If there’s one brand within the General Motors portfolio that has a ton of potential right now, it’s GMC. The luxury-angled SUV and truck maker is a north star in the eyes of millions of Americans, both for their fancy pickups and for their kitted-out crossovers.
But with the Acadia growing into a proper three-row back in 2024, and the Terrain sitting comfortably in the compact crossover segment, there’s a hole in the company’s lineup that doesn’t cover one of the industry’s most important segments: The midsize SUV.
According to a new report from GM Authority, that’s about to change. And GMC could be getting back into the midsize arena with one of its most iconic nameplates.
The Jimmy’s Return Could Be Back On The Table
The Jimmy was a mainstay in GMC’s lineup for decades, first as a rebadged K5 Blazer, before switching to sharing a body with the S-10 Blazer, then, in the mid-1990s, the Trailblazer. Like the Trailblazer, the most recent Jimmy offered the ruggedness and off-road capability of a body-on-frame design, making it appealing for adventurers on a budget. Our very own David Tracy took a Trailblazer off-roading a couple of years back and walked away impressed.
Back in 2019, in a since-deleted article, Motor1 reported that GMC was working on a new body-on-frame vehicle to compete against the then-new Bronco. Allegedly, this SUV would’ve used the Jimmy nameplate and would’ve come with available V8 power. But it was reportedly axed from development towards the end of 2018 following a restructuring of GM that involved layoffs.
Now, according to this new GM Authority report, which cites unnamed sources, the Jimmy project is reportedly back on the table. From the article:
During its initial development phase, the GMC Jimmy was described internally as both “bold” and “capable,” with plans that even included a V8 engine option. Now, relaxed emissions and fuel economy regulations rolled out by the Trump administration have altered the landscape, and GM Authority sources tell us that GM is reassessing its previously shelved GMC Jimmy plans, including the possibility of a V8 powerplant under the hood.
There doesn’t seem to be many details beyond that, so it’s unclear right now whether such a car would keep that original body-on-frame layout or switch to a more road-friendly unibody, crossover layout. I’ve reached out to GMC to see if they’d tell me anything else, though I haven’t heard back. Automakers rarely ever comment on future products, so I’m not expecting much.
Why This Makes Sense
Adding another car to GMC’s lineup feels pretty reasonable right now. Since the Acadia’s third-row growth spurt, the brand hasn’t had a true midsize crossover in its lineup. Reviving the Jimmy—a well-known nameplate that already resonates with a large swath of buyers—could be a smart way to re-enter the highly competitive segment.
If GMC were to stick with the body-on-frame approach, it would also mean General Motors could finally have the true Ford Bronco and Jeep Wrangler competitor people—including myself—have been asking for for years. Hell, if it really wanted to, GM could revamp the current body-on-frame Trailblazer it sells in overseas markets, which I wrote about last month, for the American market. But doing so would conflict with what GM President Mark Reuss told The Drive back in 2023 about why the brand doesn’t have a Bronco competitor. He told the publication, “I’m not gonna do a Bronco” for several reasons:
The first is simple. Reuss explained that he doesn’t want to be “late to the party.” Doing a Bronco competitor now would put the brand plumb last in bringing a two-row, body-on-frame 4×4 to the market. The second has to do with emissions. Reuss claimed that Ford has to sell trucks like the Maverick as a hybrid because doing so many cars powered by internal combustion hurts Ford’s corporate average fuel economy. He doesn’t want to move backward in that regard.
Like I mentioned when I wrote about that Trailblazer, a lot has changed since 2023. Sales of the Bronco are as robust as ever, proving there’s a lasting market for body-on-frame off-roaders. And, as GM Authority mentioned, the federal government announced back in July that it would no longer penalize manufacturers for not meeting fleetwide emissions standards, so GM no longer has to worry about whether a new Jimmy with an available V8 will drag down its fuel economy scores.
It’s also possible that GMC could just play the corporate rebadge game and add a slightly different-looking Chevy Blazer to its lineup, and call it the new Jimmy. While that wouldn’t be nearly as exciting, it would still fill the gap in its lineup without having to spend much on development. Either way, I’m curious to see what’s next.
Top graphic image: General Motors
I’d rather that GMC brought back the Sprint. No, not the Chevy Sprint (although that would be fun) but I mean the real GMC Sprint, aka the GMC El Camino.
No, no, no. The Trailblazer that David drove and we all know and love is a completely different animal from the last Jimmy. GMC’s version of the Trailblazer was the Envoy. I think where you’re getting hung up is that before we had the Chevy Trailblazer, we had the S10 Blazer, which had a Trailblazer appearance package. Sort of like how Ford used to have the Ranger package for it’s F-series trucks, and the Edge package for the Ranger.
GM has to be one of the worst companies with model names.
Would not be surprised if the Jolt was in development
Wow, I never noticed that.
I know Jolt was trademarked by GM and I remember a rumor that they also trademarked “Zolt” lol
GM gonna GM
What a bunch of Dolts.
Looks like it is reportedly going to be BOF and not just a re-badged mid-sized Blazer. I wonder if the Chevy version is going to be the next Blazer they’ve rumored or if they’ll call it something else.
They definitely aren’t going to make a GMC only truck/SUV without making a Chevy counterpart
honestly BOF 2 row (or possibly 3 row) jimmy with the 2.7 turbo 4×4 with all wheel drive and low range transfer case i would be a buyer.
I think if they lean more 4runner (fixed roof) and less Bronco or Wrangler, they’ll have a hit.
agree!
I’d like to see it happen but I bet there’s a better name they could use than Jimmy. Some legacy names are best left retired.
They could move it upmarket and call it the James
But, that might suit Buick better
Base it on the mid-size Colorado/Canyon pickup. They are already the best looking pickups in their segment. The Colorado has quite an aggressive look without needing to rely on retro-themes like the Jeep, Ford and Scout do. Get rid of the bed, give it a hatch, and offer some 35″s and it would be a good body-on-frame SUV competitor. And offering a more lux version with the GMC would be very smart. The GMC Canyon still looks great, but quite different than the more agro-looking Chevy.
Especially since the Colorado/Canyon is already available with 35″ tires if you spring for the Bison or AT4X.
Seriously, just make an SUV version of the mid sized truck you already sell.
I’m with y’all on this. Claw back the Blazer name and make the SUV based on these trucks. Blazer and Envoy.
It doesn’t have to be called Blazer. They have other names in their history which were off road trucks.
Under Chevrolet in the US? What would that be?
Blazer? Taken
TrailBlazer? Taken
K5? Wouldn’t really make sense and wasn’t really a badged nameplate without Blazer attached.
Suburban? Taken
Tahoe? Taken
I guess they could use Cheyenne, but that was a trim package and is more attached to pick-ups than it was on Suburbans and Blazers.
Or they could use CarryAll, but that was also paired with Suburban.
What’s wrong with Colorado K5? Distinguish the pickup from the SUV. Or Colorado S-10? If this SUV is based on the Colorado, it makes sense to me. What about Tracker?
Or, let’s be real here – the current naming scheme for their trucks, is to name it after a location. Colorado is a state, Silverado and Tahoe are towns, and Suburban is a type of place. I could see them name it after a town like Boulder or something along those lines.
They can’t use K5 because that’s a Kia sedan now.
Are you just pulling old model names out of a hat, or are you trying to apply them appropriately?
Colorado K5 makes zero sense. K5 (supposedly) referenced a shorter wheelbase than the K10 it was based on. So unless they shrink the wheelbase (they won’t) that’s kind of a weird reference. Also, using Colorado is also weird, because historically the actual name part is what changed (ie Blazer). Also, why are we throwing it on the end now, when it used to be used in the front?
Same basic argument for the S10, especially since S10 was the originating platform. The S10 was the pickup, the S10 Blazer was a reference that it was based on the pickup, but was a Blazer and not a pickup. It also differentiated it from the larger K5 Blazer. Calling it a Colorado S10 isn’t really a throwback to that, but again, just picking a name out of a hat and throwing it on there because it’s old.
I guess we could use Tracker, but does that really carry any cachet?
I guess my whole premise of my comment is that there really isn’t any historical names that Chevrolet has they could apply here, without being “weird” and not a good fit anymore. It’s like the current Blazer or Mustang EV. Just names taken out of a hat and applied to a new vehicle that shares very little with the vehicles the name was originally taken from.
You do know that GM (and the car industry in general) has a long history of reusing names, right? Or names that used to be trim-levels and now applying them to unique models? The name of some (hopefully) upcoming mid-sized BoF SUV should be the LEAST of people’s concerns. GM hasn’t even made this upcoming model “official” yet, and people are getting bent out of shape for the least important part – what’s it going to be called. If it is a worthy competitor to the Wrangler and Bronco, I don’t care if they call it “Fred” it will sell well.
Its worked wonders for Ford. But alas, GM also hasn’t tried to copy Ford’s success with the Raptor either, so IDK if it’s just a pride/spite thing at this point?
It could share so many parts to keep costs down. Literally from the B pillars forward, I think it could be 90% the same vehicle.
Hell, they used to do things like that and it was actually pretty cool. Remember when the C/K10 (and Silverado) and Suburban were the same from like the B-pillar forward?
i love the colorado / canyon i just hate the short beds. i want a 4 door colorado with with a 6 foot bed.
Have never needed the longer bed and I’ve hauled 12′ long lumber in mine. A $100 bed extender gives me the longer length I need 3 or 4x a year, and I can remove that and get the far easier parking situation that I can get with the shorter 5′ bed. And for 4×8′ sheet goods, I don’t even need the extender at all since it has a 2 height tailgate.
For my needs, I wouldn’t even consider a longer bed.
The original K5’s Blazer and Jimmys just became the Tahoe and Yukon on the GMT400 platform (my dad still has my fiance’s old 94 blazer with 250k miles haha) The GMC switch over right away on the GMT400 while the blazer name stuck around for a little bit before it became the Tahoe.
Every time I see another one of this vehicle type announced, I ask myself, why does a rich country like the USA not have any roads?
Depends on the state, a lot of places have terrible roads, some of it environmental, some due to laws.
For example in Los Angeles if they’re resurfacing a road longer than 1/8th a mile long they’re mandated by law to add bike lanes and bus lanes, so the new solution has been just “large asphalt repairs” and not fixing the underlying problems because then they have to add the bike lanes and bus lanes and that costs more time and money.
In most places unless you have to have good ground clearance to keep your front facia from scraping when entering and exiting parking lots.
Ironically off road cars make for surprisingly capable on crap road cars.
Where I live the roads are great, still got the front facia parking lot entrance/exit scraping issue though
A terrible road in the US is very different than a terrible road in, you know, Africa.
Depends. I’ve driven on a lot of paved roads much worse than mostly unmaintained dirt roads.
Often unmaintained/undermaintained infrastructure is worse than no infrastructure at all.
If you’re seriously comparing a poorly paved road in LA to some of the roads in Africa, then I don’t even know how to respond.
Too busy spending it on tax breaks for the rich and military expeditions.
People like to project the illusion that they go off road, because that seems like a more exciting and appealing lifestyle than they actually have. Along the lines with wearing athletic attire to go to the supermarket, just because the only stop you’re making on the way home is the McDonalds drive through, doesn’t mean everyone else needs to know that, strangers might assume you’re going to the gym and that’s probably what you want them to think
Yes this. Also explains my objection to seeing ball caps everywhere.
I like to cosplay boring with my base model Golf and dressing like I work at Best Buy.
Oh, I thought it was Jimnys that were back.
Damn cataracts.
This thing, what’s the point?
Now that Pontiac and Oldsmobile dealers no longer walk amongst us, where do they sell GMCs anyway?
Why not both? Slap a Tracker badge on some Jimnys to bring over and balance out the CAFE hit from the new Jimmys?
Well, CAFE has been given the boot, and the Jimny still doesn’t meet safety regs.
Buick dealers, for the buyer who’s needs and preferences indicate they should drive a Buick but isn’t ready to be seen in one.
GMC made it through the bankruptcy because:
A. It was profitable
B. Buck was profitable but mostly sold cars
C. Most Buick dealers were paired with a GMC dealer
D. Buick + GMC gave those dealers a full lineup.
Today it makes no sense as both Buick and GMC sell the same crossover and compete with each other. However, it would cost billions to buy out the dealerships and they seem to still make money.
Buick survived the bankruptcy because they were selling extremely well in China at the time.
Yes, China was one of the reasons. They were also still profitable in the USA and had 4 new cars in the pipeline (Verano, Regal, Lacrosse, Cascada) After the bankruptcy reorg there was only one overlapping model between GMC and Buick in 2010.
In the end the 4 GM brands that were making money stayed and the 4 brands losing money were killed off. The feds (correctly in my opinion) wanted to reduce GM to only Chevy / Cadillac.
Below is the official statement from GM.
A LETTER TO THE EDITOR OF AUTOMOTIVE NEWS FROM GM VP SUSAN DOCHERTY
SUSAN DOCHERTY, Vice President, U.S. Sales, General Motors Co., Detroit, October 26, 2009
To the Editor:
Regarding Robert E. Cherney’s Oct. 19 letter, “Why kill Pontiac? Why keep Buick?”: I’d like to assure your readers that phasing out Pontiac was one of the most difficult decisions of my career but also one of the most necessary.
Pontiac had been unprofitable for several years. A team, many of whom were passionate about the brand, tried in vain to save Pontiac and make it profitable — but none of the scenarios proved viable.
We kept Buick in the General Motors family because it is highly profitable and will grow with new models for the next few years, giving Buick an offering in several sedan and crossover segments.
The Enclave is already a market success, with 50 percent of the buyers brand new to Buick. The 2010 LaCrosse is performing well, attracting younger buyers and those who are trading in imports like Lexus and Acura. And the 2011 Regal, a mid-sized sport sedan, arrives in U.S. dealerships in the spring. The Regal is already a hot seller in China and is based on the highly successful Opel Insignia, the 2009 European Car of the Year. A little further down the road, there will be a compact sedan and a small crossover joining the family.
We feel confident that we chose to save the right brand and that Buick has a bright future ahead of it.
GMC gives Buick dealers a truck line to sell. Plus, Sierras are for professionals who need something less amateur than the Silverado
If it looks like that, leave it dead. GM already ruined the Blazer name.
Just as long as the make the Raptor fighting variant and name it the Rustler
2 hours and no one picked up on that joke? Let me fix that for you. https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/that-really-rustled-my-jimmies
I can be the mascot!
GM Exec: “You know, Toyota has been pretty successful selling a decades old 4-Runner and people seem to enjoy overlanding…maybe we jump in?”
Senior GM Exec (twirling his moustache): “Nope. It’s a fad.”
*/ Jeep updates the Wrangler and releases the Gladiator
GM Exec: “Did you see the Gladiator? I really think we’re missing out on…”
Senior GM Exec (alphabetizing his Tom Selleck movies): “Nope. It’s a fad.”
*/ Ford introduces the Bronco
GM Exec: “so Ford’s doing pretty well with that Bronco they introduced…”
Senior GM Exec (watching a re-run of Smokey and the Bandit): “We need to think about the MPGs more than Fads.”
*/ Nissan announced a new X-Terra and rugged Pathfinder
GM Exec: “Sir… Nissan is correcting themselves… don’t you think it’s time???”
Senior GM Exec (straightening the labels on his Jim Beam bottles): “We can’t make decisions based on every change Nissan makes! We just can’t!”
*/ Hyundai announces the BoF Boulder
GM Exec: “Seriously. Hyundai is getting there first. All we have to do is put a cover on a Silverado and call it a Jimmy.”
Senior GM Exec (testing out his new leather desk pad): “Jimny you say? Hmm… I bet we can buy those Suzuki. We have a hybrid ‘vette now, I bet we can add a third row and make it a hybrid. Make the call!”
GM Exec: “I said Jimmy… never mind. I quit.”
I’m guessing it will be a rebadged Blazer with GMC looks, which could be fine I guess? I tend to like how the GMCs look vs the Chevy counterparts. They could rebadge the EV one too although they haven’t done the same for the Equinox/Terrain. Either way, I’d be shocked to see a V8 in anything, but it would be cool!
It’ll simply be another over-inflated crossover that looks like everyone else’s current generic crossover designs. Nobody will care.
I read this as Jimny, and was happy.
And then I was sad when I re-read.
There is a Jimny sized hole in the market that this can’t fit through.
Same I am now a sad panda
“Reuss claimed that Ford has to sell trucks like the Maverick as a hybrid because doing so many cars powered by internal combustion hurts Ford’s corporate average fuel economy.”
What is he talking about. Ford has a bunch of hybrids, while GM has one, the E-RAY. With gas being pretty expensive right now, they’re not really competitive due to the lack of hybrids. Maybe make an EREV Colorado and Jimmy and they will be on to something.
The Toyota 4Runner: “Am I nothing to you?”
I’m always baffled why the major makers have essentially ceded this whole segment to the 4Runner/Jeep/Bronco. There’s a group for whom the next vehicular step down (Rav4 or Highlander on the Toyota side, Bronco sport on the Ford side) are inadequate – the kinds of people who want a vehicle that’ll fit in urban parking areas, won’t scrape in alleys, but can still tote dogs and bikes into the backcountry. And for those people, the only options are the 4Runner/Bronco/Jeep, with the latter two in particular having some significant recall/highway-comfort downsides. Something built on an S-10/Colorado frame would be a great competitor to the market incumbents, especially given the lack of trust people have for Jeep (4xe recalls, anyone?) and Ford at the moment. GMC has long been considered blandly reliable (no teenager reaches adulthood without riding in the back of a 1500 or the third row of a Suburban), so there’s no brand reputation management issues here, either.
I choose to believe this is because GM executives (confirmed to read and comment here, at least occasionally) have taken my repeated and passionate ranting on this topic to heart.
Doing the Lord’s work
I’ve been asking for this for years! I may even be willing to put up with the miserable Turbomax fuel economy because of how reliable it seems to be.
If they release it, that means the next economic bubble burst is about to happen. Prices are getting out of control, inflation doesnt stop, the current administration… no words. They could use the Colorado platform to expand to the GMC product offering, but I dont expect a high volume from it.
HOLY HUMMER T3 ALPHA, Batman you are correct!
COTD
“GM no longer has to worry about whether a new Jimmy with an available V8 will drag down its fuel economy scores.”
No – they only have to worry whether consumers will be willing to accept 12mpg* in an era of $5+ fuel prices.
*Your Mileage May Vary
It’s been over twenty years.
It goes by GMC James now.
GMC Jimothy tyvm
GMC Jimbob
GMC James Tiberius Kirk, reporting for duty.
Jim.
I am and always will be your wrencher.
Are they still planning on offering the V8? Regulations would seemingly be favorable for that at this exact moment… however, take rate might be low for that option until leaders quit electing to be in elective global conflicts that threaten oil supply lines.
Offering the V8, but having the base engine be the 4cyl Turbomax would be ok. A low take rate halo would still drive people into the showroom, and as we’re seeing the high end of the market isn’t suffering as much as the low end, so they’d probably still sell every V8 they make.
The 1st gen Acadia had a third row (along with a decent towing capacity). It lost that row with the 2nd gen.
It was optional in the 2nd gen but good luck finding a 2nd gen without it.
2nd gen Acadia still had the 3rd row, just they shrunk it a lot (closer to say, the Highlander), and I think was just a 2-place 3rd row not 3-across. It did have the option for a 2-row version for a time, I think in the AT4.
I for one am excited for GM to abandon this project as soon as it starts getting interesting.
The Blazer is supposed to come back for a 2nd generation as a 27 or 28 model. I hope this isn’t just a renamed badge job of that car for their Buick/GMC dealerships