Chevy isn’t pausing to catch its breath. They’re already cooking up a second-generation Equinox EV. The timeline? Late 2028. Maybe early 2029. It feels fast. Aggressive, even.
The first-gen model barely settled into dealer lots before GM decided it was time for a sequel.
Why replace a top seller so quickly?
Here’s the weird part. The Equinox EV was actually the star last year. It sold 57,945 units in 2025. More than any non-Tesla EV on the market. It was the people’s choice. Affordable. Practical.
Then the numbers crashed.
By the first half of 2026, Chevy had only moved 16,249 of them. That dropped the crossover to fifth place. Behind the Toyota bZ. Behind the Hyundai Ioniq 5. The Bolt is back, sure, and it won EV of the Year. But the momentum for the Equinox has stalled. Sales dipped drastically.
Does that stop General Motors? No. It doesn’t.
Instead of fixing the marketing, they’re rebuilding the car.
The BEV-N shift
The report from GM Authority says the new model won’t just be a facelift. It will swap platforms.
Currently, the Equinox rides on the BEV3 platform. You’ve seen this before. It’s under the Chevy Blazer EV. It holds up the Cadillac Lyriq. Even the Celestiq uses a version of this architecture. It’s GM’s current backbone for EVs.
The next-gen Equinox will move to the BEV-N architecture.
Why does that matter?
BEV-N is newer. It’s designed specifically for mass-market vehicles. It’s cheaper to build. Lighter. More efficient. Moving the Equinox to BEV-N signals that Chevy wants to dominate the sub-$40k EV market again. They aren’t trying to make a luxury car here. They want volume.
“We cannot comment on future product plans.”
A Chevy spokesperson gave the standard corporate shrug when Car and Driver asked for confirmation. Standard procedure. But the plan is reportedly solid. A 2029 model year vehicle hitting the streets.
What this means for the EV market
If this happens, the first-generation Equinox will have a remarkably short lifespan. It launched for the 2024 year. Now we’re talking about a replacement before 2029. That’s barely five years of production. Unheard of in traditional auto. Common in tech. Rare in Detroit.
The question isn’t whether Chevy will build it. It’s whether they’ll fix what’s wrong with the current one. The sales drop wasn’t just a glitch. Competitors like the Ioniq 5 and the upcoming bZ models are aggressive. The market is crowded.
Chevy thinks a new platform solves that.
They bet that BEV-N can lower costs enough to undercut rivals while keeping profit margins intact. If they’re right, the Equinox stays relevant. If they’re wrong, we’re just watching another GM EV experiment fade into the background.
We’ll see in 2028. Until then, the Bolt carries the crown.
