GM drops turbo-four engine from Chevy Traverse

GM

has quietly discontinued the turbocharged 2.0-liter four-cylinder engine found as an option in the

Chevrolet Traverse

, leaving the 3.6-liter V6 as the lone engine for the midsize

SUV

.

The news comes via

GM Authority

, which says the change was effective for the mid-2019 model year.

Chevy’s

official

consumer website for the Traverse

no longer lists the turbo-four engine as an option. Both engines were mated to a nine-speed automatic transmission.

First offered for the front-wheel-drive RS version of the second-generation 2018

Traverse

, the turbo-four made 257 horsepower and 295 pound-feet of torque, compared to 310 hp and 266 lb-ft in the V6. The four-cylinder engine is also found in the

Chevrolet Malibu

and

Cadillac ATS

, but in the Traverse, it apparently didn’t offer enough to really distinguish it from the V6.

GM

has developed a new version of the engine, this time a 2.0-liter inline-four with a twin-scroll turbocharger that makes 237 hp and 258 lb-ft of torque and can deactivate two of its four cylinders in order to conserve fuel. It makes its debut on the 2019

Cadillac XT4

— you can

read our First Drive review of it here

— and is rated by the

EPA

as getting a respectable 26 mpg in combined city/highway driving. It’s also

expected on the 2020 GMC Acadia crossover

as one of three engine options, and standard on the SLT and Denali trim levels, and on the

2020 Cadillac XT5

. We’ll have to see whether GM brings it back for the Traverse.