As a quick reminder, General Motors is honored to produce the world's longest-used automobile nameplate. As such, the title goes to the Chevrolet Suburban series – and for good measure.
The GM division started production of the Suburban in 1934 for the 1935 model year, which in the beginning was one of the first-ever metal-bodied station wagons and is also the forefather of contemporary full-size pickup trucks as it mixed the design, practicality, and allure of a station wagon body style with the inherent toughness, reliability, and prowess of a traditional pickup truck. It has been twinned with a GMC sibling – renamed as the Yukon XL since 2000 and is currently sold outside of North America in places like Central and South America, the Philippines, and even some parts of the Middle East.
Naturally, over time it has progressed tremendously, and even Cadillac decided to bring the Suburban into its fold with help from the twinned Caddy Escalade ESV version. Anyway, the current – twelfth – generation has been around since December 2019 (official initial presentation), and after all, siblings also took to the catwalk in January (GMC Yukon XL), February (Cadillac Escalade), and April 2020 (Escalade ESV), Chevy's latest and arguably greatest variant of the Suburban reached nationwide dealerships that summer (June) as a 2021 model year.
Of course, the current Suburban uses the same underpinnings - GMT T1XX platform - as the Silverado 1500 pickup truck, and this Chevrolet is one of the biggest full-size SUVs on the market currently. At 225.7 in/5,733 mm, it is only 'dwarfed' by a couple of nameplates – the Jeep Grand Wagoneer L and the Caddy Escalade ESV sibling. But, of course, even behemoths need to powder one's face from time to time. As such, we have seen hints that General Motors is diligently preparing a facelift for the big, hulking SUVs, including the Tahoe and Suburban.
Logically, that did not escape the radar of the imaginative realm of digital car content creators. Some of them decided they should start with the 'smaller' Chevy Tahoe and give it unofficial 2024 Chevy Silverado EV design cues, even if the series will remain purely ICE powered, at least for the time being.
Others went rogue, like Dimas Ramadhan, the virtual automotive artist behind the Digimods DESIGN channel on YouTube, who has also taken up the task of revealing a refreshed behemoth in CGI and dreamt of a decidedly aggressive transformation for the 2025 or 2026 model year.
As such, the hypothetical 2025 or 2026 Chevy Suburban looks much more CGI-aggressive than before. It might even be ready to scare the bejesus out of split-headlight-style prominent and notorious. SUVs, like the 2023 BMW X7 LCI or perhaps even the upcoming Infiniti QX80! So, do we give it our digital hall pass, or are we already running away screaming amok and crying our undying outrage at the sight of this virtual abomination?
Aurel has aimed high all his life (literally, at 16 he was flying gliders all by himself) so in 2006 he switched careers and got hired as a writer at his favorite magazine. Since then, his work has been published both by print and online outlets, most recently right here, on autoevolution. Full profile
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