We will admit to a fair amount of skepticism concerning the necessity of the GMC Terrain seen here. One frequently cited culprit of GM’s past quality-control problems is badge engineering, or the practice of building different versions of the same vehicle for multiple brands. The premier example is the Chevrolet TrailBlazer and its multitude of badge-engineered clones, which even the internet does not afford us the space to list.
The practice seems to be slowly sneaking back into vogue. The full-size Chevrolet Traverse is the fourth vehicle to be built on the General’s excellent Lambda platform. Likewise, the GMC Terrain will be the fourth vehicle to be built on the TE small-SUV architecture, following the Saturn Vue, Chevrolet Equinox, and Cadillac SRX.
GM today is less blatant about its badge engineering, with differences in appearance extending beyond just grilles and headlamps to the point that each vehicle wears wholly unique sheetmetal over similar underpinnings. Still, four derivatives is a quantity we feel surpasses the threshold of discretion for badge engineering, and the Saab 9-4X—a vehicle whose future is uncertain at best—would bring the TE total to five, although the Caddy and Saab will be built on a heavily revised version of the platform.
Keep Reading: 2011 GMC Terrain - Spied
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