Comments on: Chevy to keep Impala front-wheel drive?

By: autonut

autonut — Tue, 06 Nov 2007 15:51:01 +0000

Impala is a large sedan and Malibu is mid-size. Malibu is based on Opel. There is nothing horrible happening to Camry/Avalon relationship. This is GM copy of it. One is slightly bigger then the other and appealing to slightly different demographic. Your Impala customer id over 50 and GM hopes for under 4o Malibu driver. How many 50 year olds really going crazy after RWD GM sedan for little money?

By: LamborghiniZ

LamborghiniZ — Tue, 06 Nov 2007 13:33:29 +0000

Commodore: And similar to the one found in the Silverado, Sierra, Avalanche, Monte Carlo, Malibu, Cobalt, Tahoe, Yukon, Suburban, Yukon XL, HHR, wait a minute….

By: LamborghiniZ

LamborghiniZ — Tue, 06 Nov 2007 13:32:04 +0000

It’s just so typical that they’d hype something like this up, like “Oh yeah we’re bringin’ RWD back! The new Impala will be a badass, full size, RWD all American sedan, just like the good ol’ days!”, and then as time goes on, it becomes less and less of a reality, they start offering more and more possibilities INSTEAD of that original plan, and then in the end, its nothing. Of course/

By: Commodore

Commodore — Tue, 06 Nov 2007 02:17:46 +0000

Agreed with cardesigner5…although the interior is not that bad considering it is similar to the one found in the Tahoe

By: rsg

rsg — Tue, 06 Nov 2007 01:56:36 +0000

Two years before it comes out and they still haven’t settled on a platform yet? Haha. Sounds like their cutting it pretty close. My guess is a rebodied version of the current car, which is really just a direct descendant of the 1988 GM10′s. Stick with what they know..

By: jackjimturkey

jackjimturkey — Tue, 06 Nov 2007 00:29:34 +0000

///m: Go back to the first words I said in this thread. If i win the lottery, I’m going to make sure there are twisty roads between my house and where I buy my daily paper.
I’ll take the Ferrari to fetch the paper

By: ///m

///m — Tue, 06 Nov 2007 00:25:43 +0000

Oh jesus, dont even tell me the impala is a nice car, the last time I was in California I had an impala as a rental, and my sister lives in a rural area off the coast with lots of winding roads… I was pissed, just my luck, twisty roads in a FWD american sedan, I guess next time I’ll find a rental that handles better…

By: tripleonefive

tripleonefive — Tue, 06 Nov 2007 00:03:16 +0000

Just a GM.com

By: jackjimturkey

jackjimturkey — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 23:57:35 +0000

“Just” is a qualifier that goes before an FLH.

ex:

“Jim, I’m thinking about either a 5-series or a ‘TL.’”

“Mike, I’d go for the 5-series. The other one’s just an accord.’

I do like the Azera.

By: tripleonefive

tripleonefive — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 23:38:49 +0000

Yawn its just a GM. I will say that where I am now it seems to be the most popular American car next to the Magnum
Buy an Avalon or even an Azera

By: mazdaman

mazdaman — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 21:28:24 +0000

autonut:
I realize that Chevrolet is GM’s mainstream, mass market brand and they naturally will sell more vehicles than GM’s other brands. I understand that Chevrolet will sell these products regardless of whether an upscale sibling exists for another brand. That being said, this has been GM’s practice (as well as many other automakers) for years and I doubt that will change anytime soon. GM (and other car companies) has always claimed that they do this to spread the development costs of a platform.

I realize and agree with the advantages of front wheel drive. I think most mainstream, mass market vehicles should be front wheel drive due to those advantages. I think the 2008 Malibu has been designed to basically cover the ground of the former Malibu and the current front wheel drive Impala. I think it actually beats the Impala at its own game by being more modern, more attractive, and almost the same size as the Impala. I think Impala sales will definitely be cannibalized by the new Malibu since the Malibu has been designed to take over the reigns as sedan sales leader for the Chevrolet brand.

So where does that leave the Impala?:
1) Move upmarket to be a true large front wheel drive sedan. If it does it will lose market share. The next Impala sedan will be positioned in a segment where the competition will consist of the Maxima, Avalon, Taurus/Sable, and Azera; not a large segment of the auto market.
2) Morph into an affordable large performance sedan on the stretched Zeta platform. This will also decrease market share, but it will give Chevrolet a halo sedan product that will not be in the Malibu’s shadow. If it is executed properly, it could also serve to drive more traffic into Chevy showrooms.

Either way, the Impala will not continue to be the sales champion sedan for the Chevrolet brand.
GM must answer the following questions when deciding the Impala’s future:
1) Which plan will bring in more profits?
2) Which plan will be more advantageous to Chevrolet in the long run?
3) Which plan will help GM meet CAFE requirements?

As an enthusiast, I would prefer to see the Impala go rear wheel drive. If Chevrolet decides that plan doesn’t meet market requirements or is not beneficial to their goals, then I fully accept the decision for the Impala to remain front wheel drive.

By: LP640

LP640 — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 20:50:17 +0000

OH WHO REALLY CARES ?

By: apstewart

apstewart — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 19:57:33 +0000

aw, that was directed at WHO REALLY CARES. my bad.

By: apstewart

apstewart — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 19:57:06 +0000

^— most useless comment <– second most useless comment

By: jackjimturkey

jackjimturkey — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 19:56:43 +0000

It should be against the law to call anything V6 or FWD an Impala.

Poor way to treat the nameplate with the best one-year sales total in history.

L-88: “Is there even a point of having a Malibu and an Impala if there both FWD, and both similar in size?” good question. This is even more assinine than putting out four Lambdas.

autonut: The last real SS was great! Especially in ’96, when the shifter was put on the floor.

cd5: i would ask you ti back up your assertion, but then you’d rape the English language again.

autonut: “It is not comparable to Honda Accord.”
no shit.

cookie4me: I think the altima was brought out (originally as the stanza altima) to show how much more upscale the maxima was than the taurcamcord of the day. people were cross-shopping those, and the maxima seemed way too expensive. But there was more car there.

jamaicandude: good way to put my thoughts

By: apstewart

apstewart — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 19:39:22 +0000

autonut, you are mistaken. The ’94-’96 Impala SS was RWD and powered by the LT1 with 265hp and 330lb-ft. True, the current Wimpala SS does decent power, but it has no distinctive styling.

I see no reason to make a FWD Wimpala when the new Malibu looks so nice. Longer wheelbase? Why not make a Malibu XL or something equally stupid. Save the Impala name for whenever they make a car for people interested in something better.

By: jamaicandude

jamaicandude — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 18:50:38 +0000

C’mon GM… Impala and fwd never even belonged in the same sentence… fix your previous mistake, and make the car rwd.

By: Captain Spadaro

Captain Spadaro — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 18:16:18 +0000

They HAVE to make the Impala RWD. Retaining FWD would be illogical, especially if they plan on offering a V8 engine option.

By: Impulsive

Impulsive — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 18:04:00 +0000

‘cookie4me’, BINGO!

By: Noah

Noah — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 17:53:03 +0000

ANOTHER big mistake from GM. People want the rear wheel drive and the potential more powerful engines(as an option) that can go alone with it.

By: CA36GTP

CA36GTP — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 16:53:11 +0000

The new Malibu is more than qualified to take on both old Malibu and old Impala sales. GM *needs* a new upscale RWD Impala.

By: autonut

autonut — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 16:46:37 +0000

Lambo. you may gotten older car in rental fleet. I had a few with LTZ package and they were tight as tits on Katie Holmes. Also, when they are new they feel much better. Once they in use for a year you understand while resale value the way it is.

By: cookie4me

cookie4me — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 16:38:12 +0000

Look at the way Nissan positioned the Altima and Maxima. When the prior Altima platform was launched they knew it would displace Maxima sales and they redesigned the Maxima bigger and higher end. Maxima is FWD is it not? Overall, RWD isn’t that important to 90% of the population and Impala is a good FWD package. Why not redesign it and make it great? MPG is going to be more important than muscle performance to more than the average consumer soon enough with the way the energy market has been tracking.

By: golf4me

golf4me — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 16:33:29 +0000

I’m OK with a FWD Impala. As long as it’s appreciably larger than the Malibu (think Camry/Avalon) it’ll still sell reasonably well.

I still think they should have a RWD sedan to complement the Camaro. Call it the Caprice, or Bel-air, or whatever. Make it retro too. Better yet, how about a full-size version of the Nomad concept from a couple of years ago. The platform is already developed, so it wouldn’t be that expensive.

By: LamborghiniZ

LamborghiniZ — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 16:27:31 +0000

The current Impala is garbage. I’ve rented them a number of times. Straight trash, the interior is cheap and cookie cutter, the handling is is poor, lots of body roll, no feel for anything at all, the seats aren’t that comfortable (the rear ones dont even have head rests…), everything is numb and vague, and it doesn’t even look that good. Lame lame lame.

By: autonut

autonut — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 15:59:43 +0000

Aston, Impala of 60′s is about the same size of current one. BTW, there is no need to kill Detroit, just like British auto industry it does it on its own quite successfully.

By: Aston Martin

Aston Martin — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 15:55:04 +0000

I say go back to the Impala of the 60′s!! Long live the Detroit of old, kill the Detroit of new!

By: autonut

autonut — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 15:54:09 +0000

mazdaman, none of the cars you’ve mentioned sold that many vehicles. Why GM even needs re budged Chevy vs. Buick or Pontiac? Chevy is a blue collar car and that is why it sells in quantities. It sells in 50 states, regardless of climate and drives well in “upper” and “lower” states during winter. Unless we are going through such drastic climate change that cold will not come to Michigan RWD Impala will need to be AWD to be driven safely. I am aware that everyone on this board is an expert driver and mastered art of oversteer on ice, but who actually owns Impala? Average mom and dad need to drive their brood in any weather to school/cheer leading practice/football game. it is not the same with RWD as will FWD (in “upper” states).

By: 04focus

04focus — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 15:51:58 +0000

On the other hand they can probably create a stretch Malibu fairly cheaply, and leave the G8 as the only value RWD performance sedan.

By: mazdaman

mazdaman — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 15:44:55 +0000

If they keep it front wheel drive, they will have to make it quite a bit larger so it doesn’t overlap with the 2008 Malibu. The current car is more of a larger midsize sedan than a true fullsize sedan. That was one thing I never understood about putting the front wheel drive Impala on the midsize “W” platform. I can see the 2008 Malibu making a big negative impact on the current Impala’s sales.

If the next generation Impala remains front wheel drive, what platform will they use? The current Impala’s platform mates are either on the chopping block (Grand Prix) or switching platforms for their next generation (LaCrosse). The current large front wheel drive platform that is used for the Lucerne and DTS is also being phased out when their redesigns/replacements go rear wheel drive. I can’t imagine GM keeping or creating a platform for just one vehicle. It seems like the decision to make a next generation front wheel drive Impala would affect at least one additional brand besides Chevrolet.

I would really like to see the Impala redesigned on a rear wheel drive platform. I don’t see why it would be that hard in this day and age of advanced technology to make it happen. I know that packaging a car is quite a bit different depending on the drive format. Is it that hard to create a fuel efficient large rear wheel drive sedan? I’m not being sarcastic, I would really like to know.

By: autonut

autonut — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 15:38:33 +0000

By the same token, GM predict 100-130K sales figures for RWD (the article above), so stealing 100-130K units vs. selling almost 300K units sounds like bad math to me. Or perhaps it is a good lesson in economics: selling more is better then stealing less. Don’t forget, the car is excellent because it is FWD. You put the the “hump” in the middle and the size (on interior) goes down and who knows it may not even make 120 cu. feet to be called “large” or the platform has to be stretched, ergo added weight and changed dynamics. Normal companies don;t fuck with success (and 300K units in only one market is success), but who said that GM management is normal?

By: autonut

autonut — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 15:32:45 +0000

I actually think that Impala has as good interior as Camry and drives better. It is not comparable to Honda Accord, but with upgraded package it has great dynamics and good power delivery (I tried only 4 speed autos and it was very good). Mileage on highway was about 28-29 mpg. It actually felt better then Maxima with it’s huge power advantage and even bigger understeer.

By: 67_L-88

67_L-88 — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 15:32:11 +0000

Yes Autonut it is, but however the new Malibu seems like an impressive package, while the last one left a lot to be desired. So, if Chevy has two quality ( If the next gen impala is quality, maybe it will be, maybe it won’t) fwd sedans with practically the same dimensions, same engines, same transmission choices, will they not just steal sales from each other? It would be quite confident that many impala owners who were satisfied with there car, would trade it in and get a Malibu when they see the massive redesign on the Impala. (Some clueless people would probably get the Impala anyways not knowing the difference.) However, a RWD Impala may steal some Charger or 300 sales from Chrysler.

By: Madcapp

Madcapp — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 15:17:59 +0000

Way to xxxx up again GM!

By: cardesigner5

cardesigner5 — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 15:06:33 +0000

the current impala is so shit. styling and interior are so crap

By: autonut

autonut — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 14:53:55 +0000

67_L-88, Impalas are selling (maybe to police depts more then general public), but Malibu so far has not been a bread winner.

By: autonut

autonut — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 14:52:36 +0000

Based on economics and CAFE Impala will be FWD. There is nothing wrong with Impala now. I rented it many times and it is the best car out of Big 3. By same token the last RWD Impala was a dog. It was not handling any better then the current, was extremely heavy and did not move even courtesy of V8. Why screw up with something that works? Only intellectuals at GM…

By: 67_L-88

67_L-88 — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 14:50:00 +0000

Is there even a point of having a Malibu and an Impala if there both FWD, and both similar in size? Too many useless models got you in trouble before GM, don’t do it again.

By: RicardoHead

RicardoHead — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 14:49:47 +0000

What failure, Deanster? At 289k units/year the current Impala is hardly a failure, and all GM are saying is they are waiting for a gov decision before proceeding with private investment. That is normal.

By: Blakkarr

Blakkarr — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 14:38:58 +0000

I look at it as stronger brand diversification.

Although some earlier reports said a new Impala would be a LWB version of the G8 with a differing body design, this simply sets Chevy further apart from Pontiac and helps stick The “Performance” division moniker to Pontiac without sharing it.

While I would like to see a new GTO or Firebird for Pontiac, even a version of the SS concept from a few years back, to top Pontiac’s line-up or add a coupe worth noting, this is actually better news.

By: Hari

Hari — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 14:36:38 +0000

FWD (Fail Wheel Drive) should only be used on ecnoboxes. Real cars are RWD or AWD with a manual tranny option.

By: DeansterTJ

DeansterTJ — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 14:30:37 +0000

Funny how GM and Ford always blame external factors for their spectacular failures.

By: Jazz

Jazz — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 14:29:15 +0000

A rear wheel drive train adds that much weight? IMO they are saying that GM does not have efficient engines to begin with. How much weight are we talking here, 200 pounds? How about using some composite materials on the door like Saturn? Or looking to shave weight in other areas?