DETROIT -- Chevrolet's Impala is going rear-wheel drive in 2009.

General Motors sources say the next Impala will share a rwd platform with the upcoming Chevrolet Camaro, which will be built late in 2008 in Oshawa, Ontario. Impala production will start several months later, a GM source said.

The rwd Impala also will be distinguished from the 2007 model by its long wheelbase and short front and rear overhangs. The car will be similar in length and width to the front-drive 2007 Impala. The passenger compartment will be larger than that of the 2007 Impala, the source said.

The rwd platform is being engineered by GM's Holden subsidiary in Australia.

GM has yet to decide whether to maintain the Impala as a mass-market sedan or move it upmarket. An upscale Impala would enable GM to avoid a market overlap with the restyled and re-engineered 2008 Chevrolet Malibu.

The 2008 Malibu will debut at the Detroit auto show in January. While the Malibu's sheet metal is unique, the car is similar to the Saturn Aura in shape and size.

The front-wheel-drive Malibu could steal sales from the Impala, GM insiders admit. And some buyers may prefer a front-drive Chevrolet sedan.

The 2008 model will be larger than the current Malibu and will have a more luxurious interior.

So will the Impala go upscale?

"It is too early to tell," the GM source said. "With Malibu's introduction next year and market analysis and trends and things like that, I think anything I said about that would be speculative."

By Michael Stahl, Contributor
Date posted: 06-25-2007

The rumor mill has been running at redline concerning GM's Holden-engineered Zeta platform and its future. We all know it'll be underpinning models like the Camaro — already well into its development in Australia — and we all know the Holden Commodore will become the Pontiac G8. But what else is GM thinking about?

The smart money says the Holden Statesman/Caprice will become the 2010 Chevrolet Impala. Despite GM's Bob Lutz saying rear-wheel-drive models may not be the automaker's future, we're also willing to bet (hope) that this hotted-up version, the HSV Grange, built by Holden Special Vehicles, will be the 2010 Impala SS.

What makes us so sure? Well, the Holden Statesman/Caprice/Grange is built on a 3.7-inch-stretched version of the Commodore's Zeta platform. Plus, Holden Special Vehicles Managing Director John Crennan told the Australian press last month of his Middle East export aspirations for the Grange. That means, effectively, that a left-hand-drive version of the V8-powered sedan is a done deal.

And so with a wink and a crystal ball we decided to drive the thing. Fire up the jet, Millie. We're headed Down Under.

Home on the Grange
Holden Special Vehicles, the hot-shop joint venture founded in 1987 between Holden and Tom Walkinshaw, likes to get jiggy with the long-wheelbase cars, too. Its Grange is the most expensive Holden-based product on the market; at AU$82,990, it's some AU$13,000 more than its donor Caprice.

HSV prefers to think of it as AU$137,000-$190,000 less than "comparable" long-wheelbase performance limos like the Audi A8L, BMW 750Li and Mercedes-Benz S500L. Where the standard Caprice V8 does very well (like, 13.9-second quarters well) with GM's 360-horsepower/391-pound-feet, 6.0-liter L98 mill, the HSV package gains an LS2 6.0-liter instead. Grunt grows to 412 hp/406 lb-ft, driving through the same GM 6L80E six-speed auto.

HSV doesn't quote performance figures on the Grange, but its short-wheelbase sister, the Senator Signature, manages a 13.6-second quarter-mile — and is 198 pounds lighter.

At 202.8 inches long, the Grange is only 2 inches longer than the present Impala and the Mopar, so it's the perfect size for the U.S. market. At 118.5 inches, the Holden's wheelbase is 8 inches longer than an Impala's, but 1.5 inches shorter than the Dodge Charger's. Still, it's enough to deliver limolike rear legroom in a bench sculpted for two. It appears to be more space than grace, too, as the Grange doesn't add a great deal besides unique napa leather and suede upholstery to the Caprice's admittedly lengthy luxo-list.

Outside, where HSV's short-wheelbase models go to the extent of modified sheet metal panels and new taillamp clusters, the Grange gets only a new front clip and subtly stuck-on rear spoiler and diffuser to distinguish it from the Caprice. The 19-inch wheel/tire package and AP brakes with four-piston calipers, though, hint at where the money really has been spent.

It's stashed underneath in the Magnetic Ride Control (MRC) suspension, an HSV USP (unique selling proposition) that's not available in any standard Holden product.

Worthy of the SS Name
HSV's reputation rides on this being a driver's car as much as a passenger's, and MRC is one of its two magic wands. A console switch alters damping settings between Luxury and Performance settings, the former delightfully absorbent in its ride quality (yep, even on 19-inch wheels) while still showcasing the unexpected lightness and precision of this chassis' steering and suspension control. A lardy land yacht it ain't.

In Performance mode, the ride becomes more pattery, the rear end busier when cornering or accelerating over corrugations. Cabin isolation falls short of its European aspirations as, ultimately, does body control, but not $100,000 short. Despite the Grange's 4,266-pound curb weight, braking power is mighty, albeit without a lot of pedal communication.

The other magic wand is the engine — a juicy, smooth, 72-ounce top sirloin of surge, with a dual personality of cruising sophistication and muscle-car mumbo. The six-speed GM transmission can get momentarily flustered by sudden stomps on the electronically operated loud pedal, and is more decisive with the console button left in Sport mode. The Australian average city/highway fuel consumption of 16.6 mpg (on recommended 98-octane) is roughly on par with any of Holden's standard V8 range.

The engine and suspension are the defining points of the Grange: apparent blacksmith tech like a pushrod V8 and competent, though not cutting-edge, front strut and rear multilink suspensions, artfully engineered or accessorized to a truly international standard. But the Grange also serves to highlight the strengths of Holden's standard Caprice.

Go Ahead, Stretch Your Legs
From the driver seat, the Grange is a good luxury-performance car. Comparisons with top-line Teutons just don't hold with its haunting of hard-feel plastics, dog-nose-textured vinyl and subtly mismatched colors between different materials. Admittedly, the hard-feel plastics are in less frequently fondled areas, and aside from some flashing around the front seats' plastic bases, the quality of finish and assembly is utterly admirable.

The seating is superb, front or rear, with abundant headroom up front and lots of adjustability: electric for the seat, manual for the steering column. Instrumentation, again, is almost too clear and concise for this kind of money, with simple analog gauges complemented by a center console LCD monitor. Front, side and curtain airbags are all included, the latter adding vision-obscuring thickness to the remarkably shallow-raked A-pillars.

Rear passengers will note the low H-point, placing them virtually at eye level with the scuttle ahead. A DVD entertainment system, with an individual monitor in each front headrest, is standard. Its overhead control unit also houses the rear cabin's A/C functions.

Just What Chevy Needs
With an all-new front-wheel-drive Chevy Malibu hitting this fall, and rumors flying that Ford is finally doing a rear-wheel-drive sedan for the U.S. based on the Australian Falcon, a rear-wheel-drive Impala is just what Chevy needs. The rear-wheel-drive Dodge Charger has proven there's a market out there and now Ford and GM want their share.

Just don't expect the 2010 Impala to look much like this Holden. As much as we like the understated yet sporty look of the Grange (dig those fender vents and dual exhaust), GM's stylists are sure to spend the next couple of years messing with it, giving it a horizontally split grille and other signature Chevy cues.

But the hardware beneath that sheet metal is expected to stick around. Now that we've driven it, we know it's something to look forward to.