While there is plenty of parts sharing when it comes to the Chevy and GMC brands (at least in terms of mechanical components), there’s quite a bit to differentiate the brands as well. That includes unique styling, with modern Chevrolet and GMC vehicles offering their own aesthetics to set them apart from one another. Indeed, when looking at the front fascia designs on offer from the current vehicles’ lineups, we find that Chevy is embracing a dual-tier lighting setup. Meanwhile, GMC is embracing more of a single-tier setup.
Chevy Trax
GMC Acadia
As we can see in the table below, most Chevrolet vehicles incorporate a dual-tier lighting setup, while most GMC models go with a single-tier setup. More specifically, most Bow Tie models place the daytime running lights and turn signals up top while the headlamp projectors are mounted lower on the fascia. By comparison, Big Red’s lighting setup typically incorporates C-shaped LEDs that wrap around the headlamp projectors.
Check out the table below to see what we’re on about. To note, the refreshed 2025 Tahoe and 2025 Suburban follow the dual-tier lighting design and are indicated as such:
| Single-Tier Design | Dual-Tier Design | |
|---|---|---|
| Chevy Trax | X | |
| Chevy Traiblazer | X | |
| Chevy Equinox | X | |
| Chevy Equinox EV | X | |
| Chevy Blazer | X | |
| Chevy Blazer EV | X | |
| Chevy Traverse | X | |
| Chevy Tahoe | X | |
| Chevy Suburban | X | |
| Chevy Colorado | X | |
| Chevy Silverado 1500 | X | |
| Chevy Silverado HD | X | X |
| Chevy Silverado EV | X | |
| GMC Terrain | X | |
| GMC Acadia | X | |
| GMC Yukon | X | |
| GMC Yukon XL | X | |
| GMC Canyon | X | |
| GMC Sierra 1500 | X | |
| GMC Sierra HD | X | |
| GMC Sierra EV | X | |
| GMC Hummer EV Pickup | X | |
| GMC Hummer EV SUV | X |
Of course, there are some exceptions. The Blazer EV, for example, features headlamps located just below the LED bar, arguably making the Blazer EV fascia a single-tier lighting setup. Interestingly, the Silverado HD offers both designs, with lower-end Silverado HD trims incorporating a dual-tier lighting setup and higher-end variants leveraging a different fascia, single-tier layout with C-shaped LEDs and high-mounted headlamps.
Ironically, the Colorado includes a single-tier setup, while the Canyon gets a dual-tier setup, reversing the trend. Meanwhile, Big Red’s all-electric models incorporate dual-tier lighting, with the Hummer EV Pickup and SUV incorporating distinctive front-end styling compared to the rest of the brand’s model lineup.
Chevy Suburban
GMC Yukon
As we can see, Chevrolet is clearly embracing the dual-tier setup, at least for the majority of its models, while Big Red has yet to commit to the design. New and refreshed GMC models like the 2024 Acadia, 2025 Terrain, and 2025 Yukon are paving the way for a single-tier lighting design.
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Comments
I hate the trend of brake and turn signals in the rear number but tail lamp up high that do only tail lamps.
The “Transformers” era of truck styling is getting overworked and old.
The good thing is the headlamps are lower, less blinding to oncoming traffic. The Escalade is about the worst in this regard. Style wise, not much out there is pleasing and will look dated in a few years.
Dealers love this bc they can charge up the butt bc they’ll have to take half the car apart to change the light bulbs. How long before those LED strips that look cool before the die? I’m seeing a lot of these stupid LED strips run around at night with only one side or half the strip working on 2-3 year old cars. I looked up how much it cost to replace I know I wouldn’t be spending that kinda money to replace them
Is there even a benefit to this stupid new trend of putting the headlights down? Like does it illuminate better or avoid glare? Because all I can think about aside from it looking awkward is that a scuff on the corner could potentially be costly if it breaks an LED headlight fixture but we know convenience to the owners is at the bottom of the engineers priority these days.