Chevrolet News:Chevrolet To Hold Off Selling The New Impala To Fleets

[William Maley]

By William Maley

Staff Writer - CheersandGears.com

March 13, 2013

The current Chevrolet Impala holds the title of being the queen of the fleet market. Last year, nearly 75% of the 169,351 Impalas sold went to the fleet market (about 127,013 vehicles). With the new Chevrolet Impala just around the corner, General Motors would not like to have a repeat of that.

Chevrolet marketing chief Chris Perry said yesterday at the media launch of the 2014 Impala that Chevrolet will sell the old Impala to fleets for one more year. Those fleets looking to get their hands on the 2014 model will have to wait till next year. GM's goal is to drop fleet sales of the Impala to around 30%.

“The Impala has become more of a fleet car over the last several years, and this allows us to continue to meet that demand for our fleet customers,” Perry said.

This move allows GM to to capitalize on the popularity of the current Impala for fleets. It also allows the new Impala to re-position itself as the flagship for Chevrolet.

The new Impala arrives in April.

Source: Auto Guide, Automotive News (Subscription Required)

William Maley is a staff writer for Cheers & Gears. He can be reached at [email protected] or you can follow him on twitter at @realmudmonster.

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[hyperv6]

GM with most of their cars will withhold fleet sales as much as possible. They want to get back to where they keep resale up and customer happy.

They would be best served to keep the old car in production like the Vue and sell it as fleet only.

Tire companies have done this for years where they sell older model tires to the OE MFG at a cheap price since they make little money on them and save the good tires for the replacement market and the top level performance cars.

I think they would have done better to sell the old Malibu as a fleet car and toss the old Impala. But then many would see where the new Malibu pales to the old one.

[G. David Felt]

I agree that all auto makers should have a couple lines that are just fleet whores and let them be built solid to withstand the abuse of fleet rentals so people will then want to go check out the rest of the companies products.

[regfootball]

there are just many folks that cannot afford a new car. these folks love low mile pre-owned ex fleet cars.

In my work parking lot every day are two late model Impalas. GM selling those used keeps someone else from buying a Camry.

The Malibu will become a fleet whore when the old Impala is done.

I see a lot of Captivas around.

[daves87rs]

Should be interesting to see how it does...

[hyperv6]

Fleet sales are a dumping ground for GM and other companies just trying to keep volume.

GM could care less about who and how many Impala's they sell on the secondary market as it effects them little.

GM needs to concentrate on selling the cars at a higher profit and make more per car vs. just dumping them on the fleets just to unload them and keep a plant busy.

I took a big hit on my 04 GP as there are so an Grand Prix's dumped on the market that I was lucky to get the price I did on trade. The dealer sat on the car for 5 months and never sold it even when they lowered the price down to what they gave me. Keep in mind this was even a GTP Comp G that was a 9 on a 10 scale in condition. I am sure it went to auction.

GM did me a favor with the Captiva as they have cut back on Nox to fleets and never really pushed the Terrain there. The prices have remained pretty stable. Also the Small Crossover market is so strong now the prices are holding like they do on used trucks.

My trucks were the best resale. the delaer gave me $5K for a 88 S10 with over 100,000 miles and I only paid $9K for it 10 years before. The sales man had already made me a good deal on my GMC and told me he had a buyer for the S10 if I was interested.

My GMC when I sold it sold in just a couple hours after the sign went in and I got top dollar.

GM cars have been a good deal if you buy used but that is not good for selling or buying new cars.