Bronco and Blazer. Those brands roll off the tongue like Coke and Pepsi, or Mac and PC. When brands are that powerful they’re priceless. In this day of hyper marketing and bombardment of messages about all kinds of brands and products, when you have something like “Kleenex” or “Big Mac,” you’ve got a gold mine. With the success of the Ford Bronco, car enthusiasts have witnessed that power at full throttle. A brand invisible for over 20 years is now leading a sales charge like Ford hasn’t seen since 1964 and the Mustang. But this dynamic spectacle of a brand’s power also points to the travesty of what GM chose to do with the Chevy Blazer. 

Chevy took the lazy route by giving it a powerful name

In a desperate stab at drawing attention to its mediocre SUV, Chevy took the lazy route by giving it a powerful name. But the product that is Blazer is no Bronco, nor Blazer. Chevy missed a golden opportunity. It could have held onto an iconic name to wait for a product worthy of being called Blazer. 

Chevy already has 85% of its Bronco rival tooled, when you think about it. It’s called Silverado, or Colorado. By using a shortened Silverado or Colorado chassis and tooling up the other 15% to make a Blazer, it could have already been on the road. It’s what they did for many a Blazer in the past. It’s part of the Blazer DNA. So it could almost have been a turn-key new model. 

Is GM squandering the Blazer name?

Chevy could still do it. But now there is confusion for consumers. There are new Blazers running around that look like half of all of the other SUVs. There’s no continuity between the current Blazer and a shortened, two-door Silverado or Colorado lifted with 38-inch tall all-terrain tires. Chevy, you blew it.

It took eight years from the first rumors until the Bronco’s debut. This gave Chevy plenty of time to conjure up a unique, Chevy-like response as it did in 1969 with the original Blazer. Not an entirely new development like the Bronco, but a short off-roader sharing many of the Silverado’s or Colorado’s elan.

Is it short-sightedness, laziness, and arrogance at GM?

From the outside, it just seems that short-sightedness, laziness, and arrogance are a problem. For all of the die-hard GM people that occupy the hallowed halls doing terrific jobs, and there are many, there are decisions and products that come from this vast resource that seem dull. If it wants to make up for the cars it has killed off it needs to replace those with SUVs and trucks, as it is doing. A proper Blazer would be a combo of both. Seems like a perfect synergy. 

Plus it would have a worthy rival for its foes across town. Now, if it does do a shorty Silverado or Colorado, it will have to start from scratch for a name. It was set up to have the perfect Bronco response, and now this decision s biting on Chevy very hard, and not letting go.