Chevrolet appears to have been staring over at Ford, playing around in the backyard next door with its shiny new Mustang Mach-E GT — it wants an electric performance crossover of its own, and it wants it now. Enter the Blazer EV SS, a crossover that has all the makings of the perfect matchup against the Mustang: Four doors, electric power, and absolutely zero parts shared with the pre-existing car from whence its name comes.
Chevy has teased the Blazer EV SS before, with a video in which a hand unplugs the car in an unlit room. That video calls the upcoming vehicle simply the Blazer SS, but Chevrolet appears to have since switched the naming convention to Blazer EV SS — a crucial distinction when the internal-combustion Blazer is still around.
The company hasn’t revealed any specs for the new car, but given the car’s six-lug hubs (seemingly shared with every other Ultium-platform EV) we can safely assume it will be built on that architecture. If this new Blazer gets the same 664 horsepower as the Silverado EV, it’ll truly be worthy of that SS badge in its grille.
What we do know from this single-photo tease, however, is that the design sure looks very close to production-ready. All the Is are dotted and Ts are crossed for DOT approval, from headlights to tires to the amber side reflectors so hated by American enthusiasts. While the odd cutout behind those reflectors still boggles the mind, its shape at least seems to serve a purpose -- it surrounds the door that grants access to the Blazer EV SS’s charging port.
To find that answer, we’ll have to wait just over a month. The Blazer EV, complete with SS trim, will be revealed in full on July 18. The crossover, which Chevy claims was “[d]eveloped from the ground up” (presumably in contrast to the traditional “start at the sunroof and work down” model of automotive design) is going up against some stuff competition wearing a blue oval badge. Only time will tell how it fares against those odds.