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..
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.