The new Impala. Bigger impact than Camaro.
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Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 2,139
From: Commerce, mi, USA
Re: The new Impala. Bigger impact than Camaro.
The family sedan market is completely different. People buy family sedans because of value, safety, quality, & dependability. NO ONE buys a Toyota Camry or Honda Accord rates styling as one of the top reasons they bought the car. It's the car's image and reputation that's sold the car. That's why GM (and other makers) have failed to steal back buyers despite the fact that current Malibus and Impalas are actually on par (and in many ways better) than competing foreign cars.
The way GM is going to compensate is by putting traffic stopping design on their upcoming bread & butter cars. 2 cars that are known to be stunning are the next "Impala" and the next "Malibu" (in quote because names might be repositioned).
The way GM is going to compensate is by putting traffic stopping design on their upcoming bread & butter cars. 2 cars that are known to be stunning are the next "Impala" and the next "Malibu" (in quote because names might be repositioned).
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Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 2,139
From: Commerce, mi, USA
Re: The new Impala. Bigger impact than Camaro.
I third that! And tell us more about that '84 Z/28 of yours........
(but somehow I can get a little 1-2 shift bark of the tires anyway 
). I love my Z28! (More pix in sigblock link)
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Joined: Jan 2000
Posts: 10,285
From: Albany, NY
Re: The new Impala. Bigger impact than Camaro.
Originally Posted by IMPALA64
Its been mentioned that theres some 64 mixed in the new design. Here is my car.
Wow..that is a hot Impala. I can see that design modernized. I picture the roof stretched back so the trunk looks smaller but with the same roof lines.
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Joined: Mar 2005
Posts: 3,123
From: Melbourne, Australia
Re: The new Impala. Bigger impact than Camaro.
Originally Posted by flowmotion
The Camry is mundane, sure. But I think it's inaccurate to say that it doesn't have "styling". The lines on the car are very nice, and there's many small touches that show they put a lot of thought into it. It's the little details that give the car a premium reputation. And it's that attention to small details that's missing from traditional GM 'mundane' designs (eg current Impala). However, the Solistice shows an extremely high-level of design execution, so hopefully that's the direction of the new Lutz models.
Now if GM could mirror this successful formula...
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From: Okemos, MI
Re: The new Impala. Bigger impact than Camaro.
Originally Posted by SSbaby
Now if GM could mirror this successful formula...
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Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 16,176
From: Chicagoland IL
Re: The new Impala. Bigger impact than Camaro.
Originally Posted by BigDarknFast
Well thanks for asking! I had a 1990 IROC-Z and have missed its sharp angular lines since I sold it. The new Camaro concept made me miss it worse. I know it's been debated to death... but the new Camaro concept does remind me of the 3gen's due to its sharp edges. Finally I talked it over with the wife and she ok'd me to get a clean used 3gen Z28 if I didn't go wild trying to mod it. I started hunting around and found a very clean one-owner 84, 44k miles, in Altoona PA. Don't laugh... it's got the base 4BBL 305 V8 (but somehow I can get a little 1-2 shift bark of the tires anyway ). I love my Z28! (More pix in sigblock link)
(but somehow I can get a little 1-2 shift bark of the tires anyway ). I love my Z28! (More pix in sigblock link)
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Joined: Aug 2002
Posts: 3,650
From: Indianapolis, IN
Re: The new Impala. Bigger impact than Camaro.
Originally Posted by IMPALA64
Sexy '64 Impala pic...[/IMG]
Awesome!BigDarknFast, nice clean 3rd gen there. That reminds me of a car my buddy had in HS (I was a freshman, he was a couple of years ahead). I remember going to grab some food after school before soccer practice/games in that baby. Not really all that fast in reality, but when you are 15 and just getting close to the driving age, riding in a buddy's Camaro FEELS freaking fast. Fond memories, indeed.
Geez, that is making me want to pick up an old 3rd gen myself (though I have too many cars as it is, so it is out of the question). One of my best friends calls Camaros "'80s sex cars", which makes me
and 
at the same time. She knows my '96 is a completely different looking car, but she still calls it my '80s sex car... 
Thread Starter
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Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 13,713
From: The Golden State
Re: The new Impala. Bigger impact than Camaro.
Originally Posted by JakeRobb
Are Holden and Toyota the only names competing in the market in Australia? Here, GM is also competing with Ford, Chrysler, and Honda, as well as about a dozen other major import carmakers. Just asking -- I don't know what it's like down under, but you make it sound like GM and Toyota are the only major players.
Import brands have had a disasterous time trying to crack Australia's large sedan market (including the US made Taurus). The Australian domestics OWN that market segment the way US makers own the large truck and SUV market here.
The last Toyota "Avalon" sold there was the old tooling for Avalon from here, boxed up and shipped to Australia when ours was replaced. Mitsubishi's competition to Holden's Commodore and Ford's Falcon (the Mitsubishi Magna) was not only made & sold in Australia, but also exported from there to the US and sold here as the Diamonte.
Avalon flopped and the Magna was discontinued.
Avalon is being replaced with the Aurion.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toyota_Aurion
Magna has been replaced by a version of our Galant, called the "380".
It's doing pretty badly.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mitsubishi_380
http://www.mitsubishi-motors.com.au/....jsp?group=380
There's also a few smaller cars in Oz that we can't get here such as Malyasia's Proton and the assorted Japanese car such as the Nissan Skyline GTR and a series of micro boxes.
Last edited by guionM; May 12, 2006 at 09:48 AM.
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Joined: Jan 2006
Posts: 235
From: South Carolina
Re: The new Impala. Bigger impact than Camaro.
Nice third gen. I agree totally on the third gen in the fifth. My personal 2 favorite Camaros of all time are the 69 coupe and the 85 IROC. I managed to hold on to one of each. The Concept to me looks like they mated and the Concept was the result. I couldn't be happier about the way it looks!!!
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Joined: Dec 2005
Posts: 1,502
Re: The new Impala. Bigger impact than Camaro.
Originally Posted by SSbaby
It's not only the styling, it's the car's 'cardigan' image. No matter how one interprets the Camry's styling, it's still a conservative FWD car. In Australia, Toyota (forlornly) pitches its Camry against Commodore, which is a big RWD with V6 and V8 engine options. By comparison, Commodore is styled as a true sports sedan. The youth tend to go Holden whereas the retired tend to buy Camry. End result is that Holden sell around 2-3 times more Commodores than Toyota sell Camrys.
But as for pure styling (ignoring what's under the hood), I honestly don't see it:
http://www.southgate.com.au/vz/VZacclaim_079.jpg
http://www.motorsblog.com/uploads/2007ToyotaCamry.jpg
Even if you dislike the Camry, I think one could make the argument that it has "more styling" than the rather generic and gumdroppy Holden.
Perhaps I'm just bristling at domestic bias, where well-executed designs like Camry/Accord get slammed as "mundane" and IMO very generic cars like Impala/G6 get a pass. (And FWIW I think the Ford Fusion is very well done as well, so the domestics can do it in this segment.) I think it would be great if GM had a killer heritage-style Impala, but I would also like to see them do a much much better with the styling of their FWD People Movers.
