The Franchise.

By Peter M. De Lorenzo

Detroit. GM and Chevrolet are about to embark on a journey that may just determine the division’s health in the U.S. market for years to come. The new 2014 Chevrolet Impala is not just another car introduction for GM, because the car means so much more than that. At the very least the new Impala represents the hopes of True Believer enthusiasts within and outside the company for a rejuvenated GM and Chevrolet that so far has materialized just in their dreams, and only intermittently in reality.

It also represents The Future to The Suits (Dan “Captain Queeg” Akerson and his Merry Minions, plus the CEO’s sycophants on the GM Board), because they envision a GM that will be strong and powerful once again. And even if this “vision” doesn’t translate into an understanding of what makes for a successful product, they understand the money that can be generated by one.

The problem for Chevrolet is that they’ve allowed the Impala to languish in a limbo of mediocrity for so long that convincing the American drivers “out there” in ConsumerVille that a new Impala is exactly what they want - even though they don’t know it yet – will be an extremely tall order.

Since this business seems to ignore history as a matter of course, deeming it unnecessary and irrelevant in these instantly connected, nanosecond-attention-span times, it’s important to remember that the idea of a hot mainstream Chevrolet was once integral to GM’s success.

In GM and Chevrolet’s heyday, the Impala represented everything good about the then-dominant company. It was stylish, it offered excellent and in some cases outstanding performance, and it delivered exceptional value. In short, it set the standard for the entire industry and consumers bought them in droves. But as is GM’s wont, when it started its long slow slide to oblivion, its operatives forgot what the Impala meant to the company and to the market. And they bastardized it, screwed it up and even worse, just plain ignored it to the point that it became an afterthought.

Yes, Chevrolet loyalists will point to certain spikes in the Impala product cycle over the years - including the most recent example - but at the end of the day they’re just kidding themselves. GM and Chevrolet simply took their eye off of the ball and allowed the Impala to become “pretty good” and “not bad” in a world of competitive superlatives.

Think of all the diversions Chevrolet took over the years instead of promoting the most glorious product name this side of Corvette. Desultory names like Beretta. Corsica. And Lumina. That last one really rankles me. Think of all the years GM and Chevrolet pissed away on the Lumina, and for what, exactly?

The Lumina was a momentary blip on Chevrolet’s historical timeline, yet it consumed hundreds of millions of marketing and product development dollars that could have and should have been spent on a proper Impala, but basically went for naught instead. It would be simply pathetic if it weren’t so infuriating and it’s just another example of another blown opportunity in a long line of blown opportunities that have fueled GM’s downward spiral.

And guess what? Remember “the big idea” that the bankruptcy would fix GM once and for all, that once it broomed multiple divisions its executives would be able to focus on its core products, which would translate into immediate dividends in the market?

It simply hasn’t worked.

Why? Let’s take Chevrolet, for example, the division that for all intents and purposes stirs the drink for the rest of GM. Chevrolet is so busy chasing its tail within its own divisional structure that it can’t get out of its own way. What are Chevrolet marketers featuring, exactly? Is it the Cruze? Oh no, wait a minute, this week it’s the Sonic. Or maybe the Spark. No, check that, this week the marketing crisis of-the-moment revolves around the Malibu.

Captain Queeg’s obsession to move the intro of the revised Malibu up a year ago combined with an albeit rare miss by GM Design (seems that grafting the ass-end of the Camaro on an otherwise mediocre design effort for a sedan didn’t work. Who knew?) has caused the Malibu to languish in the market like a ship adrift at sea - listless and forgettable. And now there’s an all-hands-on-deck effort to refresh the Malibu again while shoring up the current car in the market.

In other words it’s a hot mess. And all of this flailing about has cost Chevrolet and GM serious market share.

And adding to GM’s swirling maelstrom of marketing chaos, the launch of the 2014 Impala is now imminent.

Is the new Impala a strong entry in the market? Given what I know and what I’ve seen of the car, it certainly should be. It has all of the classic ingredients that made Impalas of the past great, and it looks damn good in person to boot. The True Believers in Design, Engineering and Product Development have made sure that the new car lives up to the great product attributes from the nameplate’s past, while firmly planting the Impala flag in the market as a contemporary entry worth considering.

And that is a significant assessment for a lot of reasons, because when it comes right down to it the Impala is The Franchise for Chevrolet and thus, GM.

Yes, the new Corvette is tremendous (for the most part) and Chevy has a brace of new small cars yipping at the market too. And let’s not forget GM’s new pickup trucks due in the fall, which some within GM would argue are the real “Franchise” in terms of profitability. (But, given that the new trucks are eminently forgettable in the “looking new” department, these people may be in need of a serious attitude – and reality – adjustment, “Like a Rock,” or no.)

If GM marketing were firing on all cylinders, I would expect that the 2014 Impala would come out of the gate smokin’. That unfortunately is a very big “if” because I have zero confidence that they’re up to the task. Especially with GM stumbling around trying to make the Malibu worthy again.

GM simply cannot afford another passenger car that does “just okay” in the market. It needs a real live, take-it-to-the-bank product hit. Not one that does well for the first six months, either, but a sustainable success that grows more solid in the market by the year.

The new 2014 Chevrolet Impala has to perform nothing short of a miracle for Chevrolet and GM. It has to reestablish the idea that a desirable mainstream Chevrolet can transcend demographic data and become a genuine hit in the market.

In other words anything less than a grand slam, out-of-the-park home run will prove to be disastrous.

And that’s the High-Octane Truth for this week.

(GM)
The 2014 Chevrolet Impala LTZ.