As you read this, the first examples of the 2025 Chevrolet Equinox are making their way into buyers’ homes. And while the fourth generation of the brand’s best-selling SUV has certainly marked a revival in design, the powertrain is less daring. For its first model year, the all-new Equinox offers just one engine: a 1.5-liter, turbocharged four-cylinder making 175 horsepower and up to 203 lb-ft of torque. However, all indications of GM suggest that a plug-in hybrid is on the way, but it may be a while before they actually do so.
During a launch event for the new SUV, The drive asked Chevrolet Global Vice President Scott Bell if there’s room for a hybrid in the Equinox family, since Chevy has both the ICE and EV extremes covered. Bell’s response was positive, to say the least.
“I think we’ve been pretty clear that we think plug-in hybrids play a role in the future of our portfolio,” Bell said. “There’s nothing to announce here today, but I think Mary (Barra, GM CEO) has said 2027 is the year we’re going to introduce that, and we have a lot of opportunities for plug-ins. We’re certainly staying close to what the consumer is looking for and asking for, but yes, there’s certainly room in our portfolio for it.”
Particularly plugged-in (sorry) enthusiasts will note that GM has actually already introduced a PHEV version of the new Equinox. It’s called the Equinox Plus, but at this point it’s only planned for China and will be produced via GM’s joint venture with SAIC for that market. The Equinox Plus improves on the performance of our turbo-four in a big way, supplementing that engine with a 188-hp electric motor to more than double the output of the ICE-only model. That’s a total of 365 hp and a staggering 416 lb-ft—in an equinox.
Whether it’s due to market differences, logistical, regulatory, or political hurdles (probably all of the above, if we had to hazard a guess), it seems unlikely that GM will simply bring the Equinox Plus to our shores, at least not in the form we recognize today. Bell recently described the Plus as GM Authority as “a vehicle with a different purpose” than the ICE Equinox, before noting that it is being produced in China. At the same time, Barra has indeed said that the company has “a solid plan” to introduce PHEVs within three years, in response to both consumer demand and the EPA’s increasingly stringent emissions regulations.
Many of the Equinox’s key rivals, like the Toyota RAV4, Honda CR-V and Hyundai Tucson, all offer some form of electrification, either via a conventional hybrid powertrain or a PHEV system. The 2025 Equinox starts at $31,080 shipped, still slips a few thousand under the $40,000 mark, even in its most expensive AWD Activ trim. But the rest of the compact SUV pack has proven that customers are willing to spend well above that threshold for the performance and efficiency that a hybrid powertrain delivers. GM’s focus on electric vehicles in recent years seems to have come at the expense of electrified, gas-burning cars, but whenever they finally arrive, it certainly sounds like an Equinox will be one of them.
Got any tips? Send them to tips@thedrive.com
