2014 Chevrolet Impala Skips Front Bench Seat, Signaling End of Era

 

Just the Facts:

• The 2014 Chevrolet Impala will not come with a front bench seat, signaling the end of an era in American passenger car design.
• Only one in 10 Impala buyers chose the $195 option last year on the LS and LT models, GM said.
• The Detroit automaker says there is a certain "nostalgia" for front bench seats, but that most buyers prefer front bucket seats.

The 2014 Chevrolet Impala will not come with a front bench seat, signaling the end of an era in American passenger car design.

Only one in 10 Impala buyers chose the $195 option last year on the LS and LT models, GM said.

The Detroit automaker says there is a certain "nostalgia" for front bench seats, but that most buyers prefer front bucket seats.

"The outgoing Impala is the last passenger car in production in North America to offer three-across front seating," said GM in a statement on Friday.

It's the end of a tradition that dates from the first mass-produced car with the Chevrolet nameplate, the 1911 Series C Classic Six.

"A lot of people prefer bucket seats because they're sporty, even in models that aren't sports cars," said Clay Dean, GM director of design. "Our customers also appreciate having the center console as a convenient place to store their phone and other personal items."

Cruisers of the 1950s and '60s, with memories of girlfriends riding close beside them in the middle of the bench instead of "polishing the door handle" on the passenger side, will likely mourn the passing of the bench seat.

Items like the front bench seat — along with tilt steering wheels and air-conditioning — were viewed as a "boon to courtship and romance," according to the book The Automobile and American Culture.

GM noted that there is a certain snuggle factor with bench seats.

"There is certain nostalgia for bench seats, like being able to snuggle up with your date at a drive-in movie, and some customers still like them," Dean said.

"You never know, we might see bench seats re-emerge someday, possibly in very small cars like the EN-V urban mobility concept vehicle, in which the feeling of open space may be very desirable."

Source: Edmunds Inside Line