Chevy Forced To Ditch Its Long-Running Malibu Model As Forced Transition To EVs Continues
One of Chevy's longest running vehicle models has now fallen at the hands of the company's transition to EVs. The Chevy Malibu will be no longer, according to a new report from Car and Driver.
The Chevy Malibu, one of the longest-running and most successful vehicles in history, is being discontinued again. Chevrolet informed Car and Driver that production will end in November 2024 as the automaker invests $390 million in its Fairfax Assembly Plant in Kansas.
Car and Driver reports that GM will also pause production of the Cadillac XT4 in January to retool for the Ultium-based Bolt EV. Production will resume in late 2025, with the XT4 and Bolt EV sharing an assembly line.
Despite Chevy's shift towards crossovers and SUVs, the Malibu remained a steady presence, with over 10 million units sold across nine generations. However, its discontinuation comes as a surprise given GM's recent EV challenges, including missing the goal of selling 400,000 EVs by mid-2024 and reintroducing plug-in hybrids to North America.
"We've been somewhat lukewarm toward the Malibu in recent years, but we'll certainly lament the passing of such a longstanding nameplate. Who knows? Maybe GM will revive it as an EV in another 15 years," Car and Driver wrote.
Meanwhile just days ago we published an article highlighting how Ford's $120,000 loss per vehicle makes it fairly clear that California (and the nation's) EVs goals are unreachable.
On April 24, Ford reported it lost $132,000 for each of its 10,000 electric vehicles sold in the first quarter of 2024, according to CNN. The sales were down 20 percent from the first quarter of 2023 and would “drag down earnings for the company overall.”
The Epoch Times notes that the losses include “hundreds of millions being spent on research and development of the next generation of EVs for Ford. Those investments are years away from paying off.” Ford is the only major carmaker breaking out EV numbers by themselves. But other marques likely suffer similar losses.
Californians bought 1.78 million new vehicles in 2023, reported the California New Car Dealers Association. Multiply that number by $132,000 and you get $235 billion. That would bankrupt every car manufacturer, meaning they just would pull out of selling anything in the state.
The California government would have to set up socialist, government-owned companies to make the cars, like the infamous Yugo. Dubbed “the worst car in history,” it was sold in America in the 1980s and was made by the communist Yugoslav government just before the country itself broke up in 1991.
And compared to that...the not-especially-wonderful-looking Malibu wouldn't look that bad...