Chevy expects under-$25,000 Trax to become one of brand's top sellers

ASHEVILLE, N.C. — Chevrolet has tall hopes for its newest small crossover.

By the end of next year, the brand expects the redesigned 2024 Trax subcompact crossover to be its third-highest-selling vehicle, behind the Silverado full-size pickup and Equinox compact crossover.

General Motors' volume brand aims to do that by making a strategic play around affordability. All Trax trims start below $25,000 with shipping. Brand leaders say the Trax is loaded with technology and safety features that previous entry-level vehicles lacked, offering a significant value at well below the industry's average transaction price of more than $46,000.

That theme will highlight a marketing push Chevrolet plans to begin in June targeting buyers of the previous-generation Trax as well as owners of discontinued models, such as the defunct Cruze and Sonic sedans.

The Trax, which began reaching dealerships in March, is a key addition to the lineup this year for Chevy, a brand with several other important launches on the horizon in 2023.

"We just think we're going to kill it with this car," Chevrolet CMO Steve Majoros told Automotive News at a Trax media drive event here.

Trax production in South Korea ended last year, with the vehicle skipping the 2023 model year before being revived for 2024. The redesigned Trax, also made in South Korea, is roughly 4 inches lower, 2 inches wider and 11 inches longer than the 2022 version. It comes with a 1.2-liter turbocharged inline three-cylinder engine, producing 137 hp and 162 pound-feet of torque, that's paired with a six-speed automatic transmission.

It will be sold with front-wheel drive only to differentiate the Trax from the similar-sized Chevy Trailblazer. The Trailblazer is Chevrolet's all-wheel-drive entry vehicle and is positioned as a more SUV-styled option.

U.S. Trax sales peaked in 2019 at 116,816 before sliding to 26,597 last year amid supply and inventory constraints, according to the Automotive News Research & Data Center. Sales of the Trailblazer, by comparison, topped 60,000 last year, finishing fourth in the subcompact crossover segment behind the Subaru Crosstrek, Honda HR-V and Hyundai Kona.

Brand leaders said the Trailblazer is aimed at buyers of the Crosstrek, HR-V and Jeep Renegade, while the Trax will compete more with the Hyundai Venue and Nissan Kicks.

"We're very bullish on this segment. We're very bullish on the price point," Majoros said. "We're very bullish on the differentiation that we see in both the customer, the product proposition, the value proposition between [the Trax and Trailblazer], and I think we're going to kill it with both of these."

Chevy envisioned this evolution of the Trax when production of the Cruze compact sedan ended in 2019, Majoros said. The brand wasn't able to share the full Trax story arc at the time, he said, but the plan always was to use the nameplate to keep entry-level buyers engaged.

"Trax is a great example of a forethought plan that's done years in advance to manage portfolio, manage customer migration," he said. "There's still people with Pontiacs and various other General Motors products that love GM, love the relationship they have with their dealer, and we're now giving them the type of car at the price point that seems very right for them — and, frankly, very right for the times."

Vehicle prices have been rising throughout the pandemic and supply crunch, squeezing some consumers out of the new-vehicle market. Rising interest rates, higher gasoline prices and general economic uncertainty also mean "there probably couldn't be a better time" to launch the Trax at the lower end of the price spectrum, Majoros said.

"It feels very in tune with where America's head's at right now," he said. The marketing campaign, he added, is "all about a brand that is ready to tell people, 'We're in tune with what you're thinking and feeling.' "

Pricing ranges from $21,495 for the base LS trim to $24,995 for the 2RS and Activ trims, including shipping. Chevy says it's gearing the Trax at younger adults and empty nesters, and it also wants to balance the vehicle's gender mix, which has skewed more heavily toward women. The brand says it anticipates about half of buyers will choose the Activ trim or one of the RS trims — 1RS or 2RS.

Frank Kent Motor Co., which sells Chevrolet at its dealership in Corsicana, Texas, has customers on a wait list for the Trax for the first time, dealer principal Will Churchill said.

The new design improves its appeal with shoppers, particularly its styling given its price, Churchill said.

"New cars have become less affordable for a significant portion of the population, and usually when you get into a vehicle at that price point, for some reason, they're not the most desirable-looking vehicle," he said.

"The fact that automakers are putting design into the entry level is a smart thing," he added.

The Trax will come standard with Chevy Safety Assist, which includes automatic emergency braking, front pedestrian braking, lane-keep assist with lane-departure warning, and forward-collision alert. Previous versions did not have those features, Chevy said.

Andy Guelcher, dealer principal of Mohawk Chevrolet in Ballston Spa, N.Y., said the Trax will be "absolutely incredible" and allow Chevy to better compete in a fast-growing segment.

He said he is training his sales teams now on features the Trax offers since it has more content than other vehicles did at that price point in the past.

"I think it's going to be a home run, I really do," he said.

"There's a push to get these prices down but also get the content in the vehicle up so you're creating this great value for the consumer," Guelcher added. "In the past three years, all they have known is less content and more price increases, so it's trying to get back to that value proposition."