Chevrolet To Get New NASCAR Entrant – And All New Product For Showrooms
The Chevrolet Caprice might be second to the Toyota FT-86 in the sheer volume of rumors surrounding when and where it will go on sale. The rear-drive, 6.0L V8 powered Caprice is currently sold only to fleet customers, but the “detective’s cars” sold as unmarked units look suspiciously like civilian-ready full size sedans.
Chevrolet announced that their Impala, set to be redesigned in 2014, would be replaced on the NASCAR circuit by an all-new model that would also be sold in showrooms. Chevrolet said they’ll unveil the new model later this year, with a 2013 debut in showrooms. The Impala is out, and it would be too early for Chevrolet to produce the Code concept, and the “Gen Y” positioning would be all wrong for NASCAR.
The Caprice makes a lot of sense; rear-drive, V8, great nameplate (even though the Caprice was never in the upper echelon of the muscle car hierarchy) and already approved for sale here in the USA. But the specter of rising gas prices, CAFE regulations and Murphy’s Law makes me wonder whether this is all too good to be true, and if a small-block V8 powered performance sedan is really what GM wants to launch in this kind of economic and political climate.
More by Derek Kreindler
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The recent V8 powered (5.3) Impala SS was rated at 28 mpg highway. The 6.0 was never really known for fuel economy. GM is coming out with a new V8 design in 2013 for light trucks (5.5L?). Add improved AFM and a 6-speed and I bet you could easily see 30 mpg on the highway. I'll take a wagon version please.
A RWD larger sized ( I refuse to call it full size) sedan is badly needed at Epsilon Motors and Ford. GM has one too many product holes in there weak lineup today. I find it utterly ridiculous that if I want a coupe or wagon that I need to spend 45-50k on a Cadillac. Or if I want a larger sized RWD sedan that performs my only choices are Chrysler or Hyundai or one of the expensive Germans/Asians.
It wasn't GM that pushed FWD, it was the Import biased auto media. Car and Driver in early 80's was constantly saying 'as soon as all new cars are FWD, we will be better off, of course this doesn't count BMW's'. But one issue is that gear-heads expecting duplicates of 60's cars will not buy them. As with the AUS made GTO, they'll whine "it dont look like 'da old ones."
These ZETA cars are wonderful, especially with the V8. The DI V6 is no slouch either. They are sold in China as Buick Park Avenues, and in the middle east as Chevrolets. Most striking to this GM guy upon visiting Oz in 2010, was the abundance of Holdens, a surprising number converted by their owners into Chevrolets! It seemed like every 5th car was a G8, (with a holden face) with very sweet wagons and ute's sprinkled in. I was most amazed at how many had been converted into Chevrolets by Aussies, since Chevys have not been offered for sale there for very many years. I really like zeta, but it was federalized with intro of G8, and could have been reintroduced as a Chevy a couple of years ago. If I were a betting man, I would bet this upcoming new model will not be a zeta, but new small rwd arhitecture. I feel confident I will want one!