Settle UP: Not What U Want, What GM Needs. RWD or FWD Impala

By CmicasatheGreatXvX

First let's get this out the way... I am not a hater of RWD... I can walk out to my garage and find 3 more RWD vehicles in it than U can in yours... :yup: Two of them sporting suspension systems in them that are TRACK READY and with enough power under the hood to make Lewis Hamilton, Mario Andretti, hell... RACER X (of Speed Racer fame) fight over the keys. :badtothebone:


OK... Let's bump the FUEL ECONOMY argument... I have long argued that GM RWD vehicles get fuel economy that equals or betters every FWD based car out there. I have constantly compared CTS (vs Audi A6), Corvette (vs R8), Camaro (vs Accord Coupe), G8 (vs Ford Taurus SHO), and even Tahoe (vs Ridgeline) fuel economy against that of vehicles from Honda, Toyota, and Nissan sporting a FWD based platform. Each time I either gave evidence of them BEATING the competition or at the very least equaling them. NEVER have I argued that FWD was more efficient than than RWD.

My argument has never been against the idea of RWD vehicles.. it has been against the idea of the MAINSTREAM buyer buying a RWD based MAINSTREAM car.. such as the Impala which is well known to be a FWD based car.. in a segment that is FWD norm.

The notion for a RWD sedan from Chevy has always been attractive to me, but not as an IMPALA.. but perhaps a Caprice.. in BETTER times, when GM wasn't in desperate need for market share growth and perception stability. RWD based family cars are simply not viable outside of niche or law enforcement.

Basically the counter argument has been that in Family sedans RWD is as fuel efficient as FWD. This is true. The issue at hand is that in family sedans RWD is not COST EFFICIENT for mainstream companies... nor is it PERCEIVED as being fuel efficient, safe, or practical by the mainstream buyer.

It seems as the advocates are speaking from the perspective of a person living in the 70s when RWD was 90% of the market... when "a Man" didn't even consider FWD based vehicles to haul their families around... Now... despite there being G8s, Chargers, 300cs, Genesis... available in the MAINSTREAM.. their sales are limited to niche or Fleet duty. Using the Holden example is seriously flawed... The Holden Commodore is a BEST SELLING vehicle in OZ... but at 80%+ Fleet duty it makes the American Impala's 35%+ Fleet duty seem minuscule.

AND The advocates WANT GM to introduce another one to the market when a more versatile, flexible, cost effective platform can yield similar performance with better versatility in the in-climate weather that seems to happen as far down as Dallas these days. :( I'm sorry... I witnessed waaaaaaaaaaaaay to many RWD vehicles on the side of the road or spinning outta control for a come back from U about how "those people just don't kno how to drive..." to hold any water. :no:

The fact that these people didn't buy the exact car (ZETA based V8 powered RWD car) just a short while ago is testament that when a mainstream buyer needs family transportation... RWD is not always a necessity like they would have us believe.

The Market has changed like it or not. THIS IS THE SAME MARKET THAT FOR YEARS LITERALLY BELIEVED THAT TOYOTA BUILT BULLET-PROOF CARS.

The fact that the available RWD based family sedans cars available (Genesis, 300c, Charger) and the defunct one have/had relatively minuscule RETAIL sales compared to their Impala competition. I have no issue with a niche RWD/AWD CAPRICE... or even a quick "flip of script" RWD/AWD based Cadillac XTS... but not a super mainstream name like the Impala. It would be like literally making the Honda Accord a V8 powered car. The market would balk, even tho ENTHUSIASTS would rejoice. Unfortunately ENTHUSIASTS make up a small percentage of the buying public... and normally call for GTOs, Magnums, Genesis, SSRs, ... and then buy them is extremely low numbers. Obviously these so called enthusiasts don't look at the numbers. The current numbers, full year, from 2009 show that a 5 year old, FWD only, no-navigation having, old GM car... still sold approx. 166K vehicles in a down year, amid a Bankruptcy, and factory shut-downs, with about 25% going to fleet. That still leaves about 120K retail sales of said OLD car. Certainly a BETTER vehicle would spawn more sales.


So Yes... I support the idea of taking an award winning BRAND NEW innovative platform and turning it into a more marketable vehicle selling out of a larger retail outlet... while they are IN LOVE with a 5 year old vehicle coming here as a new Impala. If this were 2006... I could dig it.. but this is 2010.. and GM doesn't need another niche car selling outta it's mass selling division while the market demands something else.

More here: http://www.carfanatics.org/settle-up-not-what-u-want-what-gm-needs-rwd-or-fwd-impala-t3583.html