Photo: Chevrolet
A commonplace rental car, the Malibu is not long for this world. According to a yet-unconfirmed report from June 2020, the sedan will be dismissed from the Golden Bowtie’s U.S. lineup after the 2023 model year.
An obvious candidate for cost cutting, the Malibu doesn’t really make sense. It’s awful in terms of build quality, its reliability leaves much to be desired, and a three-box car simply doesn’t have a place in this proverbial sea of crossover utility vehicles, body-on-frame SUVs, and full-on pickup trucks.
The Malibu comes into focus once again thanks to Cars Direct, which reports that Chevrolet has just stopped taking orders for the 2022 model. A GM spokesperson told the cited publication that “we’re not taking any more orders because we have received enough orders to fulfill the model year.”
Reading between the lines, Chevrolet expects to sell very few examples of the breed or the Malibu is on its way out sooner than originally expected.
On a related note, GM will discontinue the Spark this coming summer. After they’ll be phased out from the U.S. lineup, Chevrolet will be left with only two passenger cars: the Camaro pony/muscle car and Bolt EV. The Bolt EUV can also be considered a passenger car, but GM markets it as a crossover, so we’ll leave it at that even though nobody regards it as a proper crossover.
Last redesigned from the ground up in 2015 for the 2016 model year, the Malibu is also known as the Malibu XL in the People’s Republic of China. Speaking of which, the Asian superpower accounted for 51,128 units last year while the U.S accounted for 39,376 examples of the ill-fated sedan.
Chevrolet discontinued the hybrid version in 2020 due to dwindling sales, leaving only the base 1.5 turbo and optional 2.0 turbo. The lesser engine is rocking 160 horsepower and 184 pound-feet (250 Nm) of torque, and you can get it exclusively with a continuously variable transmission. The larger mill cranks out 250 ponies and 260 pound-feet (353 Nm), and it’s connected to a nine-speed auto, the 9Txx, which is known for a plethora of issues.
The Malibu comes into focus once again thanks to Cars Direct, which reports that Chevrolet has just stopped taking orders for the 2022 model. A GM spokesperson told the cited publication that “we’re not taking any more orders because we have received enough orders to fulfill the model year.”
Reading between the lines, Chevrolet expects to sell very few examples of the breed or the Malibu is on its way out sooner than originally expected.
On a related note, GM will discontinue the Spark this coming summer. After they’ll be phased out from the U.S. lineup, Chevrolet will be left with only two passenger cars: the Camaro pony/muscle car and Bolt EV. The Bolt EUV can also be considered a passenger car, but GM markets it as a crossover, so we’ll leave it at that even though nobody regards it as a proper crossover.
Last redesigned from the ground up in 2015 for the 2016 model year, the Malibu is also known as the Malibu XL in the People’s Republic of China. Speaking of which, the Asian superpower accounted for 51,128 units last year while the U.S accounted for 39,376 examples of the ill-fated sedan.
Chevrolet discontinued the hybrid version in 2020 due to dwindling sales, leaving only the base 1.5 turbo and optional 2.0 turbo. The lesser engine is rocking 160 horsepower and 184 pound-feet (250 Nm) of torque, and you can get it exclusively with a continuously variable transmission. The larger mill cranks out 250 ponies and 260 pound-feet (353 Nm), and it’s connected to a nine-speed auto, the 9Txx, which is known for a plethora of issues.
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