GM rival Honda plans to take on the upcoming midsize Chevy Blazer midsize crossover with a new midsize crossover of its own. According to people familiar with the Japanese automaker’s plans, Honda’s upcoming rival to the Blazer will be called Passport and will slot between the compact CR-V and full-size Pilot.
A Name With History
Much like upcoming Chevrolet Blazer, the Honda Passport name has a past: the original Passport was a variant of the Isuzu Rodeo, and was Honda’s first SUV sold from the 1994 through 2002 model years. Much like the Blazer, the Passport was discontinued in favor or more fuel-efficient offerings.
In that regard, the Blazer and Passport names have more in common than would initially appear, as both names previously graced body-on-frame SUVs with off-road capabilities – a quality that is not expected to apply to the new Blazer or Passport.
The Dimensions
The Passport is expected to offer two rows of seating and be roughly six inches shorter than the Pilot, which measures in at 194.5 inches – on the shorter end of full-size, three-row crossovers. Six inches shorter would put the new Honda Passport at 188.5 inches long.
By comparison, the new Chevy Traverse, which competes head-on with the Honda Pilot, measures in at 204.3 inches – a full ten inches longer. Meanwhile, the GMC Acadia, which will form the basis of the 2020 Blazer, measures 193.6 inches in length. We have reason to believe that the future Blazer will have a similar or perhaps the same length as the Acadia.
As such, Chevy has a considerable space advantage over Honda’s offerings when it comes to the midsize and full-size crossover offerings.
Pilot-Based
Rumor has it that the new Honda Passport will be based on a shortened version of the Pilot platform and be build at its plant in Lincoln, Alabama. As such, Honda will base its midsize crossover offering on a shorter version of its full-size crossover.
Chevrolet is doing exactly the same thing, as the future Blazer is expected to ride on the short wheelbase GM C1 platform shared with the GMC Acadia and Cadillac XT5. The longer wheelbase version of the same architecture, meanwhile, underpins the full-size Chevrolet Traverse, along with the Buick Enclave.
Growing Segment
The new Honda Passport will enter a rapidly-growing midsize crossover segment that was created by the Ford Edge, Nissan Murano and Hyundai Santa Fe (now called Santa Fe Sport). For Honda, the Passport will be the brand’s fourth crossover in the U.S. market that’s been shifting towards utility vehicles and pickup trucks and away from sedans.
Chevy’s lineup will be similarly positioned with four crossovers, from the subcompact Trax, compact Equinox, midsize Blazer and full-size Traverse. In fact, both the new Blazer and future Honda Passport will likely reach the market around the same timeframe as 2020 model year vehicles… at which point the battle for which model will capture the minds and hearts of the car buying public to sell more will commence.
Mainstream Crossover Utility Vehicles - June 2018
Brand | Subcompact | Compact | Midsize | Full-Size |
---|---|---|---|---|
Chevrolet | Trax | Equinox | Blazer 1 | Traverse |
GMC | - | Terrain | Acadia | - |
Ford | EcoSport | Escape | Edge | Explorer |
Jeep | Renegade | Compass, Cherokee | Grand Cherokee | Wagoneer / Grand Wagoneer 1 |
Chrysler | - | - | - | - |
Dodge | - | - | Journey | Durango |
Toyota | CH-R | RAV4 | Highlander | Highlander |
Honda | HR-V | CR-V | Passport 1 | Pilot |
Nissan | Rogue Sport | Rogue | Murano | Pathfinder |
Hyundai | Kona | Tucson | Santa Fe Sport | Santa Fe |
Kia | Niro | Sportage | Sorento | - |
Volkswagen | T-Roc 2 | Tiguan Limited | Tiguan | Atlas |
Subaru | - | Crosstrek | Forrester | Ascent |
Mazda | CX3 | CX5 | - | CX7 |
Mitsubishi | - | Outlander Sport, Eclipse Cross | Outlander | - |
1 - Future or expected model.
2 - Not (yet) available in United States market.
Comments
Ford is going to sell 100,000 Broncos the first year, and GM is building a Blazer that they intend to compete with a Trooper/Passport? Wow.
“Ford is going to sell 100,000 Broncos the first year, ”
And how do you know this? Hopefully you’re not saying this by judging the comments sections of automotive blogs.
Agreed, a lot of people talk the talk on those blogs… “Oh yeah I’ll be in line to buy one…” I bet hardly any of them actually do…
Might want to get more info on both models before you get too crazy.
First we know little about the Bronco including price. I am sure it will sell well but how many is yet to be determined.
The Chevy is really a lower cost version of the Acadia. the 2017 sold 111K units and I believe they cleared 120K units for 2018 so at a higher price. A large number were Denali models that provided higher ATP and profits per unit.
I agree it should not be named a Blazer. But this model should do very well and I would not be shocked if they do 150K units per year or more as a Chevy.
My hope is GM still does a body on frame off road model for the global market that would also work here. The Holden is not styled to do well here. Time will tell.
But the reality is Chevy is making what is selling to the majority buyer and they will make good money. Ford could use a lot more of that.
I fear the smaller Jeep like off road model Ford is working on more than the Bronco. That could be the real winner here.
I want a 2-door ZR2 version with the spare tire on the back!
I wonder what will become of GM’s FNR-X concept we saw last year at the Shanghai auto show last year?
It’s a sharp looking vehicle.
What the hell is the VW T-Roc2?? Have I missed something????
Volkswagen’s subcompact crossover offering… it has the superscript of “2”, and the legend for what it means is available below the table.
In this case, the “2” denotes a model available exclusively in Europe… but there is not reason that VW (with its vast and global manufacturing footprint) can’t bring it here rather quickly.
One has to accept that we’re quickly becoming a CUV (crossover society) and as the old adage goes, numbers don’t lie as Chevy sold 31,940 of their Equinox CUV while the Cruze sold 16,122 in March 2018 despite the Equinox being more expensive; thus, we’re going to be seeing CUVs in every size with some overlap to make sure everyone has the crossover that best fits them.
I hope that front overhang is a misdirection. It’s huge. Haven’t seen any new spy photos for awhile either. This and the new 3.0L duramax are the two chevy products I’m really excited about but I wish this were a midsize SUV based off the Colorado platform instead, make it more of a competitor to the Grand Cherokee.
Alex, you are missing the Buick and Cadillac offering in that list. Or are you listing the non-luxury models only?
The list exclusively includes mainstream crossovers. Since Buick is a mid-tier premium brand and Cadillac is a luxury brand, they are not included on this list, neither are other premium or luxury brands/manufacturers.
I’m in the retirement years now and ever since I started reading automotive news from the 1960’s, magazines and announcements, one common word was in every article, “a stiffer chassis”. But in the last ten or fifteen years that single phase has been replaced by two other words, “platform” and “underpinning”. It would be nice that writers through out the industry try to describe current or new vehicles without these two words. It would be a chore of gratitude to their readers.
The Buick and Cadillac CUVs are positioned to be sold in the premium and luxury segments, which is why they were excluded from the list.
I still can’t believe they’re gonna put the Blazer name on this hideously disproportionate soccer mom grocery-getter. Shame on you, Chevy
Virtually every word of the English language has been trade marked whether used or not. When any manufacture wants to name a new product, loyalty payments for a TM name may be in order or they buy it. The auto industry will usually dig into its own TM names and reuse old ones. Part of it is marketing, Blazer was quite a successful truck in its day. Bronco appealed to a niche market more so. Numbers are not usually trademarked except for something like F150. When Cadillac started the alphabet naming convention, no one owned XTS, CTS, etc., so now Cadillac owns them..
GM is being smart not chasing Ford or Jeep but benchmarking against the globally popular Honda.
GM must always consider China and Jeep has been weak there.
GM wants the coastal US back so competing with Honda is actually genius. GMC should be the Jeep fighter with a Hummer styled offering.
Chevrolet is being smart not chasing Ford or Jeep but benchmarking against the globally popular Honda. Gritty off road should belong to GMC.
Chevy must always consider China and Jeep has been weak there. Chevrolet also wants the coastal US back so competing with Honda is actually genius. GMC should be the Jeep fighter with a Hummer styled offering. Right now GMC fills the so called premium space but needs a little bit of grit to further differentiate it from Buick.