GM fans may have been robbed of potentially one of the coolest SUVs on the market. According to GM Authority, back in 2017 there were plans to make a GMC Jimmy, something that would rival today’s Ford Bronco and Jeep Wrangler. Not only that, though, it would have come with a V8 option.
Sources close to GM Authority claim that a reborn GMC Jimmy was to be built on a modified version of the Chevy Colorado’s and GMC Canyon’s 31xx chassis, dubbed the 32xx. Since GMC was planning a V8 engine option, it required chassis modifications from the 31xx, which made it slightly unique. More importantly, those chassis changes made it too expensive for GM to build a Chevy version, so it would have been a GMC-exclusive. It also would have been completely different from the Chevy Blazer of today, which is a front-wheel-drive-based crossover.
The Jimmy’s base engine reportedly would have been GM’s 2.7-liter turbocharged four-cylinder “TurboMax” engine, which would have helped it start at around $40,000. However, a V8 version would have separated itself from its competitors. Admittedly, the Jeep Wrangler 392 currently packs a V8 engine but that didn’t exist at the time. The Jimmy would have been first to bring eight cylinders to the segment. And maybe if the Jimmy V8 existed, Ford may have opted to put a V8 of its own in the Bronco Raptor, rather than its twin-turbo V6.