As you read this, the first examples of the 2025 Chevrolet Equinox are finding their way to buyers’ homes. And while the fourth generation of the brand’s best-selling SUV has certainly marked a glow-up in the design department, its powertrain is less bold. 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 from GM suggest a plug-in hybrid is on the horizon—it might just take them a minute to follow through.
At a launch event for the new SUV, The Drive asked Chevrolet Global Vice President Scott Bell if there’s space in the Equinox family for a hybrid, considering Chevy has both the ICE and EV extremes covered. Bell’s response was favorable, to say the least.
“I think we’ve been pretty clear that we think plug-in hybrids have a role in the future of our portfolio,” Bell said. “Nothing to announce here today, but you know I think Mary [Barra, GM CEO] has been on record that 2027 is kind of the year that we would start to introduce that, and we have a lot of opportunities for plug-ins. We’re gonna certainly stay close to what the consumer is looking at and demanding but yes, there’s room in our portfolio for it, for sure.”
Especially plugged-in (sorry) enthusiasts will note that GM has, in fact, already introduced a PHEV version of the new Equinox. It’s called the Equinox Plus, but at the moment, it’s slated for China only and will be produced via GM’s joint venture with SAIC for that market. The Equinox Plus improves on our turbo-four’s performance 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 due to differences between the markets, or logistical, regulatory, or political hurdles (probably all of the above, if we had to hazard a guess), GM seems less likely to straight up bring the Equinox Plus to our shores, at least in the form we recognize today. Bell recently described the Plus to GM Authority as “a vehicle with a different purpose” from the ICE Equinox, before noting that it’s manufactured in China. At the same time, Barra has indeed said that the company has “a solid plan” to introduce PHEVs within three years, both in response to consumer demand and the EPA’s ever-tightening emissions criteria.
Many of the Equinox’s key rivals, like the Toyota RAV4, Honda CR-V, and Hyundai Tucson, all offer some manner of electrification, whether through a conventional hybrid powertrain or a PHEV system. The 2025 Equinox will start at $31,080 shipped, and still slides in a few grand under $40K even in its most expensive AWD Activ trim. But the rest of the compact SUV set has proven customers are willing to spend well above that threshold for the performance and efficiency afforded by a hybrid powertrain. GM’s focus on EVs in recent years appears to have come at the expense of electrified fuel-burning cars, but when they do finally arrive, it sure sounds like an Equinox will be among them.
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