www.ADandP.media
AD&P; ∕ OCTOBER 2017
CHEVROLET TRAVERSE
NOT SEPARATED AT BIRTH
With all of the activity in the crossover segment, it is
somewhat hard to believe that the 2018 Chevrolet Traverse is
the second generation of the three-row vehicle. The first-gen
Traverse appeared in 2008 as a model year 2009 vehicle. This
is not to say that the vehicle has stayed frozen in amber for
the last nine years, as there have been enhancements and
modifications made along the way.
But for the 2018 Traverse, Dean Perelli, the vehicle chief
engineer, says, they did a completely new vehicle, outside,
inside and under the hood.
When the first-gen Traverse came out, it shared a substantial
amount of its underpinnings (a.k.a., the Lambda platform) with
the GMC Acadia and the Buick Enclave. The second-gen Acadia
appeared as a 2017 model year crossover. They are both on a
newly developed platform (which is no longer called Lambda).
But the Traverse is built at the Lansing Delta Township plant in
Michigan and the Acadia at the Spring Hill plant in Tennessee.
And while the Traverse and the Acadia have similarities, Perelli
points out that these are two distinctly different vehicles.
Take the dimensions, for example:
2018 2018
Chevrolet Traverse GMC Acadia
Wheelbase (in.): 120.9 112.5
Length: 204.3 193.6
Width: 78.6 75.4
Height: 70.7 66
Max. cargo (ft
3
): 98.2 79
Pass. volume (ft
3
): 157.3 143.8
One of the features that Rich Scheer, exterior design director,
calls out on the Traverse is the D-Optic LED headlamp, which
is available on the Premier and High Country trim levels. The
D-Optic, which was developed by supplier Magna, features a
single-component lens rather than a multi-component optical
system. Then energy-efficient LEDs are used for illumination.
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