2009 Chevrolet Traverse

The fourth member of GM's Lambda family made its first public appearance recently on the Las Vegas strip. Despite the heavy camouflage, it seems GM is making an effort to differentiate the vehicle, code named GMT 561 and rumored to be called Traverse (the name may still change), from its Saturn/Buick/GMC brethren.

The Buick Enclave may in fact be the closest relative to the Traverse. It has the Enclave's downward sloping roofline and a similar tailgate design with the license plate sitting well below the taillights instead of parallel with them like on the Outlook and Acadia. The taillights themselves are of a unique round design not seen on the other Lambdas.

The front is camouflaged far more heavily than the rear, but appears to have a design unique to the Chevrolet and its likely to draw cues from the new Malibu. The fog lights are placed slightly lower in the front fascia and the headlights are more angular than those on the other three vehicles.

Expect the vehicle to arrive in late 2008 as a 2009 model after making its debut earlier in the year, possibly at the Chicago Auto Show, as GM prefers to use Detroit to unveil all-new cars rather than variants of existing ones. The Traverse will also reportedly be assembled at GM's Spring Hill, Tennessee plant, which would mark the first time a non-Saturn would be produced there.