Looks like every other P.O.S. on the market. As exciting as watching tar cool.
Posted on 09/28/2007 6:17:37 AM PDT by vietvet67
DETROIT: General Motors solved one problem this week by reaching a deal with the United Automobile Workers. Now it hopes its new Chevrolet Malibu will help solve another - winning sales and market share back from its Japanese rivals.
For years, family sedans have been a lower priority for GM and the other Detroit automakers. They focused instead on big trucks and sport utility vehicles, which earned tidy profits, while letting Toyota and Honda dominate the less-lucrative market for cars.
But the best days for those big vehicles have passed, and GM is eager to break the Asian stranglehold on midsize sedans, with a redesigned Chevrolet Malibu set to go on sale Nov. 2 that it views as its most important vehicle in years.
The company is spending $100 million to introduce the new "Bu," as executives call it, significantly more than it has for any other car in recent memory. It has to invest heavily, experts say, in order to make a dent in the market led by the Toyota Camry, the country's best-selling car for the past seven years, and the Honda Accord.
"It's tough to get the broad American public to reconsider an American car in that price class," the vice chairman of GM, Robert Lutz, said at an industry conference in northern Michigan last month. "The Camry and the Accord have established, and justifiably so, such strong brand value, which means that you've got to have a really outstanding car."
While the Malibu may be improved, so is its competition. This month, Honda began selling a redesigned Accord sedan that is bigger, more powerful and more luxurious than previous versions. The Camry and Nissan Altima were also overhauled last year.
(Excerpt) Read more at iht.com ...
They will never lay a glove on the Accord.
Does it have ABS?
The Impala LS could give the foreign cars more competition if only Chevy would wake up and make ABS standard on all Impala trim levels.
What the heck is a 3.5L V-6? Is that a new engine for GM? Just curious (I know little about cars).
GM has crawled in bed w/Toyota before (Matrix - Vibe) they might out to try again with a new model and factory (sans the union).
Mu Malibu is the reason I gave up on GM. I needed a full electrical job and tune-up at 50,000 mi. even though they sell you on the fact that it won’t need one until 100K. I asked if that 100k was part of the warranty and was told it was only a “guideline”.
Looks like every other P.O.S. on the market. As exciting as watching tar cool.
Did GM pay for this story? They’re joking right?
This reminds me a bit of a letter someone wrote to Car & Driver in response to Ford’s renaming the Five Hundred to the Taurus (and the Mercury Montego the Sable). The writer stated, “If Ford really wants to improve sales of their sedan, they should rename it “The Accord.”
:)
Detroit as it is now will never be in the same class as Honda, Toyota or hell, even Hyundai.
And they keep the old name? Its already a blunder.
A 3.5 Liter engine with 6 cylinders. A rather large V6 considering the Mustang comes (or used to) in a 4.0 L V8.
That’s the new Malibu? Ew
In other news Slim takes aim at starting slot on an NFL team and Nobel Prize in Physics.
I agree ,, they can’t do it .. even Ford which had the wonderful Mazda 6 to build on for their midsize turned it into a (visual) turd ... GM’s ecotec isn’t good enough and they don’t have a lightweight modern 2.5l or 3.0l v6.. no matter what they do this car will be saddled with too much weight , a low revving engine that burns more fuel than the foreign equivalents and their interiors will STILL be cheap plastic held together with superglue and will fall apart after just a few years in the heat... they will continue to lose market share... Japan isn’t the problem , Korea is ,, they may eventually catch up to Japan but Korean cars will always have the edge in value and GM’s buyers aren’t quality buyers they’re value buyers..
That can be blamed on the design software which takes into account the ways to increase mileage by giving less wind resistance.
All vehicles, not just cars, look alike now except for the grill and taillights because they all want the same results.
I own 2 Toyota (unless they drastically change, I will always own Toyota cars). The funny thing is that my Sequoia is built in the US. It is more American than most GMs are.
This tells me that Americans can build quality cars. The only difference seems to be Unions and Management.
I thought that my (older) Lumina had a 3.8L V-6, that’s why I was asking . . . my recollection may be incorrect.
The same is true with most Hondas sold in the USA.
It ain't all that sexy, but it does its job and gives me no trouble. Oh, and a used one cost me $6,000. All it's cost me so far is one round each of ignition wires and brakes, and of course the regular oil changes.
When the Malibu-bu was introduced, the tag line on the ads was “The car you knew GM could build.” I instantly got a mental image of the Chevette, the Citation, and the Vega that my former in-laws had. No GM for me.
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