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I currently own TWO 2014 Chevy Impalas 2LTZs and found out today from my DEALER when I was servicing one of my ’14 Impalas that the 2018 model year is the FINAL model year for the Impala! I have NOT confirmed this information; the dealer told me they just got the information from GM and that they are going to have to promote the Malibu as the replacement. I told him I wasn’t surprised that it was being discontinued because of the trend of CUV and SUV sales killing sedan sales, and the Impala suffering the worst of it. This website and other sources have long indicated the POSSIBLE demise of the Impala due to weaker sedan sales and STRONG CUV/SUV sales. Could I get some verification from this website that the 2018 model year IS the last model year for the Chevy Impala? I don’t believe the dealer is giving me wrong information, but I want GM Authority to verify this information.
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This is possible, but…and this is a big one…I wonder what the actual source of the information is. When the dealer says “GM” told them so, what does that mean? In other words, is it a salesman telling you this or is it the dealer principal or General Manager?
We can try to dig into this… and will do so… stay tuned.
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Taking a look at the VIN cards for 2019 model year shows the Impala with the same engines as the car has today… so if GM is planning to discontinue it, I doubt it will be for 2019 MY.
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They’d essentially be merging the Impala and Malibu into one car. They can’t really do that abruptly. They’d really have to wait until the next generation Malibu, which will hopefully be larger and offer more variants if it is expected to be an Impala replacement.
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Alex: my service advisor told me that GM told them (the dealer) no more Impala after the 2018 model year. In fact, I just spoke to another service advisor at the same dealer, and he confirmed what I was told on Saturday. The dealer was told to promote the Malibu as the replacement (yeah, right!).
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member12: In 1996, when GM killed off their full size B-body sedans ( Chevy Caprice, Chevy Impala SS, and Buick Roadmaster), Chevy had to promote the mid size 1997 Chevy Lumina as the replacement. So GM has done this before: kill off the full size car without notice, and promote the mid size car as if it were full size. The 1997 Chevy Lumina was designed and sold as a mid size car (despite GM trying to market it as a full size car after the demise of the full size B body cars), just like the current 2016-2018+ Malibu would be positioned to replace the full size Impala, even though the Malibu is mid sized.
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The fact that GM as an organization has done something before isn’t really relevant today, since the company is quite different today compared to what it was in 1996, with different strategic, financial, and operational goals and objectives. The management thinks differently and has a different direction and priorities… so I wouldn’t rely on past actions as an indicator of current or future decisions.
As an organization, GM is much better today in planning and executing, especially in the short and medium term(s). Specifically, they would do something along the lines of what @member12 stated… rather than not have an option for Impala buyers whatsoever.
I would not rely much on dealers for future product information, especially service advisors, sales people, or any other position in a dealership outside of the general manager or dealer principal… and even these are very likely to not be informed completely about the product and strategic direction of the company. Dealers are often the last to hear about something, and when they do, they’re told things in bits and pieces… this is coming from someone (me) whose first job at GM was calling on dealers.
Allow me to expand on that further. There are three reasons you would be hearing something like this:
1. Chevrolet communicated this to dealers during a recent dealer meeting. This is highly unlikely, since we would have heard about it from our sources and reported on it.
2. Dealer principal or general manager read something online about the potential discontinuation of the Impala… told his employees during a Friday sales meeting… and the rumor spread like wildfire, if it were fact from there… with no one questioning it since it came from dealership management.
3. GM might be paying a bigger bonus to a dealer for Malibu sales this month or this quarter… and the dealer sales management made up the rumor for sales people to sell more Malibus. This is unlikely, but I wouldn’t eliminate its possibility entirely, as dealers across the industry are well-known for playing smoke and mirror-style games with their employees, customers, and other stake holders.
Either way, don’t give too much credit to something a dealer tells you surrounding future product. And NHTSA’s VIN cards show an Impala for the 2019 model year… so it will be around, at least for next year.
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Alex: thanks for the info. I did get a confirmation today also from the Service Manager (that’s the Service Manager, and two service advisors) at this dealer about the discontinuation of the Impala after the 2018 model year. However, I am aware that false information/rumors do get pushed, which is why I wanted confirmation in the first place. Thank you! I am happy to hear that your conclusion, based on NHTSA’s VIN, indicates that it will continue to be available for at least one more year. I will say that your website traditionally has been a tremendously good resource for getting info of the 10th current generation Impala, so I trust your judgement. I actually bought my 2nd 2014 Impala BECAUSE your website correctly indicated that the 2015 Impala would NOT have HD Radio. Guess what, you were right! The dropping of HD Radio was a dumb move, and I having always been grateful to GM Authority for letting me know this in advance. HD Radio is now on only a small number of GM models–it has NOT returned to the Impala since it’s removal for the 2015 model year.
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This reply was modified 5 years, 8 months ago by
Destroyer123.
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This reply was modified 5 years, 8 months ago by
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@destroyer123 wow, that’s a great story! Really happy we could help out.
HD Radio is a weird one within GM. They started out very much on board with the technology but then seemed to have gone away from it, instead focusing on internet connectivity via smartphone and via the built-in 4G LTE connection.
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Update: Impala around for 2019 model year… but for how long – given that Ford just announced that all of its passenger cars will go away after this generation:
http://gmauthority.com/blog/2018/04/2019-chevy-impala-gets-these-three-changes/
Ford announcement:
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With Ford heading into a new untested direction you would think that GM would take advantage of this opportunity to boost sales on sedans and family cars to fill in the void that Ford just announced. Remember when GM brought back the Colorado and no one else really had an answer. Toyota was still with the outdated Tacoma and the Nissan Frontier was in need of a facelift. The Ford Ranger was gone. GM couldn’t keep up production demand fast enough on the Colorado. I say let Ford dump passenger vehicles. Time will tell.
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Agreed… though I’m not sure if that’s how GM is actually thinking. We’ll see.
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GM has to advertise the Impala and do a refresh to it in the first step. A second step consist in redesign the next gen Impala on RWD platform with AWD capabilities.
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This is the dumbest thing that GM is considering. I own a 2014 Impala, and I think it’s a great car. I think the 305 hp V6 is a sleeper and will push that 4000 lb car pretty damn quick if you shift it. It will smoke a lot of cars out there. In the town I live in there’s a ton of them on the streets so I’m not sure about the slow sales. Where? My last few years there was a period of several years that I didn’t own a car because I just rented from Avis because it was ridiculously cheap with the corporate rate. When I had to travel a long distance I always rented an Impala because they were so comfortable & quiet. Just read that they were #1 rated again as the most comfortable car in the 30k range according to Kelly Blue Book. I don’t know what GM is thinking. I think they have a winner but they never mention it in their advertising. Hey GM, we don’t all want to drive SUVs and obscenely large and smelly diesel pickups. Nothing against pickups, I have a 1969 Chevy C 10. Also, if Ford is cutting their full size cars, what a great time to step in and pick up the slack.
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