New Chevy Malibu tasked with meeting GM's aggressive sales goals
25% annual growth is the target, reports say
Automotive News
Ben Klayman
March 26, 2015
DETROIT (Reuters) -- The Chevrolet Malibu has been a symbol of General Motors’ competitive woes for nearly 20 years because of designs that critics often lambasted as boring. Now, the No. 1 U.S. automaker is telling suppliers a redesigned version of the midsize sedan will deliver a long-awaited sales jolt.
GM executives have told suppliers to prepare for sales in North America of 250,000 new Malibus a year, 25 percent above last year’s levels, and have the ability to go as high as 300,000 cars a year, according to three supplier sources familiar with the plans.
To win over skeptical consumers, GM's ads for the new Malibu will tout the car's quality, styling, fuel-efficiency and myriad safety and connectivity features.
GM has had ambitious targets for the Malibu before and fallen short. LMC Automotive forecasts Malibu U.S. sales just breaking 200,000 in 2016 before sliding back under that total the next four years. IHS Automotive has the car in the 200,000- to 210,000-vehicle range going forward.
"The car was never competitive with its peers," auto analyst Maryann Keller said. "It always seemed to be a generation behind."
Despite high marks for quality on several surveys, Malibu last year was the only vehicle in the U.S. midsized car segment's top eight sellers to suffer a sales decline. It ranked ninth in 2014 among midsize cars most seriously considered by consumers, said research firm Strategic Vision.
"If you add up all of the sales objectives of all the different nameplates, it's probably twice as big as the segment itself," said Derrick Hatami, Nissan division's vice president of U.S. sales. "Everybody's got very lofty objectives."
*Full Article at Link
25% annual growth is the target, reports say
Automotive News
Ben Klayman
March 26, 2015
DETROIT (Reuters) -- The Chevrolet Malibu has been a symbol of General Motors’ competitive woes for nearly 20 years because of designs that critics often lambasted as boring. Now, the No. 1 U.S. automaker is telling suppliers a redesigned version of the midsize sedan will deliver a long-awaited sales jolt.
GM executives have told suppliers to prepare for sales in North America of 250,000 new Malibus a year, 25 percent above last year’s levels, and have the ability to go as high as 300,000 cars a year, according to three supplier sources familiar with the plans.
To win over skeptical consumers, GM's ads for the new Malibu will tout the car's quality, styling, fuel-efficiency and myriad safety and connectivity features.
GM has had ambitious targets for the Malibu before and fallen short. LMC Automotive forecasts Malibu U.S. sales just breaking 200,000 in 2016 before sliding back under that total the next four years. IHS Automotive has the car in the 200,000- to 210,000-vehicle range going forward.
"The car was never competitive with its peers," auto analyst Maryann Keller said. "It always seemed to be a generation behind."
Despite high marks for quality on several surveys, Malibu last year was the only vehicle in the U.S. midsized car segment's top eight sellers to suffer a sales decline. It ranked ninth in 2014 among midsize cars most seriously considered by consumers, said research firm Strategic Vision.
"If you add up all of the sales objectives of all the different nameplates, it's probably twice as big as the segment itself," said Derrick Hatami, Nissan division's vice president of U.S. sales. "Everybody's got very lofty objectives."
*Full Article at Link