The fleet-only Impala Limited will look just like this, but it will feel sadder.
Chevrolet’s all-new, 10th-generation Impala sedan rolls into showrooms this spring, but that doesn’t mean the anodyne, lifeless ninth-generation model is headed six feet down. As Automotive News first reported—and Chevy confirmed to us—the outgoing Impala will live on, but will be sold exclusively to fleet customers. Retail customers will only be able to get their mitts on the vastly improved, far-better-looking 2014 Impala.
If this sounds bizarre, it really isn’t, and it helps Chevrolet wean itself off of the fleet sales that have kept the outgoing Impala afloat without dragging the new car down into the rental-lot trenches. GM has kept other outmoded cars alive for a year or two in the past to satisfy fleet customers, most notably with a line of Malibu “Classics” sold from 2004–2005 following the introduction of the Epsilon-based 2004 Malibu, as well as the Chevrolet Captiva, a Chevy-badged iteration of the defunct Saturn Vue. As for the fleet-only Impala, it will be called the Impala Limited, and like the new Impala, will be a 2014-model-year vehicle.
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A Chevrolet representative tells us that production of the Limited likely will continue so long as there’s demand—the company hasn’t settled on a specific production-stop date. Fleet customers will be able to order Impala Limiteds any way they were available to retail customers this year, which means a choice from among three trim levels and a single, 302-hp V-6 engine that was added to the old Impala for 2012. That additional power should come in handy should we ever conduct another epic Rental-Car Olympics test.
