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At the Chevy dealer getting the oil changed on the work truck and they have a new blazer on the show room. I hope ford don’t do this to the bronco. This blazer looks like a soccer mom minivan
Yeah, but at least they had photos of it soon after they announced it and it's on the showroom floor already. Who cares that it's a minivan, GM Corporate kept us consumers in the loop all along! And it's a minivan you can drive NOW, not some pipe dream "coming in 2020" like the Bronco.
Yeah, but at least they had photos of it soon after they announced it and it's on the showroom floor already. Who cares that it's a minivan, GM Corporate kept us consumers in the loop all along! And it's a minivan you can drive NOW, not some pipe dream "coming in 2020" like the Bronco.
Yeah.... I'd rather wait and NOT get a minivan... as I think most bronco fans would. If you're not happy with the wait nothing is stopping you from buying that ugly as sin minivan blazer
The Blazer is a cookie cutter redo on the Acadia/XT5 platform with no new engineering except a Camaro lookalike grille and is a unit body vehicle. Ford already has the Edge which is essentially the same footprint and market slot as the Blazer. The Chevy Traverse and Buick Enclave are based on the same platform as the Blazer, stretched and widened. Platform engineering is a cheap way to make multiple vehicles.
Chrysler's K car was used for the original Reliant and Aries, made sportier for the Dodge Daytona, and made taller and longer for the Grand Caravan. It's not a bad concept, but usually results in compromises.
Furthermore, every UAW and Unifor (formerly CAW/Canadian Auto Workers) employee (and their friends, family, and neighbors) are completely pissed at GM for closing US and Canadian car plants and setting up Blazer production in Mexico. The Blazer has this ultra bad mojo from the get-go. The Buick Envision is also a nice looking 2-row SUV that is made completely in China with 98% Chinese content. (And the Buick Encore is Korean, Chevy Equinox and GMC Terrain are also Mexican.) Blazers are not gonna be popular in UAW country. People in the know despise the Envision for the total sellout it represents.
Did you know that you can't park your Mexican-made Dodge Journey at UAW world headquarters here in Detroit for Union business? Go find street parking and take a walk if you are not driving American or Canadian.
The Bronco is pretty much a ground-up new design (admittedly taking some of its mechanical bits from the Ranger), which takes more work and engineering, and it will be built 30 miles from my house in Michigan. Rushing a totally new vehicle to market is not a good idea; Ford wants to get it right. Children who want a shiny new vehicle right now to "wear" will buy Blazers. If you want a tough off-road capable vehicle, the Blazer ain't it.
Hopefully, this means Ford thinks it has enough fluffy soccer mom cars, and intends for the Bronco to be more rugged. The question becomes, what does Ford think "rugged" is?
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That's all great but Ford's inspired vehicles come in at quite a high price before lots of goodies get added and yet they're planning to dump the majority of the sedans that they build. SMDH, they're going to build a hybrid version of every SUV/CUV that they offer to game the CAFE standards.
That's all great but Ford's inspired vehicles come in at quite a high price before lots of goodies get added and yet they're planning to dump the majority of the sedans that they build. SMDH, they're going to build a hybrid version of every SUV/CUV that they offer to game the CAFE standards.
Tim, I don't think it costs Ford much more money to build a FWD Escape than it did to build a FWD Focus...the name of the game is profit margin. Instead of making maybe a few hundred bucks on the Focus, they are shooting to make thousands on the Escape. Selling prices will definitely be higher, but if Ford needs to increase sales, they can just add huge rebates and discounts as they have been accustomed to doing.
Buyer psychology is such that people will not buy a $20k stickered vehicle for $20k, but they will buy that same vehicle if the sticker price is $28k and they can get it for a "great deal" of $22k or something.
It's definitely a big sales game and I do think that eliminating sedans is not the best move; I still have friends that would never drive an SUV because they have always driven sedans--and this includes senior friends who have a tough time getting in and out of a low car. One woman friend was shopping for cars....she needs 2 new knees and 2 new hips and I tried to steer her into a small SUV for access purposes. Instead, she leased a Honda Civic and struggles getting in and out of it because she could not see herself in an SUV.
The front doesn't look like a Camaro at all. Looks more like it's trying to copy Lexus/Toyota to me. A redundant vehicle that should never have been built. GM is throwing manure at the wall and seeing what sticks.
Using the Blazer name on it is another story, but Jeep did it with the Cherokee name and it has worked out so far. Another ugly vehicle that is, but at least they fixed the headlight/grill issue this year.
The front doesn't look like a Camaro at all. Looks more like it's trying to copy Lexus/Toyota to me. A redundant vehicle that should never have been built. GM is throwing manure at the wall and seeing what sticks.
Using the Blazer name on it is another story, but Jeep did it with the Cherokee name and it has worked out so far. Another ugly vehicle that is, but at least they fixed the headlight/grill issue this year.
I like the Blazer's looks just fine but the Mexican build makes it a no-no in the Detroit area after GM closed a lot of car plants. They had a Blazer displayed on a tower at Comerica Park (where the Det Tigers play) and due to public outcry (lot of angry UAW blood here), they replaced it with the Lansing, MI built Traverse.
Chevy is not selling cars either, so they have the Suburban/Tahoe compared to the Expy Max/Expy, the Traverse compared to the Explorer (AND the Flex), the new Blazer compared to the Edge, the Equinox compared to the Escape, and the Trax compared to the EcoSport. They are just filling spaces in their model line...and just like Ford's chart shows the Edge as being a road-going SUV, there is the Blazer.
For a "personal" road-going SUV, a lot of people like the size of the Edge (and Blazer) and a 3rd row in this size SUV is silly and not really usable. The Escape gets cramped for 4 tall adults, where the Edge is a nice double date vehicle. The Edge/Blazer are the new version of a midsize car.
Ford will be filling a new slot with the Bronco, and it looks like they know very well that it has to be a tough vehicle, not only in looks, but in capability.
Good to see all these comments agree with my take on the Blazer. We dont need another crossover POS fleet vehicle. I dont care what the price is its a joke as a Blazer. As others said... put a different name on it if you want but I saw it on tv. Almost puked. And they are a non entity for me.
All these little "SUVs". Most of which are front drive not even all wheel unless you move up market... Seem to me like Nashville trying to push out a bunch of Taylor Swift wannabees because she sold millions and made everyone rich. So all the cigar chompers jump on the bandwagon trying to cash in. Only thing is its all crap.
Ford already has the small SUV products and little crossovers. They have the Ranger. If they are going to try and sell a Ranger SUV I have zero interest. If they do what GM did and bring out a crossover fleet POS it will fail for sure. The only way the Blazer sells is to people looking for a station wagonlike ...subaru type of car with some kind of hipness because its all angular and sht...
In the 60s they came out to compete with the Bronco and Jeep because that durable off road capable trucklike go anywhere kind of thing was soaring in popularity. An SUV is a truck based wagon. None of these little 4 cylinder crossover economy transport nodules are SUVs. Its like assault rifle.... and there are lots sitting on dealer lots. Because they think a $25,000 max value is somehow going to be worth 48 thousand dollars...And its Mercedes and BMW as well. And people are just not that stupid.
If the new Bronco comes out with good utility... truck axles.. 2 speed transfer case... and good offroad genetics it will be a good competitor against Jeep. And Blazer will probably do OK but to a totally different crowd if the price is low enough.
Maybe Im not the standard bearer of the market but if the Bronco is a Ranger mini SUV I wont look twice. If its a crossover POS its DOA... If its what everyone in a forum like this is clamoring for I think it will be a hit and Ill be test driv9ing one with my wife because her Infinity lease is up in December. Otherwise its another QX 50 for her and Ford can sit on their fleet of rental car toaster ovens.
02-21-2019, 03:28 PM
