a tease. This one is ugly. It looks like the cars that Chevy sells in third world countries.
What Scott should be expecting is one global compact crossover from Chevrolet. Think Ford Escape. GM is done upsizing for different markets as is Ford.
Silent, I agree. Plus, the current Equinox barely fits into the compact class as it is. If it grows at all, it would definitely be a mid-size, and that’s not where the growth market is. It should shrink a bit on the outside with little or no loss of interior space.
@bronc624 And that’s exactly what will happen. GM has been straddling vehicle classes for far too long (Equinox/Terrain, CTS, STS, etc.), and it is now finally investing in flexible vehicle architectures capable of supporting both sedans/wagons/hatches/coupes and crossovers alike. The first example of this was the Gamma (Sonic/Aveo and Trax), the D2 will follow with the Cruze and Equinox, and the E2 will come after that with Malibu and a mid-size crossover on that platform (think Edge, Santa-Fe sport-sized). Good stuff all around, and I can’t wait!
Alex, Amen to that. You’ve said this before, and I think it is awesome.
Agreed, Alex. The best way to beat the competition is to met them head-on. With upcoming platforms, engines, transmissions and tech, I can’t wait either!
Wonder if it will be lower in height than currant Antara/Captiva ranges too.
What will happen is they will be similar in width and just a little shorter. Look for some of the back seat room to go as well as the dash to the base of the windshield. The is a lot of lost space in the dash of the present vehicle.
The Holden will be a Nox with a lion on the grill. Note Holden is Chevy and Chevy is Holden and will share more and more product. Just pop on their web site and it looks more Chevy than ever with the Cruze, Malibu, Sonic and Spark.
Again to all reading here this vehicle will look nothing like this one here. So do not panic or get goofy. LOL!
While this will be a global car to a point there will be some variations as with Opel and GMC not sharing direct body parts. Chevy and Holden will be similar.
Under the skin they will be the same.
I’m wondering if the Equinox / Terrain size reduction will make space for a TrailBlazer in the Chevrolet lineup here in the USA….
@Thumper — good question. The space created by the downsizing of the Equinox will likely be filled by a midsize CUV on the next-gen Epsilon (E2XX). Think Ford Edge or Hyundai Santa-Fe.
Thumper: Let us all hope so… Bring on the Blazer/Trailblazer…
Not over keen on all these SUV 4×4 cars however I cannot help noticing that in Europe GM offers a small range of them compared to the larger range offered in America.
What I mean is ^^ Europe gets Antara and not including Buick, Cadillac & Chevy ranges GMC in America gets Terrain, Acadia, Yukon, Yukon XL & Sierra of various sizes. Strange that a manufacturer with so much presence in the segment in America has almost no presence in it in Europe.
This is much more an American segment where it is growing in Europe. They tend to like smaller there since they have limited space in many villages and even large cities to drive and park these vehicles.
Ever try to go through a Italian village with a Tahoe?
I see the Trailblazer more fitting in where a down sized Traverse is. The question is with the sales of the Traverse being strong will they bring it here very soon.
With MPG being a factor I could see a next gen trailblazer replacing a 1/2 ton Tahoe and then the Tahoe in the gen after next going to a light 3/4 ton rating to avoid the Café on the 1/2 ton.
This is kind of what I am watching with the new so called smaller truck. I think GM and Ford will play games to help the full size truck avoid the light truck MPG issue with a light heavy class and use the Colorado and Ranger to fill in the Half ton class. But that is down the road. Desperate measures will take desperate means by 2020.
Why else would they both have C6 trucks nearly the size of a half ton? Note a 3/4 ton and larger can avoid the hasher rules.
Scott, I live in Manchester England (Britains second biggest City) & no I’ve not tryed to drive a Tahoe through an Italian village, yes I understand some European towns & villages are not ideal for such a car, I also understand some markets wouldn’t want such a car. However larger city’s such as London, Manchester & Birmingham with ample road space I feel there shouldn’t be a problem with this type of car, you see plenty of Range Rovers & other large SUV’s so why not.
There is a error:
“in 2011, General Motors began offering the Antara exclusively to fleets in the United States as the Chevrolet Captiva Sport, while the vehicle continues to be offered directly to consumers elsewhere around the world.”
I live in an American territory, and I can buy a Chevy Captiva at my dealer as a consumer (if you ask, i can post a link to my dealer’s inventory). Maybe some dealers over there will sell it exclusively for fleets, but not here. It is smaller than the present Equinox, but it competes well with the imports and with the new Ford Escape. I am waiting for the EREV version, labelled the CrossVolt.
Raymond, the Captiva is only sold to fleets in the U.S.
The Captiva you can buy at your dealer is probably an off-fleet used unit.
It’s odd to me that downsizing the Equinox a bit will leave room between it and the Traverse for another SUV/crossover in between them. Or that there is enough market for both the Traverse and the Tahoe (yes, I know one tows and the other gets better fuel economy). But then, I’m not really an SUV guy and I’m always surprised. I was shaking my head last night at a Toyota commercial where this couple is talking to a girl at a desk and she goes over the whole list of their SUVs, crossovers and minivan. It seems like there is so much redundancy to me that it was ridiculous. But hey, there’s a market for all of those somehow lol. I tend to think the growth market is on the smaller side, even in NA, so I wonder when Chevy may start selling the Trax at home.
These compact crossovers are certainly where the market is now, I’m seeing loads on the roads.