This time from BusinessWeek >>

Chevy's New Malibu Is That Good
Look out Camry and Accord, Chevy's redesigned 2008 Malibu is the midsize game-changer GM has been looking for

With the Malibu, GM's design studio has crafted a two-toned, twin cockpit look that implies a sense of both sportiness and elegance. The materials are far more lavish, easily matching the feel of the Accord and far exceeding that of the Camry, which Toyota seems determined to drive downmarket ... On the highline model, though, you can opt for a two-toned, nubbly leather that might just as easily show up on the Cadillac line. And kudos for the stylish, yet easy-to-read instrument cluster, complimented by the cabin's tinted ambient lighting.

 

Yeah, from what I've seen of the Malibu interior, VERY nice boardering on sophisticated -- far removed from the cheesy Rubbermaid interiors of most, though not all, of their cars. Now if they screw them together well and show the same deft hand tuning the suspension and drivetrain, Chevy will, very deservedly, have a winner on their hands. Hope they come out with an SS version to put some icing on their fine cake.

 

on top of everything positive. didnt the malibu only start sales in the second week of november? in which case there are possibly 1000 sales that werent realized.

 

Just curious how many have seen one in person yet... if you haven't, they're nowhere near as nice as the pictures. I was beside one the other day, probably the base model, pretty boring looking.

 

The UK is only a portion of Europe. While it is nice to see Ford is doing well in the UK, Ford is the not overall best selling brand in Europe; Volkswagen is.
Ford is the #4 selling brand in Europe.
http://www.jato.com/page.asp?page=881
(see pdf attachment)

And if you think that what works in Europe will work in the US, consider what the #1 model selling model is overall in Europe: the VW Golf.

European VW Golf sales: Oct. 2007 YTD: 361,277
US VW Golf/Rabbit/R32 sales: Oct 2007 YTD: 35,269
http://www.media.vw.com/article_disp...ticle_id=10237

Where are the Camry and Accord in Europe? Not in the top ten. Where are they in the US? And what is the best selling vehicle in the US? The Ford F150. How are those F150 sales in Europe?

Yeah, what works in Europe will work in the US! They are exactly alike!

 

i think the malibu is a very nice car. I prefer the exterior of the aura a bit more. (same car different brand)

 

I hope you are happy with your new purchase.
What, you aren't going to buy one?

 

do you mean an Olds Aurora? OK you mean the other Oldsmobile, the Saturn. 'Aura', what a sill name for a car, right up there with 'Aspire'

 

As I said, it's insipid.

I hope though that they get the interest of Honda and Toyota buyers. With Toyota's big slips maybe the Malibu will get some notice.

 

One thing that GM got right was the amount of money spent advertising and hyping the Malibu. If Ford would do the same with the Fusion and especially the new Taurus, they'd sell a lot more.

Styling-wise, the new Malibu looks to me like a Yaris-like front end on a Fusion-like body with a SN95 Mustang dashboard and g35-like tailights. Very unoriginal. But since it looks like a Toyota from the front and was actually advertised , it'll probably be pretty popular.

 

Supply for the Malibu is so low compared to what we can expect in coming months for the same reason it typically is with other cars...GM is using a slow ramp up to full production to try and weed out any problem issues before they reach dealerships minimizing the number of cars affected by any potential problems. As for using this strategy to artificially boost demand, this certainly wouldn't be the first time such a move has been employed by a car maker, but then this might be more believable were GM able to actually move the measly 3500 vehicles they sent to dealerships in November. It's arguably difficult to build up demand by limiting product when initial demand is so amazingly small in the first place. This is not a happy eventuality and no amount of spin will make it so.

As for critics, they can heap this vehicle with all the praise that they can muster and it wont change the reality of what is happening. For historic reference I watched many of the same critics falling all over the Malibu gush over the GTO before it got here. Three years later I watched many of those same critics wondering aloud how such a phenomenal car could have turned into such a colossal failure. The consumer decides what they want and which company they want it from, and at this point a 'me too' Malibu is no longer good enough.

Ford and GM have both been out of this game in any meanignful way for so long that many, if not most, consumers view this segment as Honda and Toyota's domain. And so long as Ford and GM continue to try and build American-ized versions of the Honda and Accord this trend will continue. If GM and Ford are going to make serious inroads into this segment they are going to have to build cars that are fundamentally different than those built by their Japanese competition, they have to build cars which play to their strengths. Cars like the new Taurus, Fusion, and Aura should have told people like Lutz and Mulally as much already, but they apparently weren't listening.

You keep wanting to compare Ford and GM in some effort to find who is doing it 'right'. The real answer is that neither is doing it right, and the Malibu is all wrong. A few predictions.

1: Demand for this car will not exceed that of the Fusion in any meaningful way for the forseeable future. If GM and Ford continue to pursue the 'me too' philosophy in their effort to catch Camry, Accord, and Altima they will continue to be also rans in this segment.

2: Once production has ramped up the Malibu will do well to last six months without meaningful rebates/incentives on the hood. The only way GM might avert such an eventuality is if they a: severely limit production, b: move large quantities of this car into fleets, c: axe the Impala and use this car to replace both the Malibu and the Impala, or d: are willing to live with a ridiculously large supply of cars on hand which would utlimately lead to even bigger problems.

3: In less than a year we'll be revisting this conversation and odds are good that we'll see more than a few people trying to put a happy face on the above.


The new Malibu will be a failure, and you can remember that I said this.

 

Stringing together anecdotal facts (as you're so often fond of doing) does not a cohesive argument make. There are SO many problems with your logic, that I don't even know WHERE to begin.

How's that current Ford of North America strategy workin' out so far?

 

It will be a success. And you can remember I said THAT.

 

Facts don't make a cohesive argument when they don't support your point of view.
The FACT is Ford is not the number one selling car brand is Europe, Volkswagen is. One problem with YOUR logic is the FACT is Europe is more than just the UK. The other problem with YOUR logic is that the US and Europe are different markets and what sells there doesn't necessarily sell well in the US.

Ford NA is doing what they said they would: reducing capacity, lowering losses, working toward getting back on it's feet. It's not going to be done in one day.

 

Perhaps we should appoint you head of global design for Ford North America. Couldn't get much worse, I suppose.

Not in one day...not in a thousand days if people like J. Mays are left in charge to keep doing what they've been doing for the past six years. Which is to say a big, fat NOTHING.

Like I said, how's that strategy workin' out so far?

 

They've stopped their market share loss and gone from a multi-billion-dollar annual loss to a possible break-even for this year. They're eliminating a big drag on the company's resources in the form of Jag/LR. They've turned Lincoln from a nose dive to a bright spot of rising market share. And they're positioning to derive not only sales and share increases from their new models, also profit. Sounds like a good start.

 

Possible break even this year? Wonderful. Gotta start somewhere, I suppose.

But how do they plan to reach consistent profitability instead of year-over-year losses in both $$ and market share? I guess what I'm asking is: where's the long-term strategy? And that means where are the future PRODUCTS (and I don't mean endless concepts that NEVER happen: 427, Reflex, Interceptor, MKR, etc, etc, etc, etc, etc, etc, etc, etc, etc...).

Sure, the MKS looks like a decent offering, but for a Lincoln "flagship" it's nothing groundbreaking; its styling is hopelessly derivative; and it's about four years too late (another example from J. Mays' "redundant before it hits the ground playbook," I guess).

Meanwhile, GM is rollin' out the product RIGHT NOW. What's been Ford's excuse?

The difference is a strategy towards long-term sustainability and market growth vs. short term water-treading.

I dunno, maybe Ford simply can't afford it. I guess at the end of the day GM just has a lot deeper pockets.

 

I'm trying to remember... How big was the loss GM recently posted? I'd love to see the Malibu turn the ship around and help keep more money in the US economy... I just don't think that the Malibu is going to have that great of an impact.

 

I don't know WHERE GM gets all its money, but they seem to keep going. The point is that GM is FINALLY paying attention to its raison d'être: building cars...and greatly improved cars.

What's Alan Mulally doing, on the other hand? Renaming a redundant model from 500 to Taurus. From what I'm reading, that hasn't helped one iota. I had really hoped he was going to make things happen faster - just as GM is now doing - but so far, other than getting costs under control, I don't see much focus on near-term, or even mid-term product, leastwise not that they're telling us about. And you'd think they WOULD tell us about it to generate some hype in the face of GM's new product onslaught.

So far, Ford of North America is STILL all about trucks. SUVs, CUVs, wagons, half-tons, three-quarter tons, etc, etc. Sure, the Flex looks interesting, but it's still just another wagon/minivan/CUV amalgam - how many of these things do we need with oil touching $100 a barrel?

 

Next 3 years, excluding Mazda and Volvo for the sake of argument, with calander years

Ford models with major updates/midcyles/refreshes in the next 3 years:

Fusion/Milan/MKZ - 2009
Mustang - 2009
F-150 - 2008
Taurus/Sable/X - 2010

Ford models with all-new replacement in the next 3 years:

Explorer/Mountaineer - 2010
Focus - 2010 (thankfully)

All-new Ford/Linc/Merc Vehicles in the next 3 years:

Flex - 2008
Fiesta (Verve) - 2009
MKS - 2008
MKF (Flex with MKS treatment) - 2009/10

And those are what we're pretty sure about.

As for blaming Mulally: remember that outside the GT, it takes 3 years minimum before a greenlit project sees the road. Recall that "Maximum Bob" first "wowed" us with the GTO, and it wasn't until the CTS that any of his big debuts weren't just re-badges of imports. That means we really won't see Mulally fingerprints on stuff until this upcoming Detroit. So lets reserve judgement on his product decisions until we actually see them, hmm?