Automakers kick bench seats to curb
Current Impala will be last to feature them as more car buyers prefer sportier bucket seats
BY MICHAEL MARTINEZ
The 1976 Chevrolet Impala Custom Coupe with a front bench seat. The 2013 Impala is the last North American passenger car in the industry to offer a front bench seat. (Chevrolet)
For many, car bench seats evoke another era, when you could squeeze friends into the front seat or inch closer to your sweetheart for some one-on-one time at the drive-in movie.
But the front bench seat — long a staple in cars and trucks until bucket seats became the rage — is going the way of the ashtray and cassette player to become relics of the automobile’s past.
The current Chevy Impala will be the last passenger car in production in North America to feature three-across-the-front seating. General Motors Co. has no plans to continue the seating arrangement when the 2014 model begins rolling off the assembly line next year.
Like other carmakers, GM will replace the front bench seat with sportier bucket seats.