Zac Quinn 
The Chevrolet Avalanche Sport Utility Truck hasn’t been in production since 2013, yet continue to be sorely missed. So, to pull on those heart strings, rendering artists Oscar Vargas and his friend Brian Mello have rendered their own take on how a modern Chevy Avalanche might look. And, man, do we miss it more than ever now.
Reimagining The Chevrolet Avalanche
The rendering starts by taking a T1 Chevrolet Suburban High Country, and slicing the back to turn it into a truck bed. And, perhaps as a joke, or perhaps to take the idea to where it deserves to go, the infamous plastic cladding from the original model made its way to the design. Just like 20 years ago, the look is polarizing, with the comment section ablaze with criticism.
They can be critique all they want, because that plastic served a purpose, as it’s highly cost effective to repair in relation to a painted body panel. And with all of that uncertainty out there on the road and off of it, we think the original Chevrolet Avalanche design had our best intentions in mind.
The Chevrolet Avalanche (and the Cadillac Escalade EXT) were victims of their own success and innovation. Aimed to serve customers who had growing families, but still had a need to haul myriad things and wanted more utility than an SUV, these vehicles would be the catalyst to what we now know as the crew cab pickup truck segment; the most popular cab configuration on the market today.
Spanning just two generations, the Chevrolet Avalanche and Cadillac Escalade EXT saw their final model years in 2013 after GM announced that production would end at the beginning of 2012. Sales had declined 2.6 percent after 2011, with only 20,088 vehicles sold. At the end, the Avalanche was powered by a 5.3L V8 engine that produced 320 horsepower, and delivered 15 MPG in the city and 21 MPG on the highway.
The focus towards electrification from General Motors would mean that if the Avalanche were to return, it would likely come as an electric vehicle since. It would have served as a great nameplate for an electric truck, but it looks like the big wigs settled on the Chevrolet Silverado EV name instead.
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