FenwickHockey65's Great Thread of GM Knowledge

[Camaro_Corvette]

Originally Posted by FenwickHockey65

So unless something changes...

Impala is a dead man walking. No direct replacement planned.

That's fine with me. Never liked the impala. I know. Blasphemy right....

[ssrs2lt]

Wow didn't expect that..but better to cut than keep to long

[KMPrenger]

Originally Posted by FenwickHockey65

So unless something changes...

Impala is a dead man walking. No direct replacement planned.

Originally Posted by Camaro_Corvette

That's fine with me. Never liked the impala. I know. Blasphemy right....

wow...yeah. I hear almost nothing but good things about it (cept that steering wheel caught some heck lol) Looks good, drives good. I don't understand why they would axe it? Even my boss, who loves to make fun of GM products, likes the Impala.

Does it really just not sell? Is Malibu really a worthy car to pick up the large sedan sales?

[FenwickHockey65]

The large mainstream FWD sedan market is pretty much dead. Everyone who wants something large to fit the kids moved to crossovers.

[alcal1084]

Originally Posted by FenwickHockey65

The large mainstream FWD sedan market is pretty much dead. Everyone who wants something large to fit the kids moved to crossovers.

This's is so true. I loved the look of the impala and got an opportunity to drive one as a rental. It was fully loaded with no miles I was the first to rent it, I thought strongly about getting one. Fast forward a few years and I have a 2 year old and another one on the way. So now have my sights on a equinox or traverse.

[FenwickHockey65]

Okay, just to put this rumor to rest...

Six cars have been in the news lately with some people suggesting they're getting canned next year. Despite what we know about their futures, they will all live out at least their current product cycles.

CT6 is secured and JDN has even come out to say he has no idea why people think it's being canceled.

Impala, Sonic, and XTS are all on the chopping block but not any time soon.

LaCrosse is a wild card, it'll probably come down to how well Regal sells and whether the sedan market recovers.

Volt is also a tricky one, it's GM's tech baby and they probably aren't willing to let go of it without a fight.

But like I said, they will all be around for years to come.

[Angrybird 12]

Originally Posted by KMPrenger

wow...yeah. I hear almost nothing but good things about it (cept that steering wheel caught some heck lol) Looks good, drives good. I don't understand why they would axe it? Even my boss, who loves to make fun of GM products, likes the Impala.

Does it really just not sell? Is Malibu really a worthy car to pick up the large sedan sales?

I bought one and really liked it for the room and comfort hauling everything we needed for my Mother in law, when she passed away in January we no longer needed something that big so we downsized.
Anyway we had a LTZ and it was loaded, with the V6 we were getting 33 mpg on the highway and about 20 around town.
We were always getting compliments from Toyota and Honda owners. Most didn't even know Chevy made this Impala, all they remembered was the old rental car Impala.
Kind of miss it.

[DGthe3]

Originally Posted by KMPrenger

wow...yeah. I hear almost nothing but good things about it (cept that steering wheel caught some heck lol) Looks good, drives good. I don't understand why they would axe it? Even my boss, who loves to make fun of GM products, likes the Impala.

Does it really just not sell? Is Malibu really a worthy car to pick up the large sedan sales?

Its a good car (my parents have one). But the full size sedan market is cratering. Even midsizers are getting squeezed.

Most of the wants and needs of full size sedan buyers can be met with either a midsize sedan or crossover.

Originally Posted by FenwickHockey65

Okay, just to put this rumor to rest...

Six cars have been in the news lately with some people suggesting they're getting canned next year. Despite what we know about their futures, they will all live out at least their current product cycles.

CT6 is secured and JDN has even come out to say he has no idea why people think it's being canceled.

Impala, Sonic, and XTS are all on the chopping block but not any time soon.

LaCrosse is a wild card, it'll probably come down to how well Regal sells and whether the sedan market recovers.

Volt is also a tricky one, it's GM's tech baby and they probably aren't willing to let go of it without a fight.

But like I said, they will all be around for years to come.

My guess? Somebody heard that Detroit Hamtrammck is either going to be re-tooled or closed. They currently build the LaCrosse, Volt, Impala, and CT6 there.

And the Sonic ... well that just seems unnessecary with both the Spark and the Cruze.

The XTS, it has to be a fleet darling. Gotta make limo's and hearses out of something right?

[shaffe]

Originally Posted by KMPrenger

wow...yeah. I hear almost nothing but good things about it (cept that steering wheel caught some heck lol) Looks good, drives good. I don't understand why they would axe it? Even my boss, who loves to make fun of GM products, likes the Impala.

Does it really just not sell? Is Malibu really a worthy car to pick up the large sedan sales?

It has/had the ugliest steering wheel I had ever seen in a vehicle lol. And yes full size cars don't sell anymore

Originally Posted by FenwickHockey65

The large mainstream FWD sedan market is pretty much dead. Everyone who wants something large to fit the kids moved to crossovers.

Exactly.

Why buy a full size car that is bigger than some crossovers when you get a crossover for similar money and have a little bit more flexibility in how you use your space.

[FenwickHockey65]

We'll probably have just three "normal" passenger cars at Chevrolet once all is said and done. Some type of subcompact pseudo-crossover hatch that's cheaper than Trax (like the Spark ACTIV), Cruze, and Malibu. I think Volt will still stick around in its current hatch form but maybe spawn a crossover variant.

Then again, even Ford has canned Fiesta for North America, so Ford may be left with just the China-built Focus and Fusion now that Taurus is reportedly on the chopping block as well.

[DGthe3]

I think the full size sedan market will end up developing similar to how the compact/midsize pickup market has. All at once, most of the producers leave the segment only to see the ones that didn't make a lot of money off of it -with minimal investment. So they start rushing back & question why they left in the first place.

[FenwickHockey65]

I think a big problem with the full size sedan market right now is the vast majority of them have nothing really to offer over their midsize brethren than space. It's why I've always advocated Impala going RWD and becoming more of a sports sedan than the FWD bigger-than-Malibu family hauler it is right now.

[DGthe3]

Originally Posted by shaffe

It has/had the ugliest steering wheel I had ever seen in a vehicle lol. And yes full size cars don't sell anymore



Exactly.

Why buy a full size car that is bigger than some crossovers when you get a crossover for similar money and have a little bit more flexibility in how you use your space.

My parents have a Trax and an Impala, and though they have about the same cargo capacity behind the back seats, my Mom says she hates getting groceries in the Trax -because all the space is vertical. So unless she wants to stack things up, its annoying.

Sure, some people regularly have to move around a small number of tall things (presumably, this was the market that the Envoy XUV was made for) most have a greater need to carry a lot of small things.

Granted, the Trax is a lot smaller overall than the Impala is, (I think the general rule of thumb is you can go down 1 size class in a crossover to make it the rough equivalent to a sedan. But the idea of having more volume but less floor area being better isn't always true.

[FenwickHockey65]

http://www.autoblog.com/2017/07/28/g...ns-evs-coming/

JDN confirms what we've known/expected: ATS/CTS/XTS get combined into one tweener CT5, one smaller subcompact-compact sedan (CT3?) beneath, XT4 compact CUV in the near future, XT6 three row CUV in the works.