GM's Malibu Smashes First-month Sales Target: 500 Cars
"The new Chevrolet Malibu has topped General Motors Corp's sales expectations in its debut month on the market by a wide margin, a senior GM executive told Reuters." Ironically enough given his moniker, this piece of good news arrived courtesy Maximum Bob Lutz. GM's Car Czar revealed that the artist formerly known as the world's largest automaker blew-out its 500-car sales target for the new 'Bu by 2500 units. While the numbers call into question (again) the wisdom of launching a $150m ad campaign for a new car without any "boots on the ground," why that's 300 percent better than [GM's] expectations! Bob reckons this is good news because "most Chevrolet dealers do not have a car because they're selling as fast as they get them." Or, alternatively, GM didn't make enough. And speaking of bad planning… "Lutz said GM had misjudged the relative demand for two new crossover utility vehicles built on the same platform: the Buick Enclave and the Saturn Outlook. 'It just shows you how the best laid plans go awry,' Lutz said. More specifically, "The Saturn Outlook has been a little slower than we expected. I think that's partly because there aren't enough Saturn dealers, and secondly, there isn't the brand awareness for Saturn." Not enough Saturn dealers? Wow.
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Maybe it's just me, but my calender STILL says that it's November. In fact, it looks like there are still 9 days left until December 2nd. Didn't the new Malibu go on sale November 2nd? I was unaware that a full "month" was 21 days later. Is November the new February?
Maybe they shipped all 3000 produced in November to dealers. The ones that are built next week probably wouldn't make it out til December. Or something.
Just saw my first 08 Malibu, on the lot today. It was a white LTZ. Not a bad looking car! Sunday - so unable to get into the car. If the quality of the materials inside, and the workmanship throughout is - as has been advertised by GM - I'll probably buy one within a few months. So much better looking than the Cad CTS they recently came out with. With the looks -I'm impressed.
For a European who likes the US, how unexpected is this negative reaction to the launch of an apparently quite lovely US-made car, the new Malibu. The design looks great and if it drives as well as the G6, it drives really very well. I have been watching GM with growing admiration as it fights its way back into success, both in the US, but also in China - where I am frequently - and in Europe, where I live. Negative opinion about US car makers may have been right in the past, but is bashing GM not somewhat behind present perceived reality? Edouard