Chevrolet Malibu Gets El Camino-Inspired Truck Conversion in China

Known as the Malibu XL in the People’s Republic of China, the four-door sedan had its rear doors removed and the rear half of the roof chopped off. A slim roll bar in the bed, wooden slats, a bi-tone paint job split between blue for the lower half of the vehicle and white from the hood up, as well as a rear spoiler also need to be mentioned, along with a front splitter, humongous flares, a wider track, low-profile rubber, and bronze-painted wheels.

Now riding on air suspension, this one-of-one build is certain to displease purists because it’s a front-wheel-drive affair that doesn’t share anything with the Elky other than the Chevrolet badge up front and two-door cab. On the other hand, there’s no Malibu like it anywhere in the world.

Fitted with a vintage-style steering wheel that doesn’t feature an airbag, the front-wheel-drive ute also flaunts a reupholstered interior with headrest-less bucket seats. 550 Turbo-Jet decals on the front fenders are complemented by Chevelle decals on the front doors, and if you were wondering, the most exciting Malibu on sale in China right now is called 550T. As the name implies, this powertrain option consists of a turbo four-pot engine.

Codenamed LSY, the 2.0-liter mill is rocking 237 horsepower and 258 pound-feet (350 Nm) of torque at the crankshaft. If those figures seem familiar to you, that’s because the Cadillac XT4 and many other GM products feature this powerplant. As a brief refresher, the LSY is an evolution of the LTG that premiered in the 2013 model year Malibu and Cadillac ATS. The biggest differences between these force-fed engines are the Active Fuel Management cylinder deactivation technology and the start-stop system.