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 ...
I've driven the 2008 Accord EX sedan (powered by the new 190 bhp I-4 engine) and it is quiet, powerful and very refined.
It looks like it was created by a committee of designers afraid to make any bold moves.
The vast majority of car buyers prefer dull cars.
You know, I'm sure everything you've said is true, but the real reason the Malibu can't catch the Accord or Camry is that the majority of the folks GM is targeting (Camry and Accord owners) wouldn't be caught dead in a Malibu - it would just be too embarassing to go into the office and tell folks you're buying a Malibu.
If GM really wants to sell this car they need to change the name.
"GM has not allowed critics who have driven the Malibu to publish their thoughts yet, but the car received mostly positive coverage at the Detroit auto show this year."
That doesn't bode well - if the reviews were glowing, you'd think they'd let them leak...
More pictures of the car in question:
Not a bad try, but not as good as the Camry's design.
If GM really wants to compete, they need an edge and offer a 5 year/60,000 bumper to bumper warranty like Hyundai and Kia does. Otherwise, they’re no match for Honda or Toyota or the Koreans.
GM better get their service departments at their dealers up to snuff if they are going to make a dent. My local dealer crows on and on about their service department. I could list a page worth of problems concerning my vehicle and my wife’s in reference to service. It’s a joke.
LOL.
I think most of the problems with the union workers putting pop cans in the doors and just leaving parts out are in the past. The typical line worker doesn't care whether he's bolting in a part that will last 3 years or 20 years, so I blame the quality problems on management.
Call me in 2017 and tell me how the 2007 Malibu has held up. Then I'll look at the 2017 model.
Simply put, the car is uninspiring.
Yet, on this very thread the ultra boring Accord is lauded. Hundreds of thousands that car and the downright homely Camry are bought by eager Americans every year. The fact is people LIKE land and boring, and it’s been ever thus since the days of the Chrysler Airflow.
From what I've read about the Saturn Aura, the 3.5 is an older engine design paired, in the Aura XE, with an older four-speed tranny. The Aura XR comes with a newer design 3.6 engine and the new six-speed tranny.
If that is at all wrong then I'll surely be corrected.
The vast majority of car buyers prefer fuel efficient, reliable, and functional cars. Relatively conservative styling is simply coincidental to that.
Bingo!
The new Malibu is a great car. It will do better than you think. The venom some here have for the big three is unbelievable, and sad...
Mike
But, unlike Japanese carmakers, GM executives want to make less make less money by selling less cars.
Takes aim at Toyota, hits own foot.
With all due respect, the Camry is one of the ugliest cars out there and has always been designed to appeal to the lowest common denominator. I have to conclude that so many people are so biased against the American manufacturers that NOTHING they do would ever be enough.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.