It might surprise you that the Chevrolet Malibu is still in production, but according to a The Detroit News report I found via Autoblog, the venerable mid-size sedan will finish rolling off assembly lines in November.
You may remember that GM has been slowly exiting the four-door sedan business for a while — and the Malibu’s cancellation is part of that. Personally, I think this is silly — while we may live in a crossover-crazed country, there is still a sedan market, albeit a shrunken one. I understand that some of this is my pro-sedan bias showing, and I know the bean counters in Detroit have a better sense of whether the cost of production is justified by sales than I do.
Then again, the Malibu was Chevy’s third-best selling vehicle in 2023. So maybe us keyboard warriors are on to something.
Yes, some of those sales were almost certainly to fleets, but still.
The Malibu was far from the best in the segment, but it wasn’t terrible, either. I don’t look askance at anyone who plunks down payments on one, even if I would advise any mid-size sedan shopper to look at the Accord and Camry first. The Malibu wouldn’t even be the third choice, but again, you could do worse.
Maybe it’s just sentimentality of the long-ago diluted Malibu name. But I might miss the darling of the rental-car lot, at least a little bit.
Will you?
Sound off below.
[Image: Chevrolet/GM]
Become a TTAC insider. Get the latest news, features, TTAC takes, and everything else that gets to the truth about cars first by subscribing to our newsletter.
