2020 Chevy Equinox and GMC Terrain crossovers will be lacking diesel units

General Motors (GM) is officially axing the diesel powertrains for two of its nameplates. Chevy Equinox and GMC Terrain crossovers will not be getting turbodiesel mills for the 2020 model year, which are available with the current and previous year models. 

The 1.6-liter turbodiesel mill was introduced in the two lineups for the 2018 model year. The company had also tried to persuade folks with its "ghost your gas station" campaign which, however, didn’t land convincingly to the court. Despite the popularity of the crossover segment and commendable acceptance of the two nameplates by the buyers, the diesel powertrains aren’t pleasing enough to keep them alive, as the company believes.

After confirming the discontinuation news, GM spokesman Kevin Kelly said, "We have discontinued the diesel engine option for the 2020 Chevrolet Equinox due to low demand." Making things more clear, he also asserted that the company will be offering only two turbocharged gas engines in the Terrain for 2020.

"Diesel represented a very small percentage of sales. We believe diesel units in segments, where customer interest is higher. The Canyon continues to offer a diesel, the Sierra will offer an all-new and refined 3.0-liter Duramax for 2020, and the next-gen Sierra HD is shipping to dealers now with the most capable Duramax ever," Kelly added.

The spokesperson’s explanations are quite satisfactory. Despite the fact that 1.6-liter turbo-diesel heart along with the front-wheel-drive layout of the top-end trims returned an impressive fuel economy figures, the higher retail costs refrained buyers from opting it. The entry-level 2019 diesel Equinox or the LT trim has the base price of $32,495, which is $2400 more than the same trim with a gas mill. The rest variants also share the same story.