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First Drives
Can A Fleet Queen Become a Fullsize King?
On paper, the
Chevrolet Impala is a pretty strong seller, posting annual sales that have hovered right around 170,000 units for the last two years, but it only takes one trip to practically any rental car agency to discover where the majority of those sales have come from. In fact,
General Motors told
Autoblog that a full 70 percent of Impala sales last year went to fleet companies for things like rental cars and government vehicles. Logic tells us that this is neither good for resale values nor name equity, so
Chevrolet is getting ready to roll out an all-new Impala with improved comfort, styling and technology, hoping to turn the tables on its retail-to-fleet ratio.
Chevrolet's sedans have come on quite strong in the last few months with the introduction of the
Cruze diesel and the
SS sedan, but while these will likely be low-volume sellers, there's more pressure for the new Impala to perform well as GM looks to slash fleet sales and compete with the wide variety of full-size sub-luxury sedans. Riding on a platform shared with the
Buick LaCrosse and
Cadillac XTS, the 2014 Impala will compete against the
Hyundai Azera,
Ford Taurus and
Toyota Avalon on the more traditional side, while also looking to take a bite out of somewhat sportier models like the
Chrysler 300/
Dodge Charger twins and the
Nissan Maxima. We headed to sunny San Diego to see if this totally new Impala can stand on its own without the assistance of fleet companies and rental agencies. [w/video
Continue reading 2014 Chevrolet Impala [w/video]
2014 Chevrolet Impala [w/video] originally appeared on
Autoblog on Fri, 15 Mar 2013 11:57:00 EST. Please see our
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First Drive: 2014 Chevrolet Impala [w/video]
