GM idles production of Lacrosse and Malibu

[Jesda]

As I expected, 2013 Malibus are piling up.

Sales of the new Malibu are holding steady compared to recent years but for a brand new model it appears to be doing poorly. Chevrolet isn't gaining any market share or winning over new retail buyers, and instead of dumping cars on rental and government fleets they're scaling back production to match sales volume.

http://www.goodcarbadcar.net/2011/01/ch ... gures.html

It's a turd.



As for the Lacrosse, Buick is a niche brand these days and the model is now three years old, so a slowdown is expected. It's due now for a MCE.

[breadbox]

I have to say the the Lacrosse looks pretty sweet, I bet my mom would enjoy it.

[MinisterofDOOM]

Every time I see a Lacrosse, my mind nearly collapses in on itself while trying to figure out how GM managed to give such a big car such a TINY nose. It looks terrible, like an inflated Sentra. Even Chrysler's 90s cab-forward cars still had nice proportions. The Lacrosse reminds me of my grandma's old Shi-tzu in that they both look like they've crashed into about 5 too many walls at full speed.

I'm SO DAMN SICK of big cars that look like compacts that have been inflated with an air pump. They look like s***.

THIS is a big car:


This is a travesty:


(The wheels on both make me want to vomit)

I'm also still baffled at how badly GM managed to screw up the new Malibu. They got so many things right with the last model, this one should have been a shoe-in. But instead they reversed EVERYTHING that made the last model worth noticing, from the powertrain to the interior and everything between.

[Bubba1]

This is a travesty:


(The wheels on both make me want to vomit)

I'm also still baffled at how badly GM managed to screw up the new Malibu. They got so many things right with the last model, this one should have been a shoe-in. But instead they reversed EVERYTHING that made the last model worth noticing, from the powertrain to the interior and everything between.

If you look more closely at its wheels, it appears GM was trying to show the car has ballz...




I don't think the new Malibu is that atrocious, but I agree it really inspires yawns. It also appears designed with rental companies in mind. I guess old habits die hard at GM.

[Jesda]

This is what the Lacrosse should have looked like:


Unfortunately, the length of the Epsilon platform inhibits the creation of anything long or elegant as evidenced by the ugly Cadillac XTS.

[MinisterofDOOM]

I don't think the new Malibu is that atrocious, but I agree it really inspires yawns. It also appears designed with rental companies in mind. I guess old habits die hard at GM.

It's not atrocious. It's just that GM REALLY NEEDED to get it exactly right. And they didn't. The Malibu is "okay." That's not enough. You can't build your reputation OR market share in the midsize segment with an okay product. It needs to be outstanding, or it needs to already have a reputation to hold it up. The last Malibu had very nice styling, fantastic powertrain options, and a roomy back seat. For these reasons alone, I would have taken one over a Fusion, or any other midsizer. Now, the Malibu is tiny inside, looks like a giant Cruze, and ditched the outstanding LY7 V6 for a slew of 4-cylinder options. Everything interesting has been killed, and what remains is a thoroughly boring car. NOT enough to do anything meaningful for Chevrolet.

[Jesda]

I read that the Malibu was designed with the old Impala in mind so it was downsized slightly with the justification that it would be favored in European and Asian markets where parking spaces are smaller and traffic is dense.

Unfortunately, a recent French review ranked the Malibu dead last. So much for international appeal.

When Malibu's development continued after the bankruptcy, GM decided to enlarge the Impala. Now, there's a chasm of space between Malibu and Impala that didn't need to be there.