GM change begins with its Malibu

Published 9:00 pm Tuesday, January 2, 2007

Say “Chevy Malibu,” and some Americans think of a 1960s muscle car. Unfortunately for General Motors Corp., many more think, “rent-a-car.”

Now, GM is unveiling a revamped look for the Malibu sedan, as part of a broad effort to convince people shopping for a car priced below $30,000 to pause on their march to Toyota or Honda dealerships.

Tuesday, GM officially took the wraps off the complete design for the 2008 Chevrolet Malibu – almost a year before the first production models are scheduled to hit showrooms. (Glimpses of the car have been seen in teaser photos.) GM is trying to generate as much early buzz as possible for the redesigned car, in part to build investor confidence in its turnaround strategy. Chevrolet, GM’s highest-volume division, plans a significant launch in early 2008 that GM officials say will compare to the image overhaul executed several years ago for Cadillac.

The new Malibu “will be the beginning of a very big transformation for our car lineup,” said Cheryl Catton, general director of marketing for Chevrolet cars.

GM’s vice chairman for product development, Robert Lutz, said the new Malibu’s more refined looks, improved ride and quieter interior are initial steps in the company’s multiyear effort to upgrade the look and feel of its sedans and coupes. Now Chevy is going for a more international feel – a European look with an inside that borrows from 1960s American style.

“It’s a poster boy for what we are trying to do,” said Lutz, who joined GM in 2001 with a mandate to lead a revitalization of its vehicle design.

The Malibu faces a difficult assignment that has overwhelmed a series of new GM cars over the past decade. GM retired the Malibu name in the 1980s and then brought it back in 1997 and slapped it on a midsize, front-wheel drive sedan nothing like the brawny rear-drive muscle cars that carried the name during the 1960s and ’70s.

Starting in the late 1990s, Chevrolet tried to position the car as an alternative to the conservatively styled Japanese sedans that dominate the midsize segment. GM engineers carefully tried to match the functions, features and specifications of the Toyota Camry and Honda Accord. As for styling, Lutz said, the thinking was “if the Camry is doing so well and it’s bland, it means they like bland. Unfortunately, bland only works for the Camry.”

Although Chevrolet has thousands more dealers than Toyota, Malibu’s retail sales volume of about 100,000 to 125,000 cars a year is less than a third the Camry’s total annual sales. As of December, the Malibu sold for an average of $17,939, after an average customer cash rebate of $2,438, according to data collected from dealers by the Power Information Network. The Accord and Camry had no customer cash rebates, and were selling for an average $22,402 and $23,441 respectively. Ford Motor Co.’s Fusion midsize sedan was selling for an average $20,081 with a customer rebate of $1,069.

GM won’t try to outsell the Camry with the new Malibu, in part because GM also positions its larger Impala sedan as a Camry fighter. But GM does want to close the pricing and profitability gap. Lutz said that’s where better design comes in.

On the outside, the 2008 Malibu looks German, with an exterior profile and proportions similar to a Volkswagen Passat.

Lutz and GM vice president for design Ed Welburn point to what makes the 2008 Malibu different from the current car: Wheels that are pushed to the edges of the sheet metal, to avoid the look of a bulky car balanced on roller skates; a chrome molding around the side glass; European-style small turn signals, or “markers” on the fenders. The wheelbase – the distance between the front and rear wheels – is about 6 inches longer than the current sedan.

The interior is a more dramatic departure. The dashboard has a “dual cockpit” look. “It’s almost a direct lift from the ‘58-59 Corvette interiors,” Lutz said.

All these touches cost money, as do the materials and engineering that will make the Malibu quieter inside and new standard safety equipment such as side curtain airbags and stability control. GM engineers have tried to offset added costs by using more parts from the prior model, sharing parts with other cars such, and redesigning the body to reduce the use of expensive steels. Lutz said if by putting $200 into features that make the car look better GM can cut a $4,000 rebate to $1,800 “you are $2,000 ahead.”