Chevrolet builds some wildly popular crossovers. U.S. drivers bought 207,732 Equinoxes and 200,688 Trax crossovers in 2024. But while Chevy is a familiar member of the “Detroit Three,” its most popular crossovers come from elsewhere. Mexico and South Korea, to be exact.
Let’s start with the Equinox. Chevrolet introduced that SUV and its groovy name for the 2005 model year. It shared a chassis with the GMC Terrain and the now-extinct Pontiac Torrent. Starting in 2017 Chevy built many of its Equinoxes in Ontario Canada, but by 2022 it had moved production south to Mexico. When it rolled out the all-new 2025 Equinox, Chevrolet announced North American models would all come from its San Luis Potosi Assembly plant.
But that’s not all, the Equinox is a truly global vehicle. Chevrolet will continue to build the 2025 model for foreign markets in an assembly plant in Wuhan, China.
The Chevrolet Trax–built in South Korea–has always been a global car
The Chevrolet Trax, on the other hand, was always intended for a global market. In some markets it had different names, such as the “Holden Trax” for Australia and Oceania or the “Chevrolet Tracker” for Russia and South America. For the 2024 model year, Chevrolet changed up the Trax big time. The new vehicle was wider and lower and only available in FWD. It is a replacement for the Cruze sedan and hatchback, priced below the new Trailblazer.
Buyers love the new Trax. Chevrolet nearly doubled its sales: from 109,383 in 2023 up to 200,688 for the new 2024 model. Chevrolet builds a Trax badged as the “Chevrolet Seeker” in China for the Chinese market. But its seems all the Trax crossovers are built in Changwon, South Korea. A quick search shows the VIN of every 2025 Chevrolet Trax currently listed for sale in the U.S. begins in “K,” which means it was assembled in South Korea.
One intriguing twist in the Chevrolet Trax’s tale is that General Motors based the Buick Envista on the same platform. This compact crossover was originally assembled in China for the Chinese market. But it proved so popular, that Buick now imports it from China to the U.S. It is one of the few Chinese-assembled models for sale in North America.
General Motors still assembles many models here in the U.S.A. According to Cars.com, the most “American made” GM models are the Chevrolet Colorado and GMC Canyon midsize trucks (made in Missouri), followed by the Corvette (out of Bowling Green Kentucky), and Chevrolet Malibu (from Kansas City). Cadillac’s XT4 (also Kansas City) crossover and CT5 sedan (Lansing, Michigan) aren’t far behind.
