Eventhough it says Impala............


http://www.thecarconnection.com/Enth...78.A10490.html

 

I remenber a ulgier version of that grill on a Malibu concept before but they really pulled the look off better on this.........Looks to have Cobalt style headlights as well I think it looks great and modern looking I can't wait to see it in full production trim and finish though!

 

Thats not the worlds largest chrome bar under there is it? Jk. But I like what I see. Not an Impy though...

 

GM had a couple of scenerios. One was to keep Impala FWD and name the RWD large car Belair (it's code name), and the other was simply move Impala to RWD flagship and move Malibu into Impala's position. FWD was always intended as a volume car while RWD was intended as the flagship. The car were're looking at was designed to fill in under both situations.

If GM decided to go with the former program, then it's an Impala. If not, we have the 1st pics of the next Malibu.

I'd put odds on the latter.


But under either possibility, this IS NOT the "RWD Impala" we've been hearing about.

 

Anybody else see 'whatever year it started-06' Camry in the side profile?

 

I hope that's not the new face of Chevrolet!

 

i just compared these pics to the VE and they look alot alike. this might me the impy.

 

Well.... what happened to the "It's a complete knockout!" styling for this Malibu that we've heard several times?

I'm not usually one to jump to too many conclusions on a camo'd car as far as overall styling.... but this certainly looks very pedestrian.

Not that that is uncommon or bad for this segment... but we had several people saying "Anyone who has seen the next Malibu says it's agressive looking and a total knockout!"

I don't see that here.

 

I thought the exact same thing. While this car looks sporty and much better than the current Malibu, I don't see the "complete knockout". The '08 Malibu was even compared to the '57 BelAir in terms of how ground breaking it would be. Maybe it's the camo, or something that I'm just not seeing in this picture.

 

I see a lot of Lucerene in the trunk and tail area, but I do see round brake lights. Both of which please me .

The front end is obviously a refined Malibu MaXX Cross Country concept grill, also used on the Cobalt Widebody SEMA car. I liked that grill a whole lot. I expect this will be the new Chevy family grill.


Malibu MaXX Cross Country

Cobalt SS Widebody SEMA car.

Either way I am quite impressed with this car and I hope it does really well.

 

I agree. This car is extremely similar to the undisguised VE shots. I think it could be the Impala.


EDIT - I think I may disagree with myself now. The thread about this at C&G has me thinking that there are an awful lot of similarities between this car and the Aura as well. Maybe if the Maxx is being discontinued Malibu sedan will be on the LWB?

 

Meh, the spy shots don't do much for me. I'll hold final judgement until I see real photos.

 

It looks very Saturn Aura like to me and very Lucerne like on the back end. It doesn't look like the knockout that we've been told about if it is the malibu but Camo can hide a lot about a car and its lines.

 

It tricky to comment about spy pics, but here's a couple of my initial impressions:

I'm not real excited to see marketing trying to push the trucks' grill on everything as Chevy's new 'face', much like they tried the chrome spear.

Is this the 'visually spectacular' (or something like that) car that a few press people raved about in a few articles a while back? IF the doors are any indication, the sides appear to be flat slabs still. Maybe there's some styling flair in the front and rear under the camo? Is this going to be the first of our 'gotta have cars"?

 

+1.

I think this picture may actually better prepare me for the usual "GM promise to production" letdown, so at least it has that going for it. :blah: