Attack of the Clones, Pt. 5

I'm starting to notice it's GM that's doing all the attacking....

When the new Impala debuted, I thought it was fugly. Well - boring, until you got to the massive taillights (at which point it turned fugly). GM claimed the 4 round tails recalled classic Impalas, although classic Impalas had 6 for most years (and they weren't the size of dinner plates).

However, over time is somehow grew on me, especially when they masked that acres of red plastic surrounding the tails with body colour skickers or plastic or whatever it is they used.

Then my friend mentioned something that sounded like heresy. He said the Impala looks like a Skyline. I instantly said he was on crack, until I took a second take. The front has similar lines, and very similar headlights to the G34 Skyline. Yeah - the Skyline is more aggresive, and it's grille is more rectangular than the Impalas, but they are similar. The sides of course differ as the Impala is a sedan, but they both have similar budges around the wheel wells (the Skylines are more pronounced). And finally the taillights. They're SO SIMILAR. The trunk cutlines are in different spots - but comparing the two side by side...

I wonder if this was on purpose? If so, why would GM style it's new generation of an American family sedan icon after a Japanese supercar icon? It doesn't make any sense...