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GM's quest to build an elegant and popular sedan seems to be working

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The rejuvenation of the Impala is crucial to General Motors’ effort to design, build and sell stylish vehicles with features consumers want – and make a profit.Moe Doiron/The Globe and Mail

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The Impala’s revival is important for GM’s plant in Oshawa, Ont., where 3,000 employees working on three shifts are assembling the Impala alongside the Buick Regal, Chevrolet Camaro and Cadillac XTS.Moe Doiron/The Globe and Mail

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The challenge for General Motors is to take the lessons learned from transforming the Impala and apply them to its entire fleet.Moe Doiron/The Globe and Mail

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Crystal Windham, director of interior design for Chevrolet, tries out the new Impala at the General Motors Technical Center in Warren, Mich.Moe Doiron/The Globe and Mail

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‘It couldn’t just be a vanilla car,’ Impala chief engineer Todd Pawlik says of the redesigned vehicle.Moe Doiron/The Globe and Mail

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The 2014 Impala made the cover of Consumer Reports as the top-ranked sedan test driven by the magazine’s auto experts, the first time a U.S-made car has topped that list in 20 years.Moe Doiron/The Globe and Mail

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In order to stay within budget and still develop an eye-catching body, a cabin that stands out and a drive that they hoped would be best in class, the Impala team had to crack the whip on costs elsewhere.Moe Doiron/The Globe and Mail

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Impala now represents about 10 per cent of the full-sized sedan market, GM says.Moe Doiron/The Globe and Mail

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