gavriil

Automotive News / November 14, 2002

The redesigned 2004 Chevrolet Malibu will be in showrooms in the fourth quarter of next year. General Motors released this sketch on Wednesday. The Malibu Maxx, which will have a six-inch-longer wheelbase, will follow the standard sedan by a few months.

bkknight369

lol I'll take the rims, but leave the rest

gavriil

This is the Opel Vectra from Europe. This car is fairly new there. The Malibu, the Saab 9-3 and the Vectra are based on the same platform. It is imperative for GM for the Vectra and Malibu do well in Europe and the USA respectively.

Up to now, the Vectra has surpassed Europeans' expectations. I hope the same happens for the Malibu.

oonowindoo

HOT

soopa

doesnt look too bad and that Vectra is real nice

go americans!!

6spdmanual

Cool! But I like this Opel.

paper1122

man, if chevy actually had interiors like that in their american cars they might actually sell some

OscarCL3.2

That side view of the Vectra looks very much like a CTS...does it share the same platform as well?

gavriil

You said it chief.

gavriil

This was reported in June of this year!

Spy Shots: ‘04 Chevrolet Malibu by Brenda Priddy
More TCC Spy Shots


GMX380, the upcoming Epsilon-based Malibu, is easily identified because of its Opel Vectra twin. The all-new sedan will be joined by a five-door extended version based on the Opel Signum. Powered by General Motor’s new HFV V-6 engines, the new sedans will also have a five-speed automatic transmission. The Malibu will be built in Fairfax, Kan., and should be in dealerships midway through 2003.

gavriil

Here is the meat of this. Now the reason I am posting this is because as you know, I am hot about GM's return to beating the shit out of the Europen and Japanese car makers, who have taken such big market share chunks in the USA market mainly due to doing such a good job and the big three sucking their.... Anyway, the other reason I am doing this is because I am reding a lot of European mags and they all had described the new Vectra with the most positive reviews you could have. If we get a Vectra-like Malibu here in the USA, perception of American cars will start to change. Do we need more of that? Sure. One at a time though. Time will show. I hope things start turning.

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Longer five-door version to bow at Detroit auto show, along with fresh GM mid-size range.
by Jim Burt 11/15/2002

DETROIT—The 2004 Chevy Malibu will come to consumers in two forms—a sedan and an extended sedan with a hatchback. But what GM really expects to woo new customers to an old model name is the driving character.

“The Malibu will have world-class driving characteristics,” said GM’s product boss Bob Lutz. The Malibu and extended sedan, the Malibu Maxx, are built off GM’s Epsilon architecture, which also is the basis of the Saab 9-3 and Opel Vectra.

“It used to be that when we brought something from Europe to the U.S., you all would ask us ‘what happened to it?’” said Lutz. “Our product people have been very aggressive and steadfast to make sure the European characteristics got carried over to the U.S. product,” said Lutz.

The Epsilon architecture will breed 15 body styles, from the Malibu to the Saab. The next Pontiac Grand Am and a mid-size Buick will also be built off the architecture.

“The quality of this architecture is like nothing I have seen before,” said Lutz.

Vehicle line executive Gene Stefanyshyn said squeak and rattle elimination will also help to impress consumers and media. “I have never done a vehicle where squeaks and rattles weren’t a problem…we didn’t even have them in the prototypes,” said Stefanyshyn.

Bow tie offerings

The Malibu will offer a 2.2-liter four-cylinder or a 3.5-liter V-6 engine. Where Chevy hopes to impress buyers is that a nicely equipped six-cylinder Malibu will be priced around where a four-cylinder Toyota Camry or Honda Accord stickers.

The Malibu Maxx is a hatchback in the tradition of the old Mazda 626 hatchback, though Chevy will call it an extended sedan. It is six inches longer than the standard sedan, with six inches of travel in the back seat of both models, allowing the driver to reconfigure the back seat and luggage area to accommodate passengers or gear. The front passenger seat folds flat. Chevy boasts that an eight-foot kayak or eight-foot stepladder fits inside the car with the trunk closed.

The trunk of the Maxx has a flexible half that works to hide gear, and it stands up on a post when the trunk is open for a tailgating table. It also will come with a standard remote starter, literally a hot-button feature that Chevy feels will have as much allure to buyers in cold-weather states as a disappearing third seat on a minivan.

With a car so dramatically improved, should GM have considered a name change for the Malibu, which has become known as a rental fleet car?

“We felt there was a lot of emotion we could work with in the name,” said Chevrolet general manager Kurt Ritter, who contrasted that decision with the one to drop the S-10 name for the compact pickup in favor of Colorado for the 2004 Chevy compact pickup replacement.

Power rankings

The Malibu already beats Toyota Camry, Honda Accord, and Nissan Altima on J.D. Power’s Initial Quality Survey. But too few buyers recognize it, GM folks say. GM says Chevy’s perceived value is only half what the actual quality is, according to J.D. Power, while Toyota’s and Honda’s perceived value is greater than its actual scores.

In a previous interview, Lutz acknowledged, “It does us little good to beat the Japanese on quality if what we come up with is a bland, boring car.”

The new Malibu will be built in Fairfax, Kan. The current Malibu will be built after the new Malibu debuts, but will be called the Chevrolet Classic, and will be sold exclusively to rental and corporate fleets.

In the 2004 Malibu, Lutz and GM think they have the Accord/Camry beater they have been looking for. That goes for quality, styling and value. Now all they have to do is get customers to agree.

1SICKLEX

Malibu=:shakehd: :whocares: :whocares: :whocares: :whocares:

The current Malibu looks like the I 30/I35, another bland car.

Zoot

I agree with u on the malibu comment, but the I35 is a very sexy car. If i was going to get a TL now, I would def. get an I35 over the TLP or S. When I bought my TL, it was the old I30 (boxy one)

Red Nj-s

def man, that is a hto ass interior for a good lookin car.

edit: 3.5 liter, hopefully that will be alot of hp!

1SICKLEX

THe Malibu is a top 20 selling car. Which means most people can only afford this car or don't know squat. It was an improvement over the Lumina.

DeLucCL-S

LOOKS BETTER THAN THE CURRENT ONE

Red Rider

The Opel with the camoufalge looks better than the current one 2 pages on the Malibu, amazing !!

astro

I heard rwd and v8 could be an option.
but that might also be for the impala.

ItalianStallion

more likely for the impala because there will be an Impala SS with the V8 and RWD, whereas there is no Malibu SS.

why didnt they just change the freakin name, malibu sounds too barbie-ish. a sporty sedan is not barbie-ish.

CLSter

I always have wondered why most American cars cannot match the fit and finish of Honda, Audi, Toyota et al. It just doesn't make sense that they can't figure it out.