The above image is a 1965 Impala SS Coupe, slightly modified. This was the turnaround year for the Impala as it began to lose its flair over the following years.
Chevy may be in the midst of turning around their business. It wasn’t a few weeks ago that I was speaking with some friends during a dinner conversation about Chevy. I felt that Chevy should really go back to what made them cool in the 50’s and 60’s by re-creating inspired designs which really made them cool at the time.
I always thought it would be nice to see the old school Impala make a real comeback. Lately it seems that the employees at Chevy have lost all inspiration to design a ride the way they used to. They been creating alot of models, no doubt, but they're uninspired at best. I can't even remember any of the model names of many of their new cars because they are so generic.
The Bel Air and Impala were some of the coolest cars that Chevy ever released. In fact, in the 1960’s the Impala was one of the most successful cars for Chevy. They kept changing it though, year after year. After about 1965 it started to lose its flair, and they just kept butchering it even more until it was finally discontinued. They then re-released it, and they ended up with, what I feel, is a crappy looking commodity imposter wearing an Impala badge. Unfortunately the only similarities between the old school Impala and the new Impala is the name.
It’s about time they figured out their business and went back to what really made them successful. It seems to me that if executed properly we should see Chevy make an interesting turn around over the next couple of years.
Now might be a good time to find a steal deal on a 1964 Impala SS hard top or convertible. Check out what CNN has to say.
10 blogger comments:
I agree. American companies in general have completely forgotten how to make products people WANT to own. This is why companies like Chrysler and Apple are turning heads. They are making products people are proud to own and show off.
The good news with GM is that they have Bob Lutz who understands this. Hopefully we'll see some cars worth owning out of them soon.
Great post, no doubt it will be nice to see Chev change.
If Chevy made a new Impala that looked like a 64 but with modern technology I'd be in line for one no question.
I would love to see a rebirth of the 50's-60's in the way of influence on upcoming car designs. However, the new impala SS is IMO a great car. I mean crap it has 303hp and still gets great mpg's relatively. If I'm not mistaken the new Impala SS beats most imports in its hp range in mpg's i mean plus has slightly more hp/torque. It almost defies logic to see a product like that not do well. It's like someone not buying bang for buck and just listen to current hype. Or believe someone when they say all imports get better mpg's and are infinately more reliable than domestics. I can't wait to see what gm is going to do with this new rwd chassis everyone is talking about. Let's hope for the best.
I would love to see a rebirth of the 50's-60's in the way of influence on upcoming car designs. However, the new impala SS is IMO a great car. I mean crap it has 303hp and still gets great mpg's relatively. If I'm not mistaken the new Impala SS beats most imports in its hp range in mpg's i mean plus has slightly more hp/torque. It almost defies logic to see a product like that not do well. It's like someone not buying bang for buck and just listen to current hype. Or believe someone when they say all imports get better mpg's and are infinately more reliable than domestics. I can't wait to see what gm is going to do with this new rwd chassis everyone is talking about. Let's hope for the best.
I would love to see a rebirth of the 50's-60's in the way of influence on upcoming car designs. However, the new impala SS is IMO a good car. I mean crap it has 303hp and still gets great mpg's relatively. If I'm not mistaken the new Impala SS beats most imports in its hp range in mpg's i mean plus has slightly more hp/torque. It almost defies logic to see a product like that not do well. It's like someone not buying bang for buck and just listen to current hype. Or believe someone when they say all imports get better mpg's and are infinately more reliable than domestics. I can't wait to see what gm is going to do with this new rwd chassis everyone is talking about. Let's hope for the best.
Dana has a great point.
Here is the problem I see with a huge company like GM in creating innovative new products. Currently GM’s brands include, Chevrolet, Pontiac, Buick, Cadillac, GMC, Oldsmobile, Saturn, Hummer, Saab, and there Euro brands, Holden, Opel, and Vauxhall, all of which share platforms in order to reduce cost. Great, reduced costs for GM means reduced cost for consumers but at a loss in quality and identity as well. Brand identity has become simply a brand-tag now.
Think about it, a Hummer H2 which trademarks itself “LIKE NOTHING ELSE”, makes you think that you are buying a $50,000 + truck that sets you apart from everyone else on the road but it isn’t even close to what the original was. It shares it’s platform with the all of GM’s other full-sized trucks, GMC Yukon, Chevy Tahoe, etc. Not to mention it’s made of plastic and has a solid rear axle. To set yourself apart you’ll have to set yourself back $130,000 +. Sure it’s great to let people have a taste of what it’s really like to have a Hummer but the initial quality and reliability that the brand was based on is now watered down and everyone has one, what’s the fun in that?
Sure, the merger with all these, at-one-time-great-car-companies means that the technologies they have come up with in the past and are on the verge of developing now will be shared amongst all the other car companies making them safer, cheaper and everything in between. But it makes for a less competitive car market. Who does GM have to compete with when they share technologies with half the world’s carmakers?
I’m not only blaming GM, Ford merged with Volvo and other companies, and so has Chrysler with Mercedes, hence the Daimler-Chrysler name.
These car makers have the market cornered, especially in the US, why create new and exciting when they can mass-produce and make money? US cars get made fun of over seas because of the lack of build quality due to mass production. Think about it, if you drive an American car you can hear the panels rattle when you drive. Look at your dash and take the time to notice the way things don’t fit together properly. Why do you think BMW and other carmakers are looked at as luxury and a standard of automobile excellence? They of course cost more, but they aren’t a dime a dozen like say a Ford Mustang which is looked at a an American Car Icon.
The car market in the US right now is hurting. I see this first-hand living in the Detroit area. We won’t see anything like an amazing Impala in the next few years, hell, probably not in the next decade. GM had there chance to make a huge leap with the re-introduction of the GTO. What happened with that? That was a complete bomb. It looks like a two-door Grandprix with a V-8 and hood scoops. Oh what’s that? The GTO was based on the Australian Holden Monaro, which is actually built on Holden's Commodore sedan chassis, which in turn is a stretched version of the German Opel Omega chassis. The rear-wheel-drive Opel Omega chassis dates back to the early 90s. Nothing new here. See my point? Maybe I don’t have one.
I like what Anonymous had to say, “If Chevy made a new Impala that looked like a 64 but with modern technology I'd be in line for one no question.” So you might be a Chevy Brand loyalist but this already happened with Ford and the re-release of the Thunderbird. They started screwing over those who thought they were getting something special by over-saturating the car into the market, which US carmakers do quite often, and it lost its appeal, they began to lose money, and they scrapped the whole project after 2 ½ years.
The only brand label made by US car manufacturers that is worth a damn is the Corvette. Which I might add keeps itself as far away from Chevy marketing as it can. The only marketing it has seen in recent years with Chevy has been with the ‘American Revolution’ campaign that Chevy released this year. The Corvette stays out of the reach of many. There is a waiting list every year to get one and it continually keeps ahead of many other car companies in the racing industry and shares nothing with any other car in the Chevy line-up. All the US carmakers, even Chevy could learn a lot with the way Corvette does things. It all boils down to money.
NASCAR is bad for the US carmakers as well. What sort of new technologies are we getting from NASCAR? Most other foreign carmakers learn a lot from Formula One. The new technology learned and developed from F1 is cutting edge and a few years down the road is incorporated into new car models. NASCAR won’t even let Toyota into the mix, because they are afraid they are going to kick their asses. This is getting long-winded so I’ll leave it at that.
Rahul, it would be great to see that old time “flair” as you put it. But don’t hold your breath waiting for that great car to come along. I don’t think there will be a re-emergence of the muscle-car any time soon, even with Chevy’s attempt at the HHR and SSR concept-to-reality trucks. Start looking to foreign car makers for a fresh clean outlook on automobiles; we won’t get it here, not the way the car market is now. Maybe now that GM is hacking away at costs by ridding pensions, which is a whole different entity in its own, they can put more time and effort into what they used to do, create new, innovative, cutting-edge automobiles. Nostalgia is nice, embrace the new. Don't ever merge Rahul.
Great comments. I really took Joe's comments to heart, you have a very interesting viewpoint.
I believe the new T-Bird failed for a number of reasons, mostly related to the company focussing on getting numbers rather than re-creating the history.
As far as companies merging with one another and sharing parts - without maintaining their brand atonomy they are pretty much doomed to be sell-outs.
Just saw this...
Toyota Motor to take #1 spot
Take a look at the new Dodge Challenger. There are spy shots floating around out there. It's pretty much designed to look like the old school Challengers but with modern technology.
Totally agree with GM. They need to shed some brands. Chevy goes after the low end market, Pontiac the mid end and Buick highend. Kill off everything else. Badge engineering doesn't work anymore. Chrysler has learned that and as each model is re-designed they will all be different not only in the grille but interior design, exterior design and so on. They will still share platform, engine, tranny and most other parts that you don't see. For example take a look at the Charger, 300 and Magnum. They all share the same parts but look totally different. Except for the Charger and Magnum who share interior design but technically the Magnum is pretty much a Charger station wagon.
As far as Nascar goes, the big 3 are not in it to develop new technology for their cars. They are in it to advertise their cars and hope that race fans turn into car buyers. It's a huge sport for advertising due to how brand loyal their fans are. I've read articles where you can go down to a motor home park in a small town near a race track and all you see are brand new Chargers, Intrepids, Taurus and Monte Carlos parked near by. All cars raced in the Cup Series. By the way Toyota is in Nascar and has been for 2 seasons now. They are only in the truck series right now but will be in the Busch series in the next 2 years and full Nextel Cup circuit in 07 with the Camry. Toyota has officially pulled out of cart and Indy racing to send all their funds to their Nascar program. Rumor has it Honda will join the truck series by 07 and cup series shortly after too. It wasn't that Nascar was afraid of Toyota, they really don't care who is in the series. The reason it took Toyota so long to enter Nascar was their lack of a engine that meets Nascar specs.
But overall the Big 3 still have a long way to go in terms of material quality to catch the higher end brands. They have pretty much caught the japanese already.
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