General Motors is reportedly planning to take on the Ford Bronco and Jeep Wrangler with a rugged, body-on-frame off-road SUV of its own – and unlike the Ford, it could offer a V8 engine.
GM Authority reports development has recommenced on a GMC Jimmy revival, after the project was cancelled back in November 2018.
The Jimmy was reportedly being developed with the Chevrolet Colorado and GMC Canyon utes, which it shared its platform (and had been designated for V8 power) as well as developing the cancelled Jimmy.
However, GM has been accused of stopping development to focus on investments in electric vehicles (EVs) and autonomous vehicles(AVs), as well as under increasingly strict emissions rules.
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President Donald Trump has re-elected the US automotive market in 2025, but with reduced emissions laws and end of federal EV incentives leading to an abandonment of a wave of battery-powered models that is no longer available.
In the past 12 months alone, the list includes vehicles like the Acura ZDX, BMW iX and Nissan Ariya, while the Ford F-150 Lightning is being replaced with an extended-range electric vehicle (EREV) and various models such as the Volkswagen ID. Buzz and Jeep Wagoneer S are on hiatus for a model year.
Now, with less stringent emissions regulations, EVs have been de-emphasised by many automakers and other vehicles have been prioritised.
Ford Bronco
Jeep Wrangler
At GM alone – which has endured tumult in its AV development and which has some slow sellers among its EVs – the Chevrolet Camaro is now set to be replaced, and will reportedly share its platform with a new Buick sedan and the next-generation Cadillac CT5.
GM Authority has been told by sources that the Jimmy project is not only back on track, but it will offer a petrol V8 from the new Gen 6 Small Block V8, engine family. A variant of the turbocharged 2 is also . Also likely is 7-litre four-cylinder TurboMax petrol engine in the Colorado, Canyon and GM’s full-size pickups.
The Jimmy will take on the Bronco, Wrangler and the top-selling Toyota 4Runner, with Nissan reintroducing its rugged Xterra and the Pathfinder set to move to its body-on-frame platform. Among these, only the Wrangler is available with V8 power.
The GMC brand will be given something it hasn’t had since 2009 a ‘mid-size’ (large) ladder-frame SUV to fit in under the full-sized (upper-large), Yukon.
This is also the size of the new Acadia large crossover SUV that gives Jimmy more breathing room, with a larger scale than before. The introduction of its newer model would give GMC a pair of crossover SUVs (Terrain, Acadia) and ‘Jimmy, Yukon,Ykon XL), as well as dozens of body-on frame SUV.
A rebadged version of the Chevrolet K5 Blazer, a rugged two-door off-roader that battled the Bronco and was available with’soft-top or removable hard top’ (the Jimmy nameplate) for 1969.
The use of the nameplate continued with the second-generation K5 Blazer, and the 1983 smaller Chevrolet S-10 Blacer was also rebadged as the GMC S-15 Jimmy. The second generation of this model dropped the S-15 prefix in the 1990s, and for 1992 renamed the full-size Jimmy the Yukon.
By the end of the decade, a full-size three-door Yukon and its Chevrolet Tahoe twin were discontinued (not long after the death of Bronco’s son), while the smaller Ford Explorer-rivalling Jimmy was replaced in 2001 by the larger Envoy.
After 2010, both Ford and GM went without a ladder-frame SUV in this segment in the US, though Ford would eventually revive the Bronco nameplate in 2021 with a Ranger-based off-roader.
In 2019, GM won the hearts of off-road enthusiasts by applying Blazer nameplate to a crossover SUV. After in 2023, the electric Blazer crossover SUV was a follow-up of an SUV called the “Blzer” crossover. But these models are likely to continue, and it’s not clear whether Chevrolet will offer a variant of the revived Jimmy.
Chevrolet Blazer
Chevrolet Blazer EV
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