Photo: Kleber Silva on Behance
After years of speculation, the Camaro SUV did happen although it has little to do with the Chevrolet pony car’s underpinnings. Although it used to be a body-on-frame utility vehicle with the ladder frame from the C/K pickup truck, the Blazer came back as a front- and all-wheel-drive crossover.
The grille, headlights, and bumper are the most obvious connections to the Camaro, but the Blazer leaves much to be desired on the handling front. Heck, not even the LTG turbo engine is shared with the pony car. Chevy chose the LSY, which isn’t as powerful but more efficient than the LTG.
A different path for Chevrolet would’ve been to re-body a full-size SUV such as the Cadillac Escalade with Camaro styling. That’s exactly what pixel artist Kleber Silva did, and as you can clearly tell, it looks very, very wrong.
The Escalade may be smoother than ever thanks to independent rear suspension, but it’s too heavy to matter when the going gets twisty. Given the sporty handling of the Camaro, this pairing makes little to no sense at all. Speaking of which, the Escalade isn’t even as powerful as the V8 ‘Maro.
455 horsepower and 455 pound-feet of torque are the ratings of the pony car while the luxury SUV makes do with 420 horsepower and 460 pound-feet of torque. Even the LT5 from the Corvette ZR1 would be underwhelming in a vehicle with a high center of gravity, let alone a heavy SUV.
In hindsight, the only way that Chevrolet could have pulled off a Camaro utility vehicle would be to copy the Maserati Levante or Porsche Cayenne formula. A passenger car’s chassis is a must, and yes, Chevy would also need world-class engineers like those who worked their magic on the C8.
A Camaro SUV may be wishful thinking and a sacrilege to boot, but don’t forget that Ford has already taken this path with the Mustang Mach-E which features Escape rather than Mustang underpinnings. On that note, would you like Chevrolet to make the unthinkable happen at some point in the future?
A different path for Chevrolet would’ve been to re-body a full-size SUV such as the Cadillac Escalade with Camaro styling. That’s exactly what pixel artist Kleber Silva did, and as you can clearly tell, it looks very, very wrong.
The Escalade may be smoother than ever thanks to independent rear suspension, but it’s too heavy to matter when the going gets twisty. Given the sporty handling of the Camaro, this pairing makes little to no sense at all. Speaking of which, the Escalade isn’t even as powerful as the V8 ‘Maro.
455 horsepower and 455 pound-feet of torque are the ratings of the pony car while the luxury SUV makes do with 420 horsepower and 460 pound-feet of torque. Even the LT5 from the Corvette ZR1 would be underwhelming in a vehicle with a high center of gravity, let alone a heavy SUV.
In hindsight, the only way that Chevrolet could have pulled off a Camaro utility vehicle would be to copy the Maserati Levante or Porsche Cayenne formula. A passenger car’s chassis is a must, and yes, Chevy would also need world-class engineers like those who worked their magic on the C8.
A Camaro SUV may be wishful thinking and a sacrilege to boot, but don’t forget that Ford has already taken this path with the Mustang Mach-E which features Escape rather than Mustang underpinnings. On that note, would you like Chevrolet to make the unthinkable happen at some point in the future?
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