Chevrolet Trailblazer SUV unveiled in Dubai

At the Dubai International Motor Show on Thursday, General Motors unveiled the Trailblazer SUV. The Trailblazer sits on the Chevrolet Colorado pickup's platform like its competitor Ford Endeavour that shares mechanicals with the Ranger pickup or the Toyota Fortuner that uses services of the Hilux pickup.

GM says production of the Trailblazer starts in Thailand during early 2012. It does not list markets on this vehicle's radar and instead says its a global model. Do we sense a launch here?

Will GM India consider the Trailblazer and use the Free Trade Agreement between the two countries to get to a good price point? As the Captiva facelift is also testing in India, we're not sure if there is a two product SUV strategy. There is however a gap between the Optra Magnum and Captiva that badly needs an SUV. This is the logic behind the Mahindra XUV500's introduction.

GM India used to sell the Forester, from the Subaru product division, for this very same segment. However lack of numbers made them pull the plug on what otherwise was a great alternative to a sedan. GM has brought products like the Forester and SR-V way ahead of their time.

The Trailblazer has a common vein with new generation GM vehicles. It has an aggressively treated front end, bold headlamps, power-dome hood, 20 inch alloy wheels, LED lights at the front, on the mirrors and at the back, plenty of detailing on the sheet metal and a rounded design.

A 7 seater with a highly usable third row, the Trailblazer is powered by a 2.8-liter engine diesel engine. More details are awaited as we near the Thai launch.

Chevrolet Trailblazer Image Gallery