Happy times for the automakers were the 1950s, and they didn’t realize it. There was plenty of space for newcomers, each brand had to please only their homeland and some neighbor countries, and since cars were a luxury item there wasn’t any concern of reducing the costs. However, today’s scenario is so competitive that it’s necessary even to “divide” a car’s release, from teasers to the sales start, to multiply its attention from the media. Here you will see why the new Impala deserves each and every one of these spotlights.
Impala is such an important car not only for the five decades of selling in the North-American market, but for what it represents for GM. While this group has always had Cadillac at the high-luxury market, the car initially sold as coupe and convertible could find its way to the success for being a halfway between what was already offered at that time, using the best quality Chevrolet could offer (it came above the very famous Bel-Air) but without a price overlap with the richer brothers that would stop Impala’s sales in favor of them. Besides that, it’s very nice to observe that this car was always up-to-date with each moment’s conceptual trends: the first generation, for example, offered lots of colors options, both inside and outside. The second one came already two years later and already completely restyled, using a very opulent design characterized by tailfins and huge sizes both in length and engine options. In 1961 there were some style containments which were followed by the fourth generation, making Impala finish this decade with a very classy and elegant style, including the famous Coke bottle trend. The 1970s began with much more straight lines and still lots of V8 engines, but the sixth generation suffered downsizing in order to meet the current demands. At that time, this car was starting to forget the coupe’s origins in favor of the sedan and station wagon’s sales.
However, since Chevrolet had been selling Caprice above Impala since the 1960s, it was needed a whole new strategy to keep both excellent sales. The two sedans received a huge restyling in the early 1990s, dropping the straight lines in favor of a more aerodynamical design. But since they would compete for almost the same public, it was decided to sell Impala only at the sporty version SS, as a high-performance option for Caprice. Both were discontinued after some years without successors, but the Impala badge was resurrected in 2000. There were more efficient engines, reduced sizes and even front-wheel traction, all because the car received a whole new platform. This modern idea was updated with the ninth-generation in 2006, including a new SS version, a 50th anniversary edition and even a Flex-Fuel version, prepared to use E85. But the times started to change very fast in the latest years, and Impala needed to follow them. The original idea was to go back to the rear-wheel-drive, but GM decided to use the very modern Epsilon II platform. This means Impala is able to bring all the cutting-edge technologies already developed by the group and to receive the future ones: this includes hybrid engines, comfort items such as the new MyLink entertainment system and all kinds of safety equipments.
The tenth generation is by far the best Impala ever produced. The new price list wants to reduce the overlapping with Malibu in order to separate each one’s public, giving the more classic customers to what is now the biggest Chevrolet sedan available. This car will start from US$ 27.535 at the LS version, US$ 30.760 at LT and US$ LTZ, initially only with the 3.6 V6 of 300-hp. Later, there will be a smaller 2.5 with 195 hp and even the eAssist version, using an 185-hp 2.4 option, but there isn’t much known about it so far. The pictures reveal a very spacious interior, with a very elegant interpretation of Chevrolet’s double-cockpit concept in two colors. Impala shows that even a classic car can take the advantages of the modern times, including the new MyLink version in a big touchscreen, a very beautiful dashboard and even the blue night internal lights, to give a more creative illumination than what’s usually seen. There are notable price differences between the trim levels, but even the cheapest one dazzles the customers with 18” alloy wheels, ten airbags and automatic six-speed transmission – the LTZ level is the red car seen at some of the pictures. Impala will wait until the next March to hit the streets in this new generation, and it’ll compete with other very traditional sedans: its main competitors are Dodge Charger and the also recently-restyled Ford Taurus and Toyota Avalon.
