Why

[TheCrazzyOne]

I know they havent made them for awhile now, But what was GM's reason to stop making the caprice and shrink the impala?.

[ilgoldstein]

They were too big and people were not buying enough of them. People wanted more "modern" type cars, and these were like dinosours. The only people who were really excited about them were the cops and taxi drivers, and the volume of sales did not justify continued production. Besides, everyone in the mid 90s thought the future of the automobile was strictly FWD.

[CD Smalley]

Partially correct. But if you look at what is being made in the plants where the b-bodies were built then I think you will find the answer.....

SUVs.

[Mira_cz]

I thint it was because GM needed plants for Camaros, but don't remember exactly.

[ilgoldstein]

I thought B-bodies were SUVs!

[HLandin]

Originally Posted by ilgoldstein

I thought B-bodies were SUVs!

Ha, ha, ha. I think ilgoldstein made a funny!!! The B-body platform consided of full size cars (the Buick Roadmaster, Caprice, and Impala just to name a few). Anyways, GM pretty much axed the whole RWD drive full size for, like CD Smalley said, SUVs. They were not selling enough to "justify" using plants that could be making the hot selling SUVs and trucks.

As far as everyone thinking that FWD was the future, I think that answer is partially correct. We all know that Chevrolet (and to a lesser extent GM) thought that FWD was the future, evident by the fact they axed every single RWD except the Corvette. Yes, I have heard the rumors of a new Camero, but who has actually seen a production model, not a prototype??? Contrary to Chevrolet's belief, the RWD market is NOT dead, evident by the fact that the number of Crown Victoria's on patrol far outnumber the FWD Impala's on patrol. And guess what, Dodge, who has been abscent from the police market for over 10 years, introduces the Dodge Charger and Magnum police models, both RWD.

[silicon212]

Originally Posted by HLandin

Ha, ha, ha. I think ilgoldstein made a funny!!! The B-body platform consided of full size cars (the Buick Roadmaster, Caprice, and Impala just to name a few). Anyways, GM pretty much axed the whole RWD drive full size for, like CD Smalley said, SUVs. They were not selling enough to "justify" using plants that could be making the hot selling SUVs and trucks.

As far as everyone thinking that FWD was the future, I think that answer is partially correct. We all know that Chevrolet (and to a lesser extent GM) thought that FWD was the future, evident by the fact they axed every single RWD except the Corvette. Yes, I have heard the rumors of a new Camero, but who has actually seen a production model, not a prototype??? Contrary to Chevrolet's belief, the RWD market is NOT dead, evident by the fact that the number of Crown Victoria's on patrol far outnumber the FWD Impala's on patrol. And guess what, Dodge, who has been abscent from the police market for over 10 years, introduces the Dodge Charger and Magnum police models, both RWD.

Wait until GM Zeta comes out - it's RWD based on a Holden design - it will power the Camaro and the new RWD Impala/Caprice in 2008-'09.

RWD is on the comeback trail.

[Mira_cz]

Are there any concepts of new impala and caprice?

[Marsal420]

I was actually looking through a "MotorTrend" a few weeks ago and i read about the caprice actually making a come back as a full size family car that will compete with the 300c and the charger. As you can see dodge,Crysler brought those out and both r RWD and chevy hasn't really done much in the whole family oriented RWD car since those that were listed so what im thinking is if dodge can do it and ford can do it , can't chevy do it?

Hopfully so because if that is indeed the fact of all this we will be seeing the new caprice within the next few years and that will be a major return not only to drive ways all over the US but to the police force and that will put chevy back on the map.

Guaranteed

[Marsal420]

And to answer your questions Mira there is actually of the impala, which hit dealerships about 5-8 months ago. You can see them at the chevy site.

http://www.chevrolet.com/impala/

[kahjdh]

yea but that is still front wheel drive, doesnt count, what happened to that video of the caprices in austrailia that they are going to build here?

[kahjdh]

Found it, the new ones will be based off of this,

http://www.hsv.com.au/cars/vy2/video/premiere.wmv

Its like a 4door gto