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The front end of the forthcoming 2013 Malibu is cleanly handsome in a somewhat bland, international style… but that booty could only come from America! We haven’t seen much of the Malibu outside of still shots, and this video (hunted down by our man in Korea, Walter Foreman) is almost as jarring as seeing a car in person for the first time. In fact, it’s beginning to seem like the Malibu, with its very different front and rear-end treatments and what appears to be a featureless wasteland in between, is going to be difficult to properly appreciate until we see it in person.
18 Comments on “2013 Malibu Caught Cruising The Korean Streets...”
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The tail lights have a hint of Camero to them.
I don’t see any resemblance to a camera.
It looks like it mated with a Dodge Avenger for that rear end.
Quote: In fact, it’s beginning to seem like the Malibu, with its very different front and rear-end treatments and what appears to be a featureless wasteland in between, is going to be difficult to properly appreciate until we see it in person.
Part of that is because Chevy removed the exterior trim and lower chrome piece on the 2013 that the 2008-2012 version had along with the side marker turn signal repeater so it now has the same problem as the CamCord- it’s going to be difficult to tell a base model from top of the line with the fog lamps and tire size the only real indicators.
It isn’t ugly, but it does look like it might have been released in 2004 as a Honda or Nissan.
Does nothing for me.. Looks a little Regal-ish from the side.
It’s perfectly fine for what it is – a mid-size, mid-market Chevy.
The front end looks Chevy. It’s a clean evolution of the previous car, without the “fiddliness” of the Optima or Sonata. The rear has a bit more Camaro-based aggro, which doesn’t bother me a bit.
Perhaps the biggest fault is that there simply aren’t any obvious flaws or “character” points to the shape. It’s clean, but detail-sculpted.
Like the Cruze, it’s almost so perfect at meeting expectations for what one would expect of a Chevy Malibu, that nothing causes you to stop for an extended look.
you could have stared at it for hours if you went to the NY auto show.
in person, the rear end looks like someone important at the last minute said “why doesn’t it have taillights like our hot selling Camaro”? and then they went and stuck them on.
It’s almost funny how both the current and next-gen Malibu have issues with the rear.
Exactly! They are absolutely terrible lights. It’s like they are some prototype light technology mocked up and stuck on to the car. I thought the Toyota buldging headlights were bad, but these rear lights give those a run for their money. I have the picture in my head of some well meaning designers polishing off the ‘bu and getting some memo from on high “add Camaro lights” and they were so pissed they made them look like that just to spite the bastard.
Looked pretty OK to me. My question is, who does development testing in Korea? Or is that going to be the locally produced version?
Memo to Chevrolet styling: Would you PLEASE ditch the fat band through the middle of the grille. It is not doing anything positive for you.
Agreed. It gives most chevy’s an oddly two dimensional looking grill. kind of NASCAR decal-like.
Ugly styling all around. Particularly the rear end. No styling whatsoever there. Looks like it was just thrown together. I like the current Malibu better.
Other than the taillights/rear end I really don’t see much difference from the current model. Considering how well the current model sells I don’t see anything in the new one that would stop someone from buying it.
Not bad, but I think this is a step backwards…to my eyes, at least, the Malibu is easily one of the best looking mid-priced sedans on the market right now, and for Chevy to give up their leadership in that area doesn’t make a whole lot of sense to me.
Then again, this IS the midsize sedan market, and dull style sells. Just ask Toyota.
Those taillights look like two pair of red sunglasses.
Peter Horbury, Volvo designer, recently said that the essence of Scandanavian automotive design is a lack of surface embellishment which I think he meant as design add-ons that are only skin deep — creases, ripples, bulges, concave panels, wedgies, etcetc. Examp: the difference between the ’10 and the ’11 Sonata. The ’10 looks like your basic Audi. The ’11 looks like a service pod for the starship Enterprise. In the tape the ’13 Malibu looks like a straightforward mid-size sedan that a grownup wouldn’t look out of place in. The horizontal bar across the grille may not be the greatest brand signature, and the same may be said about the taillights. But overall it’s a car that won’t look out of date by the time it’s off lease.