Filed under: Concept Cars, Spy Photos, Etc., Marketing/Advertising, Chevrolet
Dealer ad shows 2008/09 Chevy Impala
It seems that the Impala's replacement has found its way onto the auto pages of a newspaper in much the same way that the Cadillac CTS Coupe did a while back. You could argue that there's no way this is anything but a calculated effort on GMs part. There's really no way to be sure, but with our local dealers still still using images of the DN101 Taurus when advertising the '08, the suspicion might be warranted. Think about it for a second and you realize that dealers don't just get this stuff by mistake. That's our conspiracy theory, and we're sticking with it.
Why would the General toss images of cars yet to be announced out there so publicly? We don't know, but perhaps it's a way to test styling or generate buzz. Or, maybe GM had nothing to do with it and the dealer found this rendering in a year-old issue of Motor Trend, which is probably the most likely scenario. Either way, we like the swoopy Volt-ish lines of the whateveritis. Our current Impala is rather anonymous, though it is the best Lumina ever made. If this car really is what it's masquerading as, we're excited to see it in four color instead of grayscale half-toning.
Thanks for the tip, Jacob!
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
sk 7:40AM (1/18/2008)
Will it be rear wheel drive?
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goat 12:50PM (1/18/2008)
"Will it be rear wheel drive?"
No, thanks to the Democrats and their new CAFE rules.
Dan Roth 1:11PM (1/18/2008)
You know, RWD isn't a panacea. Back when RWD was the norm, there were some _very bad_ handling cars. Even as FWD started to take hold, there were horribly handling cars regardless of layout.
Perhaps what we should be asking is "will it handle well" regardless of which wheels are driven.
naggs 2:56PM (1/18/2008)
rwd or fail
if its fwd then there is little to separate the new larger malibu from the slightly newer slightly larger but still built on the same platform impala. what is the point?
if cafe is an issue then chevy will have to package the v8s with other options and price it out of the range of most buyers. if the v8 version is $6k more than the DI v6 then most buyers will make the sensible choice and decide that 300 hp is enough.
sk 3:04PM (1/18/2008)
@goat, why are the new CAFE standards a bad thing?
It will create new engineering jobs.
We will use less gas therefore lower our oil dependence. People will replace older inefficient cars earlier
The air gets cleaner
And who said a rear wheel drive uses more gas?
HotRodzNKustoms 9:34PM (1/18/2008)
There was a image of a car very similar to this in GM's RWD design studio where the Camaro was being designed. I'm sure the autoblog guys have that picture of the Camaro with the 3 musketeers standing in front of the Camaro and a picture of this car in the background.
quazi 7:54AM (1/18/2008)
17/20MPG? That's pathetic.
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interloper 8:03AM (1/18/2008)
Never attribute to a plan what can easily be attributed to incompetence.
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Dave 8:10AM (1/18/2008)
Wise words.
FThorn 8:04AM (1/18/2008)
Maybe LARGE dealers. I know the dealer I worked at would barely get info on last year's models. Let alone next year's.
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John 8:07AM (1/18/2008)
those mileage figures are wrong. http://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/noframes/23289.shtml
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jgp 8:08AM (1/18/2008)
I could've sworn I saw a very similar photochop in MT a few months ago.
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dpeppers 8:09AM (1/18/2008)
GmAsssetCentral ( the ad planner for GM dealers) is where almost all dealers get their graphics for ads at. This was plucked from there I'll bet.
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Joe K. 8:13AM (1/18/2008)
Quite a bit of dealer advertising is done with small media groups. Many of the dealers give them ideas and numbers and the media group builds an ad for the dealer to approve. A lot of those media groups have no clue about what is actually on the road.
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Pat 9:02AM (1/18/2008)
100% correct. The ad agency I used to work with at an old dealer I worked at would just simply do google image searches for "Chevy Impala" or whatever it happened to need. I could easily imagine them seeing that pic and saying..."Wow, this one is a lot cooler than any of the others, we'll use that."
Chris 8:14AM (1/18/2008)
This is the original Motor Trend image.
http://image.motortrend.com/f/editorial/the-tragedy-of-cafe/6322292+w600+cr1+re0+ar1/chevrolet-impala-illustration.jpg
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captain underpants and the bringdown gang 9:00AM (1/18/2008)
the impala looks like a civic and a dodge had a baby.
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BLS 9:40AM (1/18/2008)
The current Impala IS the best Lumina ever. Up to the Malibu coming out has been the best Chevy Sedan for a good while. And the refresh was well done.
But with the Malibu coming out it is just old and redundant.
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mr 10:02AM (1/18/2008)
This, like the Cadillac CTS coupe image "leak," was the result of a Google Image Search. Notice that the "leaked" CTS image looks nothing like the actual car?
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JUSBEEZ 10:33AM (1/18/2008)
Well it isn't a 2008 Impala since I have seen the 2008 and it is the same as the 2007 but with different wheels.
When I test drove a 2008 Malibu the dealer told me that they are scrapping the new Impala RWD due to the CAFE standards that were passed. Seems to me like the current Impala is going to be around until 2010 model year.
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