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Subscribe to this threadBuyers dropping more coin on the 2008 Chevy Malibu
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cxvargas @ Mar 30th 2008 2:28PM
This is a great car from Chevy but as a current Accord owner the only way I would trade my Honda for the Malibu would be on price or content. My 03 Accord still feels like a new car with no rattles and vibrations and with only 2 minor recall problems fixed early the car has been marvelous.
The Malibu is a head turner and I'm sure a fantastic car but is going to take years and consistent product/marketing development from GM to create the kind of loyalty that the Accord and Camry has in this segment.
Tourian @ Mar 30th 2008 2:47PM
IMO its going to take at least 8 years of solid Malibu performance, as well as a good mid cycle update and a good successor in five years to see any appreciable attrition of import conquests. Perception is reality. And right now most people believe that Toyota, Honda and Nissan build a better car.
Irfan @ Mar 30th 2008 3:31PM
thats how i feel about it as well. it will take a few years of problem free road time before the japanese sedan buyers are convinced that the build quality is up to par. it looks great now, and drives great now, but buyers arent convinced it will hold up in the long run. the ones buying it now already have enough trust in GM hence the cannibalizing of other GM cars... after a few years, if the malibu is still holdint up well and not rattling/wearing out/breaking down too much, I think the import buyers will give it more serious consideration.
For now GM shouldnt even worry about the accord and camry sales... just make sure the malibus hold up over time, and it will get its sales. its got the style, power, comfort and design, just needs reliability which cant be proven for a few years.
Silver @ Mar 30th 2008 4:27PM
I agree with the above comments 100%. As a long-time GM hater (because of their shoddy vehicles), I am very impressed with the quality I'm seeing in their new vehicles. While vehicles like the Camry have gone the GM direction with cheap interior plastics, some of the new GM vehicles have very German-esque interiors. I'm glad to see GM finally realizes that quality matters.
That said, let's see how things hold up. What will the long-term reliability be? Will domestics still suffer horrific resale value compared with their foreign competitors? Only time will tell. And many buyers (myself included) aren't willing to give GM the $25,000+ benefit of the doubt at this early stage, despite the very promising signs.