As we told you earlier this morning, for almost 20 years the Chevy Impala has been synonymous with "rental" — a car more "Jackalope" than the southern African antelope it's named after. They've been boring and they've been beige — well, with the exception of a few years of the "SS" badge anyway. Until now.
After showing you the press photos earlier this morning, here's the first live photos of the 2014 Chevy Impala revealed today at the New York Auto Show. Some of the styling's a bit derivative — but, at the same time, this ain't no rental lot reject.
Built on GM's Super Epsilon II platform, the new car named after the southern African antelope features a long, wind-swept profile, evolutionary bowtie-bedecked front fascia, and dramatic sculpted body coves, the new Impala might now be the best-looking four-door Chevy currently makes. Seriously.
While it's sadly again a front-wheel-drive car, underneath the strongly-pointed power-domed hood sit three engine choices — a four-banger in either 195 HP 2.5-liter regular or 182 HP 2.4-liter eAssist flavors and a 303 HP, 264 lb-ft o' torque 3.6-liter V6.
While that ain't an "SS" model with a V8 engine under the hood, 303 horses is nothing to sneeze at. But you'll need it — the car's supposed to weigh 3,800 lb. in LT trim with the V6 engine.
Inside, the big, bad bowtie brand's big, bad sedan gets an all-new dual cockpit interior and an available eight-inch touch screen display with available Chevrolet MyLink.
The all-new Impala goes on sale in early 2013 as the 10th generation of the car (ninth in four-door format) with LS, LT and LTZ models. The car will be assembled at GM's Detroit-Hamtramck, Mich., and Oshawa, Ontario facilities.
Pricing will be announced at a later date.
But our takeaway is that we've been wondering where the hell this Chevy has been — you know, the attractive-looking full-size sedan Chevy. We sure missed ya.