A few days ago, the European patent office published a General Motors filing for a small, Chevrolet-badged version of the Opel Mokka née Buick Encore crossover. It doesn’t definitively reveal where Chevy intends to sell this version, but we’ve been told it won’t come here.
The renderings in the patent filing show a small SUV with the same proportions as the Buick and Opel twins. The differences: Besides the bow-tie badges front and rear, it looks like the stylists worked overtime with their straight-edge tools. Where the Opel and Buick are curvy, this Chevy version is hard-edged. It wears Chevy’s latest corporate grille and face, and features a kickup over the rear fender like that on the 2013 Malibu sedan.
Among Chevrolet’s reasons for not bringing this model here is that it feels that the Equinox and three-row Traverse cover enough of the market, and it says the duo is selling in sufficient numbers. This is the second recent Chevrolet SUV not to reach America: The new body-on-frame TrailBlazer won’t make a beachhead because it would overlap too much with the aforementioned Equinox and Traverse. Neither of those models are offered in Europe, however, where Opel is to Chevy what Buick is to Chevy in the U.S.; the German brand is positioned as a slightly more premium offering, and so Chevrolet has an opportunity to sell its own less-expensive version of the Mokka. The small crossover could also be destined for South American markets.
As for what the small crossover would be called, the patent filing didn’t include a name. But a quick search of European trademark filings include an application last year by Chevrolet for the “Tracker” nameplate. The trademark was granted and is good through 2020. You may recall Chevrolet sold a small SUV by the same name here in the U.S. from the late 1990s to the early 2000s, but it looks like we won’t get to experience the revival.
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