Approved: Impala Staying Front-Wheel Drive
Is the Impala saga finally over?
www.gminsidenews.com
October 6, 2009
By: Nick Saporito
The future of the Chevrolet Impala has been one of constant questioning since the Zeta replacement for the car was axed back in late 2006. There was speculation a few months ago that the car would merge with the Holden Commodore several years from now on a variant of the Alpha rear-wheel drive platform; however it appears that those plans have been axed as well. Fortunately this time the bosses at GM have spoken and approved which direction the Impala will be taking on.
GMI was told that late yesterday the GM Executive Committee approved plans to build the Chevrolet Impala on the dubbed “Super Epsilon II” platform. The Executive Committee is the new governing body at General Motors that makes all decisions surrounding products. The Super Epsilon II that will be underpinning the Impala is going to be dimensionally very similar to the upcoming “Premium Epsilon” Cadillac XTS. The XTS will have unique suspension and a high end all-wheel drive system to differentiate the two versions of the platform.
The new Impala is slated to go into production in 2013 as a 2014 model-year vehicle at the Oshawa, Ontario assembly plant. Sources also stated that the Cadillac XTS is slated to be produced at Oshawa as well. GMI was not told of which powertrain options either car will have.
What will happen to the Impala between now and 2013 is still a mystery. Some sources have indicated that GM will have a stop-gap Impala on the market sometime between now and 2013, but it has not yet been confirmed. The current car dates back to 2006 and is showing its age. We assume any revisions to the Impala will take place on Epsilon II to hold the car over until the all-new one arrives in 2013.
Rear-wheel drive fans may still get their chance of glory going forward. GMI was told that if Chevrolet gets a rear-wheel drive sedan, it will not be named Impala anyway. With yesterday’s announcement of the 2011 Chevrolet Caprice Police Patrol Vehicle, we are starting to understand why.