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Automotive News
October 20, 2014
Article Quotes:
Since the stylish, redesigned Chevrolet Impala sedan rolled out in the spring of 2013, General Motors executives have been telling anyone who will listen that its days as a rental-lot staple are over.
So this headline in The New York Times last week couldn't have gone over well at GM headquarters: "You Can Rent Whatever You Want, as Long as It's an Impala."
Columnist Josh Barro argued that, despite the redesign, the Impala continues to be the rental-lot king, with 54 percent of 2014 Impalas becoming rental cars.
That figure suggests that Chevy has failed miserably at its stated goal for the "new" Impala: to invert its sales from 70 percent fleet for the last-generation car to 70 percent retail sales.
Cue the GM PR department.
They informed Barro -- and us -- that only one-third of the redesigned 2014 Impalas went to rental companies. The disconnect: The previous-generation car is still in production, branded as the Impala Limited and sold exclusively to fleets. GM doesn't distinguish the two in its sales reports.
October 20, 2014
Article Quotes:
Since the stylish, redesigned Chevrolet Impala sedan rolled out in the spring of 2013, General Motors executives have been telling anyone who will listen that its days as a rental-lot staple are over.
So this headline in The New York Times last week couldn't have gone over well at GM headquarters: "You Can Rent Whatever You Want, as Long as It's an Impala."
Columnist Josh Barro argued that, despite the redesign, the Impala continues to be the rental-lot king, with 54 percent of 2014 Impalas becoming rental cars.
That figure suggests that Chevy has failed miserably at its stated goal for the "new" Impala: to invert its sales from 70 percent fleet for the last-generation car to 70 percent retail sales.
Cue the GM PR department.
They informed Barro -- and us -- that only one-third of the redesigned 2014 Impalas went to rental companies. The disconnect: The previous-generation car is still in production, branded as the Impala Limited and sold exclusively to fleets. GM doesn't distinguish the two in its sales reports.