tuxnharley

Ackerson is not a car guy, and his meddling in product decisions has not been productive. His desire to cut initial costs seems to be questionable in producing bottom line profits thru increased sales.

However, I will say that the Malibu LTZ has (had?) a really nice interior with high quality materials.

Jinx

I'm not sure Ackerson is to blame for the Malibu's faults. I think GM overreacted to fuel economy concerns. That would explain the ecoturd light hybrid as base model and the slight downsizing. As for the aggressive schedule, fuel economy concerns didn't hurt, but it was probably as much about keeping the interior up to snuff and addressing the criticisms of the prior car's styling, especially the rear end. The previous car's rear end was disharmonious and odd-looking and reminiscent of 90s Oldsmobile and Saturn.

.Jinx

Jet Streaming

It appears to me the trend with automakers today is "brand identity". They are going to come up with a "Chevrolet look" a "Cadillac look" etc etc. I think this is whats going on with Corvette and the Camaroesque tail lamps. Someone at GM has decided the new look of Chevrolet is the Camaro shaped tail light hence the design is appearing in every Chevrolet across the board more or less. The 2013 Traverse has new tail lights guess what they look like? Hey its fine with me Welbourne can tattoo the dam things on his forehead for all I care but the Corvette needs to be different and not a me too product. Heck the word Chevrolet never ever even appears anywhere on Corvettes exterior because GM for years now has looked at the Corvette as being sold in Chevy stores but so different from the mass product they offer its not really outwardly branded as a Chevy. This is why Corvette needs its own style of everything because it deserves to be set apart of the rest.

John T

Allegedly Ackerson did have input on the C7 design and that worries me. Supposedly he ordered Welburn to downsize the rear end... And we all know that GM's "true believers" think Ackerson is completely incompetent .

Lutz's comment about the C7 being radically different doesn't quite make sense unless you use Jinx' "hyperbole" analogy .

John T

I liked the last generation Malibu and found it really fascinating when Lutz said his inspiration for the car was the Volkswagen Phaeton.

Virtual Geezer

The previous generation Malibu was widely praised by the automotive press. Conversely, the new one has been largely labeled as a step backwards. One of the main buff mags -- I think it was Motor Trend -- stated that it was basically 'unusable as a family sedan' because of its paltry rear-seat legroom. I've seen the car in the showroom, and this accusation it true -- and will be a deal killer for many. The new Malibu is simply not competitive; there are too many better choices. GM messed up here.

The Chevy Cruze and Buick Verano also suffer from even worse rear leg room maladies. Sure, they're compact sedans, but other manufacturers do better.

John T

You know Jet I really believe that the tail lights will be less of a focal point on the C7 than with the C6 because it may be a better balanced design. The back of the C6 was my favorite because it was cooler than the rest of the car ( in my opinion ).
A better example is probably the 458 Ferrari. I see so much beauty in that car that by the time I get around to the back it doesn't even matter

BlueOx

Akerson owns (and is auctioning off at BJ) a gorgeous '58 Vette. Does that make him a car guy or not? You do know that there are plenty of car guys in the company and especially on team Corvette.

I am sure you know that it was "car guys" who helped put GM into the toilet to begin with.

And since when did you have to be a car guy to run a car company? Alan Mulally came from Boeing...not a car guy.

Jinx

John T, I liked the previous Malibu too, generally. I really didn't like the rear taillight treatment -- it was a brave choice not to wrap the taillights around, but it needed a brave taillight design to pull it off and they tried, once again, the circle-in-a-flush-misshapen-housing trick that didn't work on the Cobalt or the Impala.

The rest of the car was conservatively handsome, a welcome contrast to the overwrought Japanese. Understated and very classy, and the design emphasized the roominess. The Phaeton inspiration makes sense.

I hesitate to mention it because fuel economy is a simpler explanation, but when I saw they took a couple of inches out of the Malibu, my first thought was "they downsized it to give the Impala an advantage." The Impala doesn't need the help -- it's the width people are buying.

.Jinx

Jet Streaming

Good point.

John T

Mullally came from a manufacturing background and very successfully and Ackerson worked with a cellular company ??? . Great point about his 58 and I have tried to find out if that was not just recently purchased as a gift to himself for scoring one of the biggest positions in the world.

BlueOx

The point is that it doesn't take a "car guy" to run a car company. It takes a smart businessman. So far so good. Maybe, given all the new electronics being put into the cars today, being from a cellular company is an advantage!

RC000E

Funny that you mention the RX7 because many people compare the RX7 (FD chassis) to the C5 front end. I can see the reason for comparison, but the cars look nothing like each other.

When you design and put thousands of different cars on the road, it's hard not to have something look like something else from the same era. I think this thing is blown out of proportion.

corvettedreamer

We're actually looking for a mid sedan and the malibu rear seat is no bigger than the cruze and no v6. We will likely get an accord or buy a 3 year old G37 sedan to stay under 30K. The fusion has been defanged and price has swollen.

Frizzle86

Other then the Vette, I find most of GM's sedan designs to be horrible.
My notable exceptions are cruze and cady's ATS, and the CTS-V

tuxnharley

I hadn't noticed the 2013 Traverse design until you mentioned it, and after having looked at it it definitely reinforces my opinion that GM is going for a family design theme, be it Camaro, Traverse, or gasp - Corvette. Like it, dislike it, or don't give a Shiite, I don't see how anyone can deny it!

tuxnharley

We all know that owning a classic Corvette doesn't make anyone a car guy per se; it just means they have a big check book! I'd be interested to know how long he has owned it - before GM?

Look who GM turned to when they needed inspiration - a real car guy, Bob Lutz. I don't think he "put GM in the toilet". Funny how Ackerson cut him loose.....

Have you read Lutz' book - "Car guys vs bean counters"? Pretty telling stuff!

BlueOx

C'mon tux, don't play dumb. Lutz never came close to running the company and you know it. Product development is way different than the CEO.

John T

Hey Tux, Remember when Lutz first came on board with GM, maybe around 2004. it was said that he looked at the C6 concept and said , " that is not the next Corvette ". I would love to know what he did not like or what he changed.
I know he was hellbent on wheel well proportions but he went a little off the rails with the Solstice. Maybe a little cartoonish.

John T

I still believe with everything I have that it is product first. If that ain't happening you don't need a CEO.