Rendering Comparison: 2013 Chevrolet Traverse MCE

Rendering Comparison: Welcome to my new segment on AR where I'll be comparing my renderings against the new production vehicles. This will mostly apply to MCEs that I speculate on from time to time.

So let's get down to business with the original vehicle and my rendering. Then we'll see how close I got to the real deal.

I did the MCE (show above in blue) early after the release of the original Traverse (shown above in silver). I found the rear end lacking details so I redesigned it to align more visually with the Equinox.

When I saw Chevrolet actual MCE for 2013 (see below) I was blown away buy how close many of the alterations I did were actually made!

Confirmed Edits:

Chop	Description
Tailgate	Moved tailgate handle to bottom and grafted the license place area from that of the Equinox
Tail Lights	Added clear lens to outer light housing.
Rear Bumper	After moving license plate up into tail gate I smoothed over the bumper cover for a unified look

What do you think - pretty close huh? :)

All source photos copyright original owners

Rumored: 2014 Malibu MCE

Personal File: There has been a lot of talk about the sudden about-face - literally - on Chevrolet brand vehicles. With the new Impala and updated Traverse, Chevrolet has set about to remake their now established split face grille.

Not surprisingly, the 2013 Malibu was unveiled and later released without the new corporate face established with the vehicles above. Development had long since been done. Rumors flew and were confirmed by January of this year that an unplanned 18-month MCE would be done to "adjust" the look as well as address rear seating concerns and other issues.

Wondering how the new "beak" would look I decided to try a rendering similar to the Cruze I did last year. I've seen online where many artists have simply copied the entire Impala over the front of the car but I doubt it will be a literal Xerox copy. My theory is GM will spend as little money as possible on hard points and focus instead on the hood, front fascia, grilles, and lighting assemblies.

Using my newly integrated Before-and-After plugin, here is my take on what the MCE might look like. What do you think? Click around the image or move the slider to view different areas of the chop. Or click the before and the after buttons below the rendering. Comments on the rendering or the new plugin are appreciated!

I just read on Jalopnik the new face might be making a special appearance at New York NAIAS - that would be a great way to end a great showing for Chevrolet! It has been a great show for GM.

All source photos copyright original owners

Thoughts on the Chevrolet Traverse (updated)

Personal File: I can't help it. Every time I see a new Chevrolet Traverse I want to smack the designers who approved that rear end upside the head. The crossover design is overall very well done for a vehicle this large but they really missed the mark on the rear end. Largely void with uninspriring tail lights that sit far too high on the rear fenders, it looks sorely out of touch with the rest of the design.

After seeing more and more of these pop up around my area, I couldn't help but come home last night and raid some Equinox bits for the liftgate handle and license plate holder, lowered the rear fenders, adjusted the side rear glass, hand brushed the lower bumper, and cleaned up the tail lights by adding LTZ style treatments to match the Malibu. While the changes are not drastic, they really help punch up the rear end design and give the vehicle a clean and interesting view.

What do you think - better or worse?

All source photos copyright original owners