It’s been well established that the 2008 Chevrolet Malibu has been a sales leader for General Motors, easily surpassing the popularity of the out-going model. Interestingly though, J.D. Power and Associates is reporting that a fair amount of import owners are opting for new Malibu’s as well. Nearly one-fifth, 19.8 percent, of all trade-ins for the new car were imports. That number is up significantly from 12.5 percent for the last generation car in 2007.
Malibu is claiming conquests from the Japanese brands at a 4.6 percent better rate than last year. The combined percentage of trade-ins from the likes of Honda, Toyota, and Nissan was up to 9.7 percent in the first quarter of the year.
Overall Power ranked the Malibu as number 17 among the top-selling 20 models for the first quarter of 2008, and the fifth- best-selling midsize conventional sedan.
Click through the jump to read the full break-down of the J.D. Power Malibu trade results.
Percentage of Trades for Chevrolet Malibu by Nameplate
| Chevrolet | 41.5% | Chevrolet | 47.5% | ||
| Ford | 8.2% | Ford | 8.5% | ||
| Pontiac | 5.4% | Pontiac | 5.7% | ||
| Dodge | 4.6% | Buick | 5.6% | ||
| Buick | 4.1% | Dodge | 5.4% | ||
| Nissan | 3.4% | Oldsmobile | 3.7% | ||
| Toyota | 3.4% | Chrysler | 2.2% | ||
| Chrysler | 2.9% | Saturn | 2.2% | ||
| Oldsmobile | 2.8% | Mercury | 2.0% | ||
| Honda | 2.7% | Nissan | 1.8% | ||
| GMC | 2.3% | Honda | 1.8% | ||
| Hyundai | 1.9% | Toyota | 1.5% | ||
| Source: Power Information Network (PIN), a division of J.D. Power and Associates (January-March 2007 and 2008) | |||||
Maybe GM will get the message that if you build a product that people percieve as a quality piece, then they will become “patriotic”, and if you turn out mediocre product, such as the Impala, people will go elsewhere. Or not. It will be interesting to see how G8 and Camaro sales numbers shake out.
I was thinking the same thing…people will buy domestic if it’s appealing, well-built, and priced right. The only worry I have about the G8 is that the eight-cylinder model is going to strike a wrong note with gas prices.
Sales on a new or redesigned product tend to be high at first then taper off some. This is the trend with GM. First quarter sales for the Camry and Accord are still higher. The truth will be at the end of the year and how sales go by each quarter. Also - GM has been providing incentives that the others don’t have to offer.
Mazda is not on the list. No one leaves Mazda baby!
Note to Winding Road: Add column titles to your chart. There is no way to tell what the difference is between the two columns…
notice none of the european cars are on the list. The styling is a copy of european lines. These lines are at least 5 years old in europe. Kinda sad when they start bragging when they have 1 good selling model. Show the little amount of success they have in the past.
Good for GM
This sound too much like GM propaganda. From the numbers I have seen the Ford Focus outsells the new Malibu. And we have seen all the bad press about the Focus.
I recently helps someone research a new car purchase. The Malibu was not a serious contender. To start with no manual transmission, a deal breaker for this person. On top of that it is not a good value at all. It is much smaller than the cars GM like to compare it too, and 10 cu ft smaller than a Sonata just in passenger space. Some interior measurements or more than 3 inches shorter. That is a much smaller car. With current incentives the base (GLS) Sonata could be purchased for $14,500 (everything but tax). The Malibu was $4,000 to $5,000 more and does not have stability control on the base model. This person wanted ESC. Less for more, what a concept.
As for any ground breaking design, this is actually a G6/Aura, which neither have been very well received. GM got a sympathy Car of the year award, maybe because journalist felt sorry for a company that set a world record for yearly losses.
As for these cars being comparable in quality, only time will tell. I have been in several G6s and the interior quality is poor. A coworker has one that has failed to start several times. Last year, when the Aura was new, I saw one on the side of the road in a puddle of its own fluid.
Needless to say, I recommended staying far away from any variation of this car.
General Motors is in a stage called continuous improvement. They had to start somewhere, unfortunately all automakers turn out not so great vehicles. GM built some so-so vehicles but still had many good/great choices depending what market you were in. They have really turned it around in the Malibu, just wait until the new Buick(yes the new Buick) hits the showrooms. GM made all their profits from the big boys, and now they must emphasize the little boys. The Impala is a wonderful car, and just remember they are continually improving everything they make, time will tell but I am sure the General has things rolling full speed ahead.
Bad news Oollyoumn the Malibu and Focus are not in the same catagory as cars, the Malibu competes against the Fusion
@Oollyoumn: That rant sounds like old anti-american regurg-iganda. Get the facts right and come join the 21st century.
To set it straight, when the Saturn Aura was awarded 2007 North American Car of the Year, it was on the ballot against the new Camry. Now the Malibu beat the new Accord for 2008 Car of the Year. The COTY is voted on by auto journalists who evaluate and compare cars for a living. They said the new Malibu is better than the import with a good reputation.
That collective affirmation of the excellent new Malibu means a lot more than some anecdote about somebody’s friend who didn’t like it because he couldn’t afford it.
the new accord has 5-auto, how cheap of honda. all new cars today are having more than 5.
all i have in mind that the malibu is a good car, difinetely better than the previous gen. the only problem with it at the moment is the extra weight compared to the other cars.
@Oollyoumn, you saw an aura swimming in its fluid. fine, look up how many toyotas are being recalled. compare that to the number of saturns being recalled. if you have one bad driver who can’t take care of his/her car, that doesn’t mean the car is to blame.
P.S: tell your friend to change the battery of his G6. if the battery is dead, the car doesn’t start (i thought that is pure logic….. oh well).
The Malibu is a great car but, believe it or not, the Impala was the 7th best selling car in the US last year at 270k units.
The only thing Oollyoumn saw swimming in fluid had nothing to do with wheels, I hate to tell you all.
Frankly, I getting sick and tired of this car! I feel the Fusion and Milan offer more exterior and interior appeal than this Malibu. Don’t get me wrong, it has a nice interior but the choice of materials sucks! The materials used for the dash and center console are easy to scratch… really soft. The pleather wrinkles fast as well.
The exterior is horrific. The grill looks like an after thought to make a G6 and/or astra fascia with the Chevy cross bar design theme. The exterior looks like yester-year’s Suzuki Verona just touched-up.
Man, you guys need to take a chill pill! And mo, english must be a second language for you, learn to spell, punctuate, and use a shift key.
Mena - how many of those sales were to rental fleets vs consumers? That in itself would be a telling figure. As for the Malibu, time will tell how its inital popularity holds up.
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