GM is placing a $100 million bet on Malibu. Searching for a credible reentry to the sedan market, the general is set to spend nine figures plus on a media blitz for its upcoming release of the redesigned Chevy Malibu.
Looking to go toe-to-toe for the first time in over a decade with heavyweights Camry and Accord, GM claims that $100 million is the new price of entry in the supremely competitive midsize sedan segment.
Chevy marketing director Cheryl Catton said the money would take the form of advertisements and other promotions. Catton says that Chevy is going full steam ahead and asking, “What’s it going to take?” to the question of renewed competition.
Launched in Detroit at the North American International Auto Show earlier this year, the first of the redesigned Malibus will be available in November. The Chevy sedan features significant styling upgrades, while riding on GM’s familiar Epsilon platform.
Can Chevy ride a wave of pub back into sedan relevance? Let us know in ‘Comments’.
What’s it gong to take? a new name. Nice car or not, I have rented enough Malibu’s over the years never to consider one for anyone or recommend one to anybody. Complete junk. If the new car is a major step forward, give it a more aggressive name. There is no equity in ‘Malibu’.
Looks pretty good. Even though it’s not a big seller, a manual transmission option would be nice since the Toyota, Honda, and Nissan all offer one.
The current Malibu may not perform as well as the outgoing Accord (which goes back to 2003) and the Camry, but it is a good value–even Consumer Reports agrees, recommending it. My grandparents own a V-6 model. It’s been a decent car. Mileage isn’t superb, the interior is weak, and the engine doesn’t blow anyone away–but it isn’t meant to.
I don’t believe the Malibu is Detroit’s “Second Coming” for family sedans, and won’t be what the Taurus was in the 1980s. I am sure it will be a good, competitive vehicle like the Ford Fusion and Saturn AURA. That’s a big step up from what GM has offered in the past. Even Toyota, the rising star of the auto world, has failed to impress anyone with the reworked Camry (except Motor Trend) and Highlander.
It looks better then Camry, but hardly better then upcoming Accord. The question to GM: in days of $3/gallon gas prices is primary engine V6 or I4? If it is V6 - the battle have been lost before it started.
!! I’d be impressed if they can get a 4 cylinder in this car that’ll post mileage as good as a properly designed 6 cylinder… It’s not a small car by any means.
As to whether this the “second coming” of family sedans I am unsure. However the piece on how only 12ooo fusions have sold in the same time periood as GM unloaded 35ooo impalas tells me I dont really understand what drives(pun intended) the average joe in their car purchases and I am willing to bet I am not alone. Despite DED’s kind words for the bread and butter version of the impala I gotta tell ya it doesnt work for me and the sales figures just leave me scratching my head. So what I am saying is that it seems likely that the sales of the car to its faithful may well be sucessful in spite of it’s lack of obvious appeal.
I recognize that, like Throop, I’m puzzled by why people buy these cars. I rented a Malibu two weeks ago and — because the car I was going to drive blew a gasket — I wound up doing two sessions in the Malibu, just to be on the track. It was horrible — the worst thing I’ve driven, in terms of the dynamics, since I drove a mid-1980s Buick in, well, the mid-1980s.
While the Accord is no sports car, I have no doubt that it would have been relatively fun to drive, at least within the parameters of a limited performance window.
But the Malibu? Worst steering feel ever (too light with very little feedback). Worst handling balance ever (yank on the emergency brake in a corner, and the car would still plough). A suspension so soft, they could use the springs for building mattresses. A tranny that takes about ten minutes with your foot to the floor to agree to finally downshift. Bleh.
This may be the “second coming” of family sedans, but even the Camry is probably more fun to drive. Oh, and the ergonomics were improved, but still basically pretty poor.
yeah, maybe i don’t get it either. i guess it would be an ok car for someone who doesn’t qualify as an enthusiast, or someone who just drives, but, meh.
is it just a reworked aura or something? is that what i’m seeing?
Well, once again Detroit executives are doing what they do best: spending enormous amounts of money into hype-driven advertising campaigns instead of the R&D needed to produce a competent car that can be sold based by its features and performance. It seems that, even after three decades of being appalled by the asians, the Big Three still have no idea of what to do. Lame.
i dont think its fair to critize this car yet. noone outside of GM has touched the thing. its has a lot in common with the aura which is by virtually all counts a great car.
GM spent the money to improve quality and product and the huge marketing budget is attempt show that.
if the car is as good as it could be it will sell very well. dont forget that the malibu has been the second best selling car in the US in the last few years, with a competative product that could actually take first place.
we will have to wait and see if the general delivers, after all its not hype if the product actually lives up to the it…
This car isn’t even out yet–what’s with all the early reviews from people who have never driven one on this thread?
Ducati Minor
The negative comments are because most of what GM has produced in the past have been junk and most anticipate that what they produce in the future will be as well. A previous history of poor quality will haunt you forever. Consumer Reports may list it as a good buy but they probably won’t list it is a recommended buy - in fact there very few vehicles that they like or recommend. Again the quality issue.
Ducati, you’re right. I wasn’t being fair when I judged the current car based on the old one. It’s just that the old one was so terribly bad that I’m not optimistic the new one will be any better, particularly when (as Alexander points out) the Big Three are really good at spending money advertising crappy cars, that seem to sell only with huge dealer incentives, with resale values that plummet.
The old model may have been a great selling car — but it wasn’t a great car. In my experience, it was about as bad as bad gets in this day and age. That leads me to wonder if it only sold b/c it was priced in such a way that nobody really made any money at it. Who knows (I don’t).
But, I, for one, really do sincerely hope that the new version’s a great car. I only wish our manufacturers well. Really, truly. I want the Big Three to make a competitive car. I’ve just been disappointed by virtually everything I’ve ever driven, and it’ll take a long, long time before I would seriously consider actually buying one.
There still is that old adage that says that it takes a lifetime to build a reputation…(and we know the rest.) And while I admittedly have not driven any of the cars in question. Even with this huge campaign that GM is trying, it probably won’t convince me to buy a Malibu over a Accord or Camry. Honda and Toyota just have solid reputations for reliability and just good quality cars. And as you can see from Christopher’s post (even though he admits it is somewhat dated) GM just does not have that great of a reputation. And it’s going to take more than a $100 mil to fix that.
What is it with GM and putting that bubble nose on everything? The front looks like they took the front end off of a leftover Chevy minivan and welded in onto the front of an Aura.
I agree with many of the above comments. They need to change the name and try to get people to forget about the rental car they’ve been selling for years. Maybe it’ll drive good, maybe it won’t. Personally even if it gets outstanding reviews I would still wonder about long term reliability before plunking down money on one. The Accord or Camry will still seem like the “safer” choice.
Again, If it takes GM 100MM to sell them new. What is it going to take for you or I to sell it three years from now used? Sorry, but I don’t want to spend my $20 grand on a car that I could rent for $20 a day.
This is a Saturn Aura with different front and rear facias; it’s built on the same Epsilon platform. The Aura has been a great car so far, so this one should be similar, but probably a little lower scale in the trim department. Probably like comparing the old Chevy Venture minivan to an Olds Silhouette. Same vehicle, but just not as nice. It’s a mistake to compare it to the existing Malibu.
It looks like it has the Elantra’s rear deck, the Cobalt’s lights, the Avalanche’s grill and the A4’s midsection.
They should offer two engines: a low boost (~200hp) version of the 2.4L Ecotec Turbo engine and the ‘High Feature’ 3.5L V6.
If Bob Lutz had a hand in this car, it might actually be good.
Don’t get all knotted up about this car. It’s not for you. You’re all a bunch of “car freaks.”
They should keep the Malibu name. “Malibu” means “Chevy Mid-size” to 95 percent of the American car buying population. That 95 percent doesn’t care what a car drives like. All they want is a car that goes from Point A to Point B and carries a couple of passengers and groceries.
That part of the population wants to be isolated from the road, road noise and road feel. They don’t care what the engine sounds like, as long as the car is “peppy.” They want a car that looks “good.” It doesn’t have to look “Great.”
And to most people, “Malibu” means “American,” when “Accord” or “Camry” means “Import.” Yeah, I know they aren’t but I, like you, are hyper-informed about cars.
Who hasn’t been disappointed by GM or Ford or Chrysler they rented in the recent past? Well, we can hope that the declining numbers of sales will wake up Detroit.
That being said, I’ve rented some Buicks in the past couple of years. While I wouldn’t own one for the way I drive, I wasn’t disgusted by them like I was a few other cars. But if I spent a lot of time on the road, I certainly wouldn’t rule out a Buick.
Paul,
If this supposed “95 percent” doesn’t care what a car drives like then why aren’t they buying American? How it drives is irrelevant from what you just said then it shouldn’t matter whether car is American or foreign. But it does matter and people DO care about how a car drives. That’s why people take test drives so they can see how a car drives. That’s why most cars suspension setups are comfort biased. People don’t like rough riding cars. They also don’t like loud cars so most cars are ridiculously quiet. To most people, Malibu = crap. Ask someone that buys Camry’s and Accords what it means to them. The name won’t be associated with good memories of great cars. Remember, the buying public is made up of people who have never driven, owned, or ridden in a 60’s era car so you can leave that out. GM needs to drop the retro names and create new one’s for their new cars.
Well, I say this: she looks pretty in that photo. Let’s hope she takes a bite out of Toyota and Honda’s asses.
It just has to be cheaper than the competition and reasonably reliable. The competition are by no means dynamic either. An E-150 is more fun to drive than the current Accord. I haven’t driven the current Camry, but the last one was equally able to put a meth head with insomnia to sleep.
it is very sad to see american cars lookin like that.
no more genius,no more fantasy,no more craziness…only boring global ridicolous looking cars.
where are the wonderful ideas of the 50’s 60’s and 70’s,decades when american cars used to rule the world.
[…] The new Chevrolet Malibu is nearly upon us. With 2008 models only a few months away from delivery and the mega-money ad campaign gearing up, General Motors is excited to reveal that the Bowtie’s bread-and-butter sedan can be had for less than $20K. […]
Hmm, GM gives Saturn Corp. the ION, VUE, Outlook and Aura, lets not forget the Sols-er - SKY.
Guess they cant use the “Different Kind of Car” motto any more, where is the individuality in GM products anymore?
All these were also given to Chevy (and other GM brands), ex: Cobalt (ION base), the new Malibu (built on the Aura base), Equinox (VUE) and the ultimate slap-in-the-face to Saturn loyalists closing Spring Hill to retool in prep for the TrailBlazer replacement, a reworked Outlook. They have even been mulling a reworked SKY variant for chevy for a year now.
I anticipate the Chevrolet Astra soon.
[…] fast that they’re hard to keep in showrooms. Coming on the crest of an even larger than expected ($300 million worth) marketing push for the family sedan, Chevy reports that record numbers of customers are logging on […]
[…] fast that they’re hard to keep in showrooms. Coming on the crest of an even larger than expected ($300 million worth) marketing push for the family sedan, Chevy reports that record numbers of customers are logging on […]
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