Recently, I’ve read that the 2013 Impala is going to be a bigger and more upmarket car than the current version. It’s probably the way to go, but why stop with just an Impala? For me, the luxury Chevrolet has always been the Caprice, while the Impala was the sporty full-size.
My dad’s company car was conveniently parked outside, which I used as the basis for a possible new Caprice version. I lengthened the wheelbase, increased both the front and rear overhangs (for a V8 up front and more trunk space in the back), and added a narrow chrome molding to the sides. Leather and bench seats would be standard, while the Impala would have bucket seats, a console and monochromatic trim for those seeking sportiness. If something like this does come out, maybe GM can get back some of those former B-body customers who are all driving Avalons these days.
It turned into a Crown Vic!
Thats what I thought too, the rear became very Crown Vic-ish.
Exactly my thought. Chevy bought the Panther platform!
As shown here, wasn’t this supposed to be the 2012-13 Holden Statesman based Chevrolet Caprice PPV in which its only made available to Law Enforcement Agencies and NOT the General Public?
Actually Holden has dropped the ‘Statesman’ name and now just badges them all as Caprice for the market here in NZ and in Australia. And although ours are right-hand-drive, they are available to the public in left-drive form in the Middle East, where they are badged Chev Caprice… I personally don’t understand why GM promotes the traditional Chev sedan image (large RWD V8) with the Caprice in Saudi Arabia, yet can’t manage to sell them to the public in America… I’m not a Holden fan (or GM) expecially, but the (Holden) Caprice is an excellent car, and would be a worthy flagship for Chevrolet in America.
One of lifes great mysterys is why Aussie Holdens are sold as Chevs in Saudi and South Africa but not the home of Chevrolet the US
Bryce, I think you will find why they are not sold in the US in any appreciable number was because United Auto Workers Union at first, and the high Aussie Dollar now.
When Bob Lutz proposed that the Monaro should be sold in the US as a GTO, the UAW got into a huff about because they wanted the car to be built by their members.
GM & UAW ended up agreeing that only so many GTO’s could be imported per year, but the car was never really a big success in the US and I don’t think they got near the proposed maximum number anyway.
By the time the Pontiac G8 (Commodore SS) came around, there was a US/AU Free Trade Agreement, so theoretically, GM could have told the UAW to go and root their boot, except Pontiac got canned when GM went broke, so the G8 disappeared only to resurface the Chevrolet PPV a few years later.
While the Aussie Dollar is strong against the US Dollar I don’t think the PPV is going to sell in any significant numbers. I would suggest the Dodge Charger Police Car will bring home the bacon both literally and figuratively 🙂
GM’s other mistake with the GTO was only offering it with a V8. A V6 model to sell underneath the price of the V8 could’ve given them some more volume for the line – assuming they could get them here cheap enough to make a profit. Mustangs, Camaros, Chargers, Challengers, 300s, etc wouldn’t survive on V8 sales alone.
GM really screwed up the GTO, G8 and Solstice/Sky – 3 of the best cars to come out of there in forever. Too bad they didn’t have the guts to commit and build a plant for the Aussie cars here.
“Too bad they didn’t have the guts to commit and build a plant for the Aussie cars here”. Totally agree. This is the thing that confuses me about GM & Ford. They have all of these plants in the US, some of which are in mothballs. Meanwhile in Europe, Asia & Australia, they have all these really good cars that they could be selling in the home market. In companies this size, you wouldn’t think it was a terribly complicated thing to duplicate an assembly line from Europe, Asia or Australia and pump out cheaper local versions of those cars (rather that dearer imported ones) if there was a market for them.
I believe there was a plan to import Commodores as Buicks for debut about 2000, UAW probably got that one too. I think the intention was to build the G8 in North America if it took off.
Another point, would a free trade agreement really have been enough for the UAW to say “oh that’s ok then”? GM could have told them anyway, FTA or not.
Also three other reasons no V8 RWD big cars: CAFE, CAFE, CAFE.
In AUS, they pay high price for gas, but no mandate for fleet MPG.
The Falcon is not only as a V8 but also a 6 Cylinder NA and 6 Cylinder Turbo which is Euro IV Compliant. If Mercedes and BMW can sell a 6 or 8 Cylinder RWD Car in the US, I can’t see why Ford or GM couldn’t, but then again I don’t understand completely how CAFE works, up until now I thought it was a place where you got your morning coffee. My daily driver is a Ford Falcon XR6 Turbo Ute. BTW, we don’t pay a high price for gas (well compared to Europe), you guys just get it cheap 🙂
Mmmmmmm “XR6 Turbo Ute”, I was wondering what version it was in your avatar pic. An excellent machine – hey, let’s slap some “Ranchero” bades on it and sell it in the States! In reality of course Mr Mulally doesn’t seem to believe in RWD, so he’d never welcome a new Ranchero. And if he did the UAW would crap all over it – quite frankly they have a lot to answer for (but I guess it’s easy to say that in a country where everything’s imported anyway!). RWD Fords forever! (and maybe Caprices too)
You would think there was a business case for privately converting to LHD exporting XR6, XR6T, and FPV to the US, just like New Mustangs come here and get converted to RHD. Still I wouldn’t like to put my cash on the line to do it. The “Turbocharged Ranchero” is the best car I’ve ever owned (and I’ve had STi’s and Evo’s). Don’t think I will ever sell it. Mr Mulally and the rest of the Ford Top Brass, just like their GM and Chrysler counterparts, are a bunch of tools that have never lived in the real world. They are a bunch of elite level executives that are no better than public service bureaucrats. They are spin doctors who crap on through their slick PR Departments on about how they listing to the customer, then go and do their own thing. If Mulally cancels the Falcon or turns it into a RHD Taurus clone, I’m going to get Carmine to put a contract out on his life 🙂
Ditto!
Looks even more like a Crown Vic to me.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chevrolet_Caprice#Captive_import_.282011.E2.80.93.29
No, here’s your Crown Victoria Police Car replacement, someone just needs to convince Dearborn to let us make them with the steering wheel on the other side for you guys 🙂
+1. While unlikely, it’d be heartening to see the ’90s Ford Panther/GM B-Body US police package rivalry played out again with Aussie rear-drivers. And it’d help those Aussie platforms remain commercially viable.
The G6E version would make a good new Lincoln LS with a different front fascia etc, 5.0 V8 in n/a & supercharged variants.
Oh come on now, GM would never do a sensible thing like use a perfectly good Australian car that already exists and badge it as a Chevrolet Caprice/Impala and then sell it, that would be too simple and efficient. Sorry for the sarcasm 🙁
But American car fans will not pay for the duty to ship from AUS. The $30-40K Pontiac G8 bombed for that reason. Only when they were offered with huge rebates did they move, and then GM went BK.
“But American car fans will not pay for the duty to ship from AUS”. The Commodore and the Falcon are rather well put together (not that I am trying disrespect US cars), they are more like a European Cars than American Cars and would need to be marketed that way, as a cheaper yet comparable alternative to a BMW or a Mercedes or just an alternative to a Volvo. They were on the right track with the Commodore being a Pontiac. Why they didn’t keep Pontiac and delete Buick I will never know. The Falcon would make a good Mercury. It’s sporting models even have the right names, XR6 & XR8. And it could actually be a Mercury that wasn’t a sad looking clone of a Ford.
It’s got some late-model Town Car tumbehome going on.
There is one thing we can all be sure of, it won’t be a V-8 with ever tightening CAFE laws.
Not that any modern car needs a V-8 anyway. Today’s V-6s make far more power than yesterday’s V-8s anyway.
Looks like a 90s Chrysler LHS.
Chevy doesn’t do the sausage in a different length thing like the Germans do…
Yes my first thought was, “Why did he make a Chevy LHS?”
LOL! That was my thought exactly. It does look like an LHS from the side with the exception of the rear quarter window.
“LHS” was my first thought as well.
I like the LHS though…
A real trunk lid!!!!! With a opening big enough to put something other than loose sand in the trunk.
I’ll pass. My apologies to your father for being saddled with one of these dogs as a company car.
I would hardly call this car a dog. While I have never driven this car, the specs make it sound pretty descent. The engine is GM’s 3.6 that puts out 300 hp with a six speed auto and the specs suggest a roomy interior. A base LS with all these features starts out at under 26k. Not too bad if you ask me.
3.6L V6 with 6-speed automatic transmission
16″ aluminum wheels
Rear spoiler; dual stainless steel exhaust outlets
6-way driver power seat adjuster
AM/FM stereo with CD/MP3 player, auxiliary audio input jack and 6-speaker sound system
Bluetooth® wireless technology(3) for select phones
Power-adjustable outside mirrors
OnStar® including Directions & Connections®(2) Plan for first six months
StabiliTrak Electronic Control System
I’ve driven it, albeit with the old OHV engine, and it’s a dog. The thought of 300 horsepower in a soggy 25 year old FWD platform is not a pleasant one.
Maybe not to you, but the average customer doesn’t care about that at all. I mean, just look at the Corolla!
I have had Impala rentals many times and I would have to concur with the dog comment. The car may have lots of features but the basic driving dynamics, especially the steering, simply suck. The interior is small for the size of the car, too.
That said, if I lived on the prairies and wanted a good prairie cruiser, a used Impala would be very high on the list. Clean, three year old examples barely fetch $10,000.
Not true now, with used car shortages. 2009-11 Impala program cars are $15-18K. the days of late model used cars for only 10K are over. Now, 10K gets you a 5 year old middle aged car
There, maybe. In this part of Canuckistan, it is hard to give an Impala away. Have a look at Vancouver Craigslist to see what I mean.
New car sales in Canuckistan have been quite good and in real terms, they have never been cheaper, as the benefit of our high Peso is finally getting to the consumer. Hence cheap Impalas. Remember, we didn’t have a crash, either.
Canuckistan. LOL. I can’t wait to tell my brother he lives in Banff, Alberta, Canuckistan 🙂 Does this mean I live in Kangarooistan ?
No need to stretch the nose, they’ve already stuffed LS V8s in the Impala. It would look better with the front wheels moved forward though if your going through the trouble of stretching it anyways. It look better with the wheels moved forward even if you didn’t stretch it but that’s not happening if it is FWD.
Imagine a 1986 Caprice FWD H-Body triplet to the Delta 88 and LeSabre. Now imagine an H-Body Estate Wagon!
The Corsica could have been a Malibu, the two generations of Luminas could have been Impalas right from the start, and the full-size Caprice as a range-topper the whole time.
I don’t know what would have become of Shamu. Bel Air?
Here’s the actual 2012 Chevy Caprice, available now! How do you feel about that?
I wonder if you can “grey import” from Arabia to the US ?
No need Anthony, check Ebay Motors, see my comment below.
As I recall, the next Impala was to be RWD but tighter CAFE standards put an end to that.
I’m sure making the Caprice officially available only to law enforcement agencies helps get around the CAFE issues.
As was linked here a few weeks ago…with a little detective work (forgive the pun) you can buy a 9C2 Caprice PPV right now.
OK, time to set the record straight. 95-99% of old Impalas from 1959 to 1985 were plain ol’ full sized family cars, not the SS sporty cars, and not true ‘muscle cars’. [’58 was a sporty car, but not an SS] Fans with rosy glassed look back and think all old Impalas were big block coupes owned by young men.
Impala SS sales peaked in 1965 and want downhill from there, due to competition from true mid-sized muscle cars. Old Full sized cars are not true muscle cars, per the collector car market. And the term used in the day was ‘Supercar’, and are mid sized [GTO], compacts [Nova SS], or Pony [Mustang Cobra]. The early Impala SS’s were popular on drag strip, but were really performance cars, never called ‘muscle cars’. That term was made up in the 80’s by car mags wishing for the old days. Now, it seems it’s applied to ANY rear drive pre-1973 car.
Reality, most 60’s Impala’s were average Mr and Mrs Smith commuters, family haulers, and adult driven. Most powered by I6’s, 283/307/327 V8’s, with 2 speed Powerglides. And, most 70’s Impalas were big tanks with 350-2 barrel carbs, nothing ‘sporty’ or ‘fast’ at all. Only the pre-1971 models had some ‘street machine’ appeal,
I’m just telling it as it really was. Too many casual ‘car buffs’ assume all RWD cars built in the 60’s were “muscle cars”. Usually too young to know, or just misty eyed.