Recently, General Motors announced that the Chevrolet Malibu model will be officially discontinued in November 2024, and in the domestic market, some media have reported that SAIC-GM Chevrolet also intends to discontinue the Cruze and Malibu XL models, which also indicates that this classic model that has gone through 9 generations and sold more than 10 million units worldwide will become history.
In fact, it is not difficult to understand the sales volume, last year's global sales of Malibu was 130,000 units, as a global model, this number is really more general, and in the domestic market, Malibu was once regarded as one of the most cost-effective B-class models, although the interior has been criticized, but the price is indeed so cheap that people have nothing to say, but now, with the rise of new energy, the price war has begun, and GM's own strategy has changed, not to mention the competing products on the market, only the price of Malibu has been sold by Regal, That's enough for it to drink a pot.
So we can see that its sales are getting worse, monthly sales hovered in the third digits in the second half of last year, and only 259 units were sold in March this year.
Malibu was first launched in 1964 the first generation of models, the earlier products used rear-wheel drive, until 1997 changed to a front-wheel drive model, the domestic market, in 2011 was officially introduced is the eighth generation of Malibu models, when Tony Leung was looking for a "heart back to Malibu" advertising movie, you may not remember the content, but the background music "California Dreaming" you must be familiar with.
In the second half of 2017, Malibu's monthly sales approached 18,000 units, which was once ridiculed as one of the "X silk three treasures", but this name did not have a big impact on Malibu at that time, after all, the car space is large, the price is cheap, the power is not too bad, the terminal discount is high, consumers are not stupid, how to choose the heart.
The ninth generation of domestic products was listed in 2016, renamed Malibu XL, the shape of the ninth generation of products is more sporty, providing 1.5T and 2.5L engines for choice, at the end of 2018, Malibu XL ushered in a mid-term facelift, that is, in this facelift, GM died to the entry model of Malibu replaced with a 3-cylinder 1.3T engine + CVT gearbox, from the parameter point of view, it seems that the change is not too big, but in terms of the resistance of the Chinese people to the three-cylinder, the decline is inevitable.
In fact, sales do prove how stupid GM's strategy is, data shows that in January 2019, Malibu XL sold 13,931 units, becoming the last glory of this classic model in the domestic market, and then, the sales of this car collapsed all the way, with monthly sales of only a few thousand units, leaving only a fraction of the previous period, this situation continued until August 2020, Chevrolet was frightened by the state of endless falls, In the end, it was changed back to the 1.5T four-cylinder engine, but unfortunately, if you miss it, you miss it, and since then, Malibu XL's best state is that the sales volume can exceed 6,000 units.
In 2023, new energy models have risen, and the veteran Malibu XL among the veterans is not competitive, and the sales volume has fallen directly to 3 figures. Chevrolet's Fairfax plant in Kansas, USA, will switch to the Bolt EV hatchback after a shutdown, and it is unclear what the arrangement will be for the domestic plant.
Back to the Malibu XL on sale, it is currently equipped with 1.5T and 2.0T engines + 9AT gearboxes, the official guide price is 175,900-219,900 yuan, the terminal discount is nearly 70,000, and the cheapest model is priced at about 110,000 yuan. Can you tolerate even the crotch pull point in the interior?
Turn your head and look at the Buick Regal next door, the same 1.5T and 2.0T engine + 9AT gearbox, the starting price is 156,900, and now the terminal discount is almost around 110,000, and the same price can already be won.
Finally, can you buy Malibu XL? Mature models, the price is right, there is nothing to buy, you can start, even if it is discontinued, according to the current number of ownership, there is no need to worry too much about after-sales.