For every cloud there's a silver lining, or so goes the expression. Well, we learned earlier that GM managed to lose itself $3.25 billion in the first three months of the year. Oops. One upside: they're used to it. The other: the born-again Chevrolet Malibu seems to be doing what no domestic sedan has been able to do since Robocop's Taurus. Yes, the new 'Bu's pilfer sales from the Japanese marques. J.D. Power reports [via the lads at Motor Authority] that (nearly) 20 percent of the cars traded-in for new Malibus are foreign nameplates. That's up from 12.5 percent. And the Bu buyers weren't just trading in their Kias and Hyundais, either. Toyondissans accounted for 9.7 percent of the cars used as partial down payments for the Americanized Opel. [NB: What they didn't say is that almost 60 percent of the trades were GM products.] End of the beginning? Beginning of the end? Regardless, more like the Malibu seems to be the only path worth taking.
Find Reviews by Make:
Read all comments
So there IS a GM done right! There are more happy stories I’m sure.
(“News of my death is greatly exagerated?”)
And those 60% of GM trade ins were “RETURNING CUSTOMERS!” So, they must have been happy with the cars they had to go back for more?!?
All I can assume is …
They must not read the Death Watch…
Too bad the money they make on these Mailbu conquest sales will no where near make up for the lost profits from trucks and truck-based SUVs.
Does anyone have any figures how many people traded their GM sedans for a Camry or Accord…..?
Now THAT would be just as interesting!
At least there is some good news for GMNA occasionally. I bet our Mikey (commentator here at TTAC) is wishing Oshawa had Malibu production instead of Kansas City, but I understand that the sales of the Impala is not doing so very badly, even with Malibu sales being up.
Hmm, so German style and dynamics do cater to American tastes better than previously thought. The reverse, not so much.
More at 11.
All the trades are positive for GM, are they not?
GM trades mean happy customers returning. Other trades mean conquests.
Good for them.
I owned a ’98 Accord LX. Great car. When they changed the body style in 2003, I thought it looked so bleh, especially the coupe. The Camry of the time didn’t look much better, IMO. I think the Malibu looks great now, albeit a bit large. Aesthetically, I still can’t interest myself in the Accords or Camry’s at this time. Ok, I lie a little bit, I got an ’05 TSX (Euro Accord). Don’t get me started on the ’09 TSX, looks a bit Saturnish on the front.
My point is that both Honda (Accord) and Toyota (Camry) have been leaving their guard down for a while, it’s high time GM or someone took a swing at them.
The Malibu and Aura, especially in the darker blues and blacks, are very striking cars. From an aesthetics point of view, the Camry / Accord have nothing on it. Furthermore, the Epsilon platform underpinning the Malibu has been tried and tested for years now, with all the kinks worked out.
I predict the new Epsilon II cars (Aura / Malibu / LaCrosse) are going to blow the mid-sized Japanese triplets out of the water. The only advantage the Japanese have at present is a perception of reliability. They certainly do not win on mileage, or style. And we haven’t even seen the seedlings of the next-gen Delta platform (Astra / Cobalt). And whatever happened to the small RWD Alpha platform?
And the “owner experience” after 3 or 4 years will be equal to or better than the previous vehicles right?
Resale and reliability are the only missing pieces.
Only time will tell on those fronts.
Looking at numbers, (go figger), the Impala actually outsells the Malibu by almost 2 t0 1.
There must be a few returning customers there too. Can you make a stretch and say that maybe the same amount of conquests are going for an Impala too?
Nah, that would take the wind outta the DW…
I found a minor error that I notice quite often in magazines and online; it’s J.D. Power without the “s”. To be more accurate, it’s J.D. Power and Associates.
Back to the point at hand, I think the Malibu is a decent looking car, but I have yet to drive one. If it drives well, I would consider buying one…
There must be a few returning customers there too. Can you make a stretch and say that maybe the same amount of conquests are going for an Impala too?
No. I don’t think you can. And I’m not sure why you’re trying to. Who am I kidding? Of course I do.
GS650G is on to something.
I clearly disagree with Consumer’s Reports on some things, but, it is possible to know where they come from, and arrive at one’s own conclusions. One area they have a large measure of my trust is in their reliability surveys. As a whole GM products are the worst. There are a few exceptions, granted.
How likely is it that the Malibu proves to be of high quality and high reliability? Not.
To this writer, the most impressive thing GM could do is produce a toyota corolla type vehicle that exceeds the Corolla’s reliability and overall competence. Unfortunately that would take at least 5 years to prove out to be a reality.
gawdodirt :
April 30th, 2008 at 1:20 pm
Nah, that would take the wind outta the DW…
I’m a big domestic guy, but a few conquest sales for the Malibu don’t invalidate the cold hard realities of cash flow and market position.
If, and this is a big if, auto buyers begin flocking to domestic manufacturers to purchase vehicles at little to no discount the GM DW might be slowed.
We all know that’s not going to happen, so I wouldn’t get too excited.
This is only interesting if more customers were trading in Japanese nameplates for Malibus than are trading in US nameplates for Japanese.
Looking at the report, more Oldsmobiles were traded in on Malibus than were Hondas, so it is hardly a resounding win for Chevy. How long has it been since an Oldsmobile was made?
Camry and Accord continue to outsell Malibu and have plenty of conquest sales as well, though I can’t find the data at the moment.
I also wonder what the sum total of Malibu + Impala + Aura + G6 + LaCrosse retail sales are this year compared to the same period last year. My bet, they are down. Selective reporting of only the relatively good news is misleading. Malibu, GM’s hot new product, is the fifth best selling sedan in the US. Wow, we are #5, woo hoo.
Edmunds.com long-term Saturn Aura is already showing signs of the dreaded clunking intermediate shaft in the steering system. This problem has been occurring with GM cars for almost a decade now – it first cropped up with the Oldsmobile Intrigue.
On that basis alone, I’ll pass on this one, even though it does look better than either the Camry or Accord. I get the feeling that there’s a little too much of the old GM underneath that handsome skin…
It’a not an Americanized Opel. It’s a Chevy-ized Aura. Which is a Saturnized LaCrosse. Which is a Buickized G6.
What I want to know – what was the average age of these trade-ins? How many of these trade-ins were actually bought new by the person trading them in?
I see that 9.7% are from a *combination of Nissans, Toyotas, and Hondas. That leaves 10.3% of the trade-ins a combination of all other foreign vehicles.
While 20% is an impressive jump from 12.5%, these numbers can be very misleading. If these cars that were traded in were 2nd or 3rd owner vehicles, how does this hurt the imports?
What seems logical to me; a lot of these buyers wanted something more GM originally but either a.) couldn’t afford it at the time so bought a used car or b.) waited for something more competitive.
I’m not bashing the Malibu by any means (can’t bash what you haven’t tried, right?), but I do feel that these numbers are misleading. It’s really easy to manipulate numbers without lying, as long as the wording is right.
What not a better time to say “Hey, GM is getting it!!” than now when truck sales are on a downward spiral?
I figured the new ‘Bu would simply slow or at best stop customers from leaving Chevy. They are actually getting conquest sales – good on them.
I am sure the Chevy dealers are loving this! They will finally be able to make some real profit on those used Camry and Accord sales.
Considering that the Chevy dealer will most likely make a larger profit on the used Accord, I bet they are offer some real sweetheart deals to get folks out of them and into a Malibu.
After riding in a co-worker’s Camry a few weeks ago I don’t blame them for getting rid of them. The new Camry’s have the ugliest interior/dash/buttons/knobs of any car I have ever seen. And the bird beak grill in the front end is kind of ugly too. The Camry needs a redesign as much as the Avenger. The new Accord is no looker either, but at least the interior isn’t repulsive.
@detroit1701,
i find the whole “perception of reality (i think you meant PERCEPTION VS. REALITY)” argument very interesting. perception is BASED on reality.
the two do not coincide. you can’t percieve something without something to base it on.
the proper term should be “experience breeds perception”.
and i HIGHLY doubt the epsilon II platform based cars will do ANYTHING to dent Accord and Camry sales. there are other players that battling for ground in this category (ie- Mazda’s 6, Nissan’s Altima, Hyundai’s Sonata)
The Accord and Camry did not build their dominance in this segment over one model update.
what makes you think that the ep II based cars can? i wouldn’t even consider the LaCrosse a player in this category at all. let alone Buick in the marketplace at all.
20% of trade in’s are foreign? BIG WOOP. how many “domestic” vehicles are traded in for “foreign” makes, brand for brand. THAT should be interesting.
just my two pennies.
Such a harsh crowd. I’m beginning to think that the whole lot of you are simply incapable of accepting the idea of Detroit actually doing something right for once.
The Camry is ugly as hell, and the Accord’s fucking obese. The Malibu is sexy and named after a glamorous beach city! Of course it’s going to sell! I hope Toyota gets off its ass and fixes up the next generation Camry. Quick.
Edmunds.com long-term Saturn Aura is already showing signs of the dreaded clunking intermediate shaft in the steering system. This problem has been occurring with GM cars for almost a decade now – it first cropped up with the Oldsmobile Intrigue.
Interesting. I rented an Impala this weekend and didn’t know about this problem. It turned out to have a clunk like that, which was very unsettling. Felt like the front beam was about to fall off. It had 24k miles. The front end of my 1972 VW bus feels tighter.
This metric means nothing without context.
What was the %age of foreign trade-ins on the old Malibu?
What counts as foreign? Is an Aveo-upgrader trading in a foreign car, even if both are Chevies?
What is the %age of domestics traded in on the competitor’s model?
The car looks quietly upscale and attractive. Even inside. The exterior resembles the VW Phaeton, but somehow the Chevy looks better than the 70,000 VW.
Guess what? Offer this styling for a price in the 20s, and people buy the car.
The Malibu came out way better than expected at a time when Camrys and Accords were down on their game. They have a competitive car! Good on ’em.