We interviewed Chevrolet General Manager Ed Peper at the Detroit Auto Show earlier today. While we won't have the full interview up for you until sometime tomorrow, there was one tidbit of information that we wanted to share with you straightaway, and it relates to the next-generation Impala.
Many of us presumed that we'd get to see the car sometime during this auto show season. That's not the case. GM's immense new product onslaught was such that we simply assumed that we'd be seeing an Impala this year, an assumption that Ed corrected us on. He couldn't give us any specifics about timing, but if the Impala turns out to be one of the stars of '08 Detroit show, let's just say we wouldn't be the least bit surprised.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
American Cars suck @ Jan 8th 2007 3:46PM
I think they realized that you can only shovel so much manure in one year and releasing the impala would be overkill. One good think is that that Impala realized a 17% increase in sales. Question is, how much money did they lose in increase those sales?
cpwallen @ Apr 22nd 2008 2:27PM
The base Impala now runs rings around the anemic 4 cylinder Camry. Impala has better linear brakes as well.
Sam @ Jan 8th 2007 7:17PM
They didn't, they're profitable-largely based on the fast that they are the fastest growing car company in Asia and Europe.
Oh-GM will likely introduce a G8 rwd Pontiac first.
Matthew King @ Jan 8th 2007 8:03PM
I suppose they don't want to show a production vehicle more than a year before its release.
Anyone know if it will be fwd or rwd?
David @ Jan 8th 2007 8:16PM
Not surprising, since the new Impala won't come out until model year 2009 (or maybe even 2010).
Malibu is much more critical for Chevy. It needs to be a mainstream, midsize, CamCord-killer for GM to have any hope of surviving. Since Impala is the "flagship sedan," debuting it this year would steal the 'Bu's thunder when the 'Bu needs all the thunder it can muster.
Impala is moving out of the CamCord-killing role, where it's crowding Malibu, and into the large, mainstream, RWD cruiser role to take on the silly-retro 300/Charger and the octogenarian-marketed Ford Panther cars. Very, very smart move for GM. It will kill both of those, and regain the cop market - many police are still lamenting the demise of the Caprice.
jasaero @ Jan 8th 2007 8:33PM
Yeah. I figure also they don't want to show a new Impala so soon after the refresh of the current one. Not to mention the fact they seem to like to show near production ready concepts if something like the concept will eventually be produced. The Volt for example isn't for sure going to be produced so was allowed to be a more true concept.
JPDR @ Jan 8th 2007 9:53PM
Look at ricer boy cry, Toyota couldn't buy the car of the year award in Detroit and the Tundra is such a dud and screwed up even Toyota can't sell it it yet.
And all this comes on a day that Toyota has to explain why they have 3 million screwed up motors out there.
http://www.oilgelsettlement.com/
God @ Jan 8th 2007 10:33PM
No, "American Cars suck", the question is: Why doesn't autoblog delete inflammatory pablum such as your inane post?
Andy @ Jan 9th 2007 12:39AM
GM will show us the concept next year, and then wait two more years to release it.
BOB @ Jan 9th 2007 1:37AM
At least the one they have now is selling, and is decent, if too much like a big Camry for my American-centric taste.
By next winter, the new, larger Malibu will have put a heavy dent into Impala sales, and everyone will be ready for the RWD Impala to move up a notch.
(GM-- are you listening? You know every single new model has to be at least a B+ in quality and style to get customers ready to forgive you the crapbuckets of the last 25 years.)
-- and Ford, are YOU listening? The production car taken from the Interceptor ought to be right on top of that Impala! Alas, if it were close, we would have read reports here leaked by suppliers, or seen spy pics of roadgoing versions.
Springs here @ Jan 9th 2007 5:26AM
Impalas are for thugs and Crown vics are for cops. Big pile of trash.
Derek @ Jan 9th 2007 8:15PM
Haha, nope.
Impala is going to have to get larger if it's moving out of the ring with CamCord. I saw one next to a Camry yesterday and was shocked that they are both almost the exact same size. The way the hype is, I had thought the Camry was smaller.
Oh, and the Impala makes the Camry look like a freight barge when they're side-by-side. LOL.
Phil @ Jan 9th 2007 10:25PM
They need to keep the price down on that new Impala and just eliminate the stupid rebates in order to make more money per car. And offer an AWD model at modest markup for all those in the top half of this country WHO KNOW TRACTION CONTROL IS NO SUBSTITUTE FOR FWD TRACTION IN ICE AND SNOW!
Phydeaux @ Jan 10th 2007 9:51AM
I think the increase is people realize that for under the 23k msrp Camry V6 or 25k msrp Accord you could get an Impala with ABS, side curtain, air bags, onstar, choice of 5 or 6 passenger car, more interior / trunk space, longer warranty, roadside assistance, dual zone climate control... the question should be do import buyers even bother to shop around!
What do I know? @ Jan 10th 2007 1:44PM
Alex,
the "enormity of GM's new product onslaught was such that we simply assumed that we'd be seeing an Impala this year"...
Did you mean enormousness? Or was this an editorial comment on the entire GM product line?
Alex Nunez @ Jan 10th 2007 8:53PM
#14/Wdik?:
(Cringes) Usage problem corrected. Thanks for pointing out my error. -AN
Cannonball Baker @ Jan 11th 2007 11:29PM
Domn't agree that GM should delay the RWD Impala until 2010. That will mean they will have been out of the market for a full 14 years - the last RWD Impala having been built in 1996. Its's too long and will enable Chrysler to bring in a revised 300/Charger in the meantime using technology pushed down from earlier Mercedes-Benz E-class models. Also the basic design of the new Impala was first drafted in 1999 as the VE/WM-platform Holdens, and was committed in engineeering terms in 2001. That makes it an 11-year old design when it gets here. Way way too long - this car and the Pontiac G8 should be no-brainers and should have been launched simultaneously with the Holden VE Commodore and WM Caprice in 2006. Product development is still bog slow, and GM still seem uncertain about where they are going with their cars.
Phydeaux @ Jan 13th 2007 9:00AM
huh Derek?
The Camry is 11 inches smaller (about same size as current Malibu) inch narrower and almost an inch shorter and it has 4 cubic feet less trunk space according to edmunds.com
I forgot to mention the Impala has remote start while the Accord Camry doesn't on my previous post.