Photo: Chevrolet
When you hear Chevy, a few things come to mind. In addition to the woeful interiors and reliability record of Chevrolet nowadays, the golden bowtie is the company behind the ‘Vette, ‘Maro, and a nameplate that rarely gets mentioned as of late.
We’re referring to the Impala, which entered production in 1957 to great commercial success as well as critical acclaim. But over the years, the nameplate slowly but steadily deteriorated into something different from the original recipe, something not as desirable nor as good-looking as the first three generations of the breed.
Chevrolet had the audacity to switch to a transverse engine and front-wheel drive in 1999, but sales kept going strong for a time. Fast-forward to the tenth generation in 2014, and the inevitable was looming on the horizon as more and more people switched to luxed-up pickup trucks, SUVs, and crossovers from Chevy and import brands.
To understand how badly the Impala was doing up until the end of 2019, we have to crunch some numbers. From 140,280 sales stateside back in 2014, demand has dropped to 44,978 last year. Chevy isn’t the only automaker with such dismal results in the U.S.; looking at the bigger picture, even Toyota and Honda are struggling to keep the ever-popular Camry and Accord afloat in this utility vehicle-driven era.
Turning our attention back to November 2018, that’s when General Motors confirmed the closure of the Detroit-Hamtramck Assembly Plant in Michigan. The CT6 is already out of production, and next Tuesday, the Impala will come to a grinding halt as well.
On the upside, General Motors has saved Detroit-Hamtramck by re-tooling the factory for all-electric vehicles such as the GMC Hummer. There are rumors according to which Cadillac plans to introduce the Escalade EV in a few years’ time, and if the hearsay turns out to be true, it will join the Hummer EV at Hamtramck.
"Just as the Impala evolved over the years, the market has shifted dramatically and demand for sedans has declined and we adjusted to meet customer needs," declared vice president of marketing Steve Majoros as per The Detroit News.
Chevrolet had the audacity to switch to a transverse engine and front-wheel drive in 1999, but sales kept going strong for a time. Fast-forward to the tenth generation in 2014, and the inevitable was looming on the horizon as more and more people switched to luxed-up pickup trucks, SUVs, and crossovers from Chevy and import brands.
To understand how badly the Impala was doing up until the end of 2019, we have to crunch some numbers. From 140,280 sales stateside back in 2014, demand has dropped to 44,978 last year. Chevy isn’t the only automaker with such dismal results in the U.S.; looking at the bigger picture, even Toyota and Honda are struggling to keep the ever-popular Camry and Accord afloat in this utility vehicle-driven era.
Turning our attention back to November 2018, that’s when General Motors confirmed the closure of the Detroit-Hamtramck Assembly Plant in Michigan. The CT6 is already out of production, and next Tuesday, the Impala will come to a grinding halt as well.
On the upside, General Motors has saved Detroit-Hamtramck by re-tooling the factory for all-electric vehicles such as the GMC Hummer. There are rumors according to which Cadillac plans to introduce the Escalade EV in a few years’ time, and if the hearsay turns out to be true, it will join the Hummer EV at Hamtramck.
"Just as the Impala evolved over the years, the market has shifted dramatically and demand for sedans has declined and we adjusted to meet customer needs," declared vice president of marketing Steve Majoros as per The Detroit News.
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