Fast Company’s David Zipper (2024) took General Motors to task for announcing that General Motors would discontinue the Chevrolet Malibu in November. With the long-running nameplate’s demise, GM will no longer sell an affordable sedan in the United States.
Of course, GM is just following in the footsteps of Ford and Stellantis. Zipper (2024) argues that this is “bad news for road users, the environment, and budget-conscious consumers — and it may ultimately come around to bite Detroit.”
The elimination of sedan could leave the Big Three vulnerable if the market moves away from currently popular sport-utility vehicles. Zipper (2024) quotes Alex Roy, a cohost of the Autonocast podcast: “Legacy car companies haven’t done a great job of thinking long term. Gutting lineups is probably good for manufacturing efficiency, but not having one vehicle in a given product segment is short-sighted.”
Zipper (2024) argues that one reason sedans have been supplanted is because federal fuel-economy standards “are more lenient for SUVs and pickups than they are for smaller cars, nudging automakers to produce more of the former and fewer of the later.” It also doesn’t hurt that the profit margins for larger vehicles are bigger — a meaningful factor given the high development costs of electrification.
As cars have gotten bigger they have gotten more costly
The shift away from sedans is one example of what Zipper (2023) has called “car bloat.” In a previous article he noted how as SUVs and trucks gained market share that they “have steadily grown bigger. In 2021, the average SUV and truck were 7 and 32 percent heavier, respectively, than in 1990. The 2023 F-150 truck, now the most popular vehicle in the U.S., is around 7 inches taller, 15 inches longer, and 800 pounds heavier than its 1991 version.”
As vehicles have gotten bigger, they have also gotten more expensive. Peter DeLorenzo (2024) continues to quite rightly complain that mainstream automakers have not been taking affordability seriously.
Also see ‘Will history repeat itself by punishing automakers for their big SUV binge?’
Zipper (2024) argues that the Malibu’s demise will add to that problem because its base price of $25,100 makes it one of the most affordable U.S.-produced cars — and costs almost half as much as the average new vehicle, which clocked in at $47,000 in February.
What’s particularly frustrating is that the Malibu was selling fairly well. In 2023 production surpassed 130,000 units, making it the third-best selling Chevrolet model — and sales had increased 13 percent from the previous year, according to Zipper (2024).
Share your reactions to this post with a comment below or a note to the editor.
RE:SOURCES
- DeLorenzo, Peter; 2024. “How we got here, and where we’re going.” Auto Extremist. Posted April 28.
- Zipper, David; 2023. “How Cars Turned Into Giant Killers.” Slate. Posted Dec. 17.
- ——; 2024. “Detroit killed the sedan. We may all live to regret it.” Fast Company. Posted May 13.
There are also rumors that there will be no future generations of the Nissan Altima, Hyundai Sonata, and Kia K5.
The Subaru Legacy is also going away…joining the Mazda 6 and VW Passat.
As Troy has noted, reliable sources have also said that the Nissan Altima, Hyundai Sonata and Kia K5 are headed for the chopping block. I’m not sure it’s therefore fair to single out GM for criticism here.
At Honda, the Accord is now the third best-selling vehicle in the line-up, behind the CR-V (number one) and Civic. When talking about the popularity of SUVs, keep in mind that the Toyota RAV-4 and Honda CR-V are leading the pack in sales. Neither is a particularly huge vehicle. People generally aren’t swapping their mid-size sedans for Chevrolet Tahoes or Ford Expeditions.
As for those Malibu sales figures – how many were to retail customers? Fleet sales to rental car companies aren’t terribly profitable. I can’t recall the last time I saw one without the telltale rental car company barcode.
I wouldn’t be surprised if you are right that Malibu sales were boosted by rental fleets. That specific car’s demise strikes me as less problematic than the overall pattern — most automakers seem to be abandoning less-expensive cars (both in terms of purchase price and gas mileage for ICE vehicles). How does that work when we hit a recession and/or higher gas prices?
I’m less bothered than David Zipper about the disappearance of the sedan per se. SUVs are indeed more versatile. However, one challenge for the auto industry is that aerodynamics is becoming increasingly important, which makes the traditional SUV problematic. So I would expect to see more vehicles that are taller and hold more cargo than a traditional sedan but are less boxy than an SUV.
Something along the lines of a five door? A design that for some reason never caucht on for larger cars in the US. BTW, this is the first I heard that Malibus were still in production.
In some ways, the smaller crossovers (RAV-4, CR-V, Escape, etc.) represent a return to the proportions of cars in the early and mid-1950s. The chief attraction is the ease of entry and exit, along with the more upright seating position.
I drive a 2017 Civic EX-T sedan, and a constant comment from friends and family is low the car is. In Honda’s case, I believe that the company has deliberately made its remaining passenger cars low (and sporty) to appeal to completely different crowd than those who buy crossovers.
I wonder, however, if the factors you mention will result in passenger cars evolving into something along the lines of the new Toyota Crown or even the old Honda Crosstour.
As I’ve grown older, I’ve found CUVs like my Trax a lot easier to sit in than the compact sedans I had before. Less bending and fewer contortions. As vehicles have gotten taller, I appreciate being in a taller vehicle so I can see the road easier. That sedan sales are declining has to mean others feel the same.
A cousin’s Miata actually caused a bursitis pain flare when I got out of it, so low is out for me and I suspect for others my age or older. Pontiax sent us on the longer, lower, wider path, perhaps it’s ending?
Mary Barra, what else can you say?
I would hardly give her a gold star, but in all honesty — is she any worse than Ford’s leadership? Or her GM predecessor?
I would give Mary Barra a gold star compared to the hubris of Roger Smith.
Ford mostly gets a D for their product line and piss poor product roll out.
GM gets maybe a C since they are actually trying to do some interesting products and have now recognized that the EV future is further out than their PR statements have been.
Chrysler/Stellantis. I continue to forget that they even exist. Do they?
I believe Mary Barra’s predecessor was auto czar Steve Rattner, who temporarily replaced Rick Wagoner. I think Wagoner was still chair and C.E.O. when the Cruze platform was developed for the fall of 2008. The Cruze was a great replacement for the Cobalt and G5. The second generation Cruze was even better, especially the hatchback ! In no way is Mary Barra a better leader than Rick Wagoner, in my opinion. Maybe Wagoner hung on to Saturn too long, but he tried to save G.M. and explored the option of the pre-packaged bankruptcy to salvage as much of G.M. as he could in 2008. Mary Barra may be a decent engineer, but she is a compromised C.E.O. who has done more for China than the U.S. autoworkers.
The loss of “cars” is troubling and highly likely to be short sighted. I can see the argument that they are losing sales to the SUV models so it is more economical today to eliminate them from the current and future product development plan. Yet there will come a day when there is another market shift in preferences. What causes that shift could be any number of reasons but something will be a trigger, could even be like the demise of the station wagon as another generation that does not want their parents car.
Those that have eliminated the car models will be caught flat footed and be facing years of development to have viable entries again. For the companies with international operations they may be better situated as long as there are cars in their other markets that were created with US Federalization as a criteria during development.
It is something of a watermark that the Malibu is being cancelled, but I feel that the criticism aimed at GM is bit foolish. It’s been fashionable for the last few decades that writing an article critical of GM will be accepted without consequence, particularly if you don’t read beyond the headline. SUV/CUV sales have been boiling along for decades now, with no end in sight. Sales of all sedans have been faling for quite some time and as other posters have mentioned, other storied nameplates will not get renewed for another generation. While the author notes these and other trends contributing to the end of the sedan in Detroit, the sub-head implies that GM (and GM alone) killed the sedan.
A couple of thoughts spring to mind, however. The vast majority of CUVs use an architecture that can be either a CUV or a sedan. If somehow the popularity of sedans suddenly explodes again, I don’t think that it will take very long to get a sedan body in the market again. Also, one of the features that most folks cite as a reason to get a SUV/CUV is all wheel drive. Toyota and Nissan added that feature in an attempt to boost sales of their mid-size sedans, but it hasn’t changed the results. SUV/CUVs are outselling the sedans and Nissan will not renew the Altima. As one of my favorite drive-time traffic reporters in Atlanta used to say: “It’s done, stick a fork in it.” Sedan sales aren’t coming back anytime soon. Why should GM or anyone else for that matter continue to produce a vehicle that will not sell? Isn’t that what got GM in trouble last time?
The bad thing to me about all of this is at launch, the 8th generation Malibu was a pretty nice vehicle. It had nice styling, competitive drivetrains & technology and even a hybrid version. While the author notes that the Malibu is now third in sales in the Chevrolet lineup, I have to believe that the vast majority are 1FLs, i.e., fleet cars. Before we bought our new CUV last fall, I tried desperately to interest my wife in another sedan. She cited the same reasons why other people like SUV/CUVs, ease of entry/exit, ride height and utility. I acquiesed, as she was going to be the primary driver of it. At least I get to keep my old sedan, until the rust claims it.
The base article by David Zipper follows the fairly typical journalistic practice of using a current news hook to make a broader point. I would agree that he stretches the importance of the Malibu’s demise too far. However, I do think that GM deserves criticism for moving too far away from cheaper and smaller cars.
I have been on the road for the last few days and saw a surprising number of Malibus. To my eyes they look cleaner than some higher-priced sedans from the likes of BMW and Mercedes.
I keep hearing/seeing the same criticism about GM moving away from smaller, less expensive cars, but with the release of the 2024 Chevy Trax and Buick Envista, there are two examples of the cars that folks seem to want. A low priced, well-equipped CUV. Now that we’re about a year after release, I’m seeing the Chevy Trax everywhere I go. In fact, I see one everyday, because we have one ourselves.
We compared the Malibu to the Trax when we were looking at a new vehicle last year and while I favored the Malibu, the Trax had all of the features my wife wanted in a new vehicle. And, as I mentioned before, it would be her daily, so that weighed more heavily than my desire to get a sedan again. Besides, the Malibu hasn’t had the optional turbo 2.0L engine since 2021 (I think). No real fun in the ‘Bu any longer, so I kinda lost interest in fighting over it.
The CUVs we shopped the Trax against MSRPs started at ~$27K and up, with the exception of the Hyundai Venue and the Kia Soul, neither of which she seriously considered. Our Trax MSRP, 2RS, with sunroof, driver confidence package (cross traffic alert, blind spot monitoring, etc.), factory winter mats, mud flaps, delivery ($1100! Really?) and tax was around $28K. It was tough to find a better equipped car for around the same money. I would have spent more on a similarly-equipped Malibu, too. The real dealbreaker was the unavailability of the sunroof on any trim level of Malibu. She had to have the hole in the roof.
But, the popular opinion is right, GM no longer makes inexpensive vehicles…
So we should give GM brownie points when its low-priced brand, Chevrolet, offers one “small” car whose footprint is as large as the compacts of yore . . . and weighs more than 3,000 pounds?
In general, GM has never been a particularly strong player at the bottom end of the U.S. market, e.g., the original Chevy II and Chevette were rather crude. The automaker’s tendency has been to focus more on the higher-profit niches — which makes some sense, if you can pull it off.
The issue these days is that new cars have generally gotten too expensive. GM is hardly the only automaker that has contributed to the problem, but it’s still a problem.
The issue is emphasis, e.g., coming out with the Hummer while (temporarily) killing the Bolt.
Steve, maybe not give GM brownie points, but at least acknowledge the fact that these vehicles exist. The original article never cited any of the other current product in their line up.
Fair enough.
I’ve been saying for years that American auto makers are shooting themselves in the foot. Foreign manufacturers are eating it up by being the only source, other than Cadillac, to offer sedans or coupes. Not everyone can afford a Cadillac. There are still those of us who want a car and not another truck or SUV. They jumped in before doing their due diligence.
Honda and Toyota will benefit from the loss of sub-$ 30K domestic sedans.
Even as competitors have vacated the field, Accord and Camry sales have trended downward. It’s the same with the Civic and Corolla.
The volume of those cars had been high enough that they could better withstand a decline. It’s also my understanding that, at Honda, the basic Civic platform is shared with the CR-V and Accord. That no doubt helps provide the economies of scale necessary to keep the various vehicles viable, even as Civic and Accord volume declines.
As I noted in my earlier post, ALL sedan sales have been trending downward. Also, as noted in my post, many CUVs are engineered on a platform that can be either type of vehicle. I suppose it will help them gain incremental sales, but until there’s a huge shift in preferences and buying habits, I don’t see the situation changing.