Chevy Equinox, GMC Terrain Drop Diesel Engine

General Motors announced that it will be dropping the diesel engine from its crossovers, Chevrolet Equinox and GMC Terrain. Although crossovers still have a good following in the market, the company said it is not the same for diesel versions of the vehicles.

“We have discontinued the diesel engine option for the 2020 Chevrolet Equinox due to low demand,” GM spokesperson Kevin Kelly said.

It was only for the 2018 model year when the 1.6-liter turbo-diesel powertrain was added to the models, but it failed to provide good sales turnout for GM. The diesel powertrain was supposedly part of a total redesign for the Chevy Equinox, followed by the release of the same option for the GMC Terrain in the same year.

“Diesel represented a very small percentage of sales. We believe in diesels in segments where customer interest is higher. The Canyon continues to offer a diesel, the Sierra will offer an all-new and refined 3.0-liter Duramax for 2020, and the next-gen Sierra HD is shipping to dealers now with the most capable Duramax ever,” said another spokesperson Stuart Fowle.

When the company first introduced the diesel-powered Equinox, it tried to attract buyers with its high fuel economy, even using it as the jump-off point of their “ghost your gas station” campaign. But as it turns out, it was GM that was ghosted by the customers.

In 2018, GM sold a total of 332,618 Equinox CUV and Terrain units. But this number has significantly dropped in the first six months of 2019 with the company only selling 174,157 units of the same models. They also did not state how many of these sold SUVs were diesels.

According to the Diesel Technology Forum, only 3,045 units of Terrain diesels were sold in 2018. If this was the case, then maybe it was good riddance for GM indeed.