If the Camaro is a raging success, would there be any chance for the Impala to go back to Zeta? With the next Impala pushed back to Q1 2013 production does that buy enough time for a possible platform change?

If the Camaro can sell 10,000 cars a month that would make it the second best selling car at GM after the Malibu.

 

The Zeta Impala is dead, done, finito, kaput.

But if the Camaro posts some impressive sales numbers, maybe, just maybe, we'll see a next gen Camaro.


EDIT: Everyone who has seen the Zeta Impala described it as much better looking than the G8 or even Camaro. I wouldn't be surprised if we one day see some of those styling elements in future Chevys.

 

There is absolutely no chance that the next Impala will be on Zeta or any RWD chassis.


That said, there is every indication that Camaro will be a roaring success. Challenger is selling above expectations... and we're talking about a car company that people don't expect to survive (though I stronly think the opposite ).

Also, cars like these (Mustang, Camaro, Challenger) tend to defy what the rest of the market is doing, as long as there are strong, compelling non-performance versions that entice people to make a self-rewarding, "feel-good" purchase... something that stands out & is expressive.

I still feel GM made a huge mistake taking the Impala off of the Zeta in favor of Espilon 2. Between what has been said about the styling and the fact that it would be RWD would have made the car stand out. GM further made a bad matter catostrophic by postponing an already slightly delayed key bread-and-butter car by 2 years. Meanwhile we have an existing Impala that is already drifting dangerously past the rear of the pack as competitors bring out newer models in this highly competitive segment.

The old GM would have brought out the Espilon 2 Lacrosse and Impala at the same time since both are the same chassis, and made at the same factory. However, GM seems to have completely lost it's ability to perform even this.

Ford (which arguably has less than half the resources GM has available) is capable of bringing out a version of a new model for all 3 divisions at the same time, so one can only wonder.

 

The Zeta Impala probably would have turned out to be a boat -- over 200 inches long.

I'd rather see a smaller (like CTS-sized) RWD sedan aimed at the performance market; rather than trying to cover the grandpa market with the same car.

 

Put down the crack pipe.

I think the Camaro will be a hit, but you won't sell that many per month

 

90% of car buyers or more have no idea what Zeta and EpII are. It wouldn't make sense to market the car to that remaining 10%.

And for the factory that is going to make the new LaCrosse, I believe it also makes Malibu, G6, and Aura. Which also means it will be making the next Buick Regal. How many cars can GM make at that plant?

 

The LaCrosse is scheduled to be built here at Fairfax alongside the Malibu and Aura not at Oshawa. So they aren't built at the same factory. Malibu is built at Fairfax and Orion Township. Aura is built at Fairfax. G6 is built at Orion.

From what has been released so far, I'd assume the first Epsilon II product built at Oshawa in 2011 will be the U.S. version of the Opel Insignia as either a Buick or a Cadillac. That's the SWB Ep II. So I'd guess they can build the Impala on the LWB Ep II in 2013.

I'd guess Oshawa has a mandate to build the Impala, so they probably can't build an Epsilon II impala until it can be built at Oshawa.

 

I could see 100,000 Camaros being sold in 12 months. They sold 165K+ Mustangs in 2006. As long as GM doesn't go Ch. 11 and the US economy doesn't totally collapse we got a good chance at that number.

 

Things were a lot better in 2006. What is the Challenger on par to sell this year? 35k? Mustang sales are way down (granted it is an old design), I just don't think the buyers are there for 100,000 units. I know they have 14,000 ordered already, but that won't hold steady.

 

Pure speculation here, but if Chevy must be part of the Alpha model to make it work, could the styling be crossed over? I've heard nothing but "!!!" about the RWD Impala concept and something that looks that good on a modern chevy might really kick it.

 

Ok, how big is Alpha supposed to be? I thought it was for smaller vehicles.

 

The Flex line will be building roughly 450 Camaros per shift on a single shift. So makes it about 9000 units per month, 10000 units is very reasonable.

From what I understand, they are already 15,000 units behind as we speak.

On a side note, I saw Jay Leno's Camaro yesterday which was the 5th. car produced after official launch and guess who bought #10.......that really surprised me.
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.DR. Phil

 

Pure speculation on my part too, but I wouldn't be surprised.

 

so here is my thought and "?"

are there any rendering of this magical Impy that some people saw and said it was amazing..

and..

if so why can they just not put the same design on the FWD car with some modifications for the platform?

 

I hope that the design language can be transferd over to this future EP2 LWB Impala.

I dont understand the drop in Zeta for GM NA.
Its obviously not CAFE
Its not packaging
Its not performance
I would love to hear a solid, no bs answer to this.