Chevrolet has taken the wraps off the compact 2025 Equinox, the fourth generation of the mainstream brand’s best-selling SUV. The new Equinox faces formidable competition in the industry’s largest-volume segment and steps up its game with new connectivity, standard safety technology, and tough design inspired by the bowtie brand’s trucks.
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The 2025 model marks 20 years since the Equinox was introduced, over which time it has sold about 3 million units. Expect it to hit dealerships in mid-2024 with pricing released close to arrival. While Equinox has traditionally eschewed hybrid engine upgrades and $40K high performance models compared to competitors, it has made its mark with an affordable machine in the $28K-$33K price range. The current model is manufactured in Mexico, which is where the next-generation Equinox will also be produced.
Even though General Motors Co. is pushing forward to have all-electric offerings, Chevy has continued to update its internal combustion engine lineup over the last 18 months. It’s unclear if this Equinox is the last gas-powered version of the top-selling SUV since GM is also launching this year an electrified version of the Equinox after pushing it back by a few months.
In 2023, the gas-powered Equinox’s market share in the segment was 7.3%, while the Honda CR-V led with 12.4%, followed by the Nissan Rogue with 9% and the Toyota RAV4 with 8.5%, according to data from Edmunds.com Inc., a vehicle information website.
“What you’re seeing for us is we’re elevating our game across the board with our SUVs, so now that we’ve had an opportunity to refresh the entire portfolio over the last 18 months, you’ll see every vehicle is notching up their game. … Equinox will be the same,” said Brad Franz, director of Chevrolet car and crossover marketing.
“We’re very aware that we are dealing with everyone’s top seller, so it’s incredibly important for us to be bringing a new Equinox to the market at this point. … We don’t see this segment slowing down.”
Whether or not Chevrolet develops another generation of the gas-powered Equinox will depend on what the customer wants.
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“We are reacting to the market and the market needs,” Franz said.
New trim, new design
The new Equinox has strong body lines to align with the Chevy truck lineup and the 2024 Traverse large SUV. “Compared to the last generation of Equinox, it’s just a little tougher, more-capable looking,” said Sam Bell, Chevrolet’s lead designer. “Our goal was to really push it towards the strength side of our portfolio.”
The design aligns with industry trends as SUVs and trucks dominate sales, and customers express an interest in the outdoors. The Toyota RAV4 also toughened up its wardrobe to echo its Tacoma pickup trick.
The Equinox loses its base LS trim for the 2025 model, which means the SUV will likely start at just over $30,000 as an LT model rather then the current $27,995. The lineup gains an all-new trim with the 2025 Equinox called Activ — following Activ trims for Chevy’s entry-level Trax and Trailblazer models — that comes with a unique front fascia and style designed for an off-road look with 17-inch machine-faced aluminum wheels. The Activ trim has all-terrain tires and is available with a white roof.
The Equinox has aluminum wheel choices ranging from the standard 17-inch to available 20-inch wheels on RS, which is a first for the SUV.
Following Chevy siblings from Trax to Blazer to Silverado, Equinox gains a broad dash display that includes an 11-inch-diagonal configurable driver information center and 11.3-inch-diagonal infotainment screen, which is 30% larger than the previous generation. The infotainment system will run on Google Built-In, an intuitive system that operates like a smartphone.
“We’ve really come leaps and bounds over the last generation,” Bell said.
The 175-horsepower, 1.5-liter turbo-4 cylinder engine carries over from the previous generation ute — but, to increase fuel economy, its ditches the six-speed automatic for a continuously variable transmission in front-wheel-drive configurations, and ads an eight-speed automatic transmission with available all-wheel drive.
For the first time, Equinox offers RS and Activ customers driver-selectable modes through a rotator on the center console where the driver can select between “normal” and “snow” on a front-wheel-drive equipped vehicle.
New safety features
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Chevrolet had been light on standard safety features on previous models, but takes a big step up with the 2025 Equinox. The SUV now comes with a laundry list of popular safety tech, including:
∎ Chevy Safety Assist bundles automatic emergency braking, forward collision alert, front pedestrian braking, following distance indicator, lane keep assist with departure warning and IntelliBeam, a lighting technology that will turn the high beams on and of as needed. Additonal standard goo-gaws include side bicyclist alert, rear vision camera, lane change alert with side blind zone alert, enhanced automatic emergency braking, rear cross traffic alert with braking, rear seat reminder, adaptive cruise control, rear park assist, and enhanced lane keep assist.
∎ Teen Driver, which provides an in-vehicle report card and has customizable settings, like preventing shifting from park if the driver’s seat belt isn’t fastened.
∎ Intersection Automatic Emergency Braking, which provides alerts and can automatically use hard emergency braking or enhance the driver’s hard braking.
“They’re following the competitors in making those features standard,” said Sam Abuelsamid, principal e-mobility analyst at market research firm Guidehouse Inc. “Toyota was the first to go down that pathway with making things like adaptive cruise and a lot of the other features standard. … GM is finally starting to do that now with their mainstream models like the Equinox.”
But, Abuelsamid noted, Chevrolet hasn’t yet revealed the price of the new Equinox and “they’re certainly not going to be giving us those features for free. It’ll probably be a noticeable price increase on the new generation.”
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Henry Payne is auto critic for The Detroit News. Find him at [email protected] or @HenryEPayne.
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