According to a GM China tipster, the hybrid Chevy Malibu is coming to Chinese shores pretty soon, furthermore, it will be made in China.
What makes the Malibu Hybrid special, is that a) It looks good b) Its a hybrid. These two aspects alone will appeal to Chinese consumers. The Toyota Prius is made in China, however, a) It looks dorky b) its expensive, thus it never made huge waves in China.
The interior also looks very good:
If GM price the hybrid Malibu right, they may just crack the affordable hybrid market, even though there isnt one to speak of as of yet in China. The Prius is overpriced, as is the imported Honda Civic, and we’re still waiting on the BYD plug-in electric range.
Want one? Its set to be launched on 22nd January 2008, thats this month, then.
DON’T DO THIS GM!!!!!!
or a chinese brand will be able to get one, get a clay model out of it and call it a day…
next week people would be buying chinese horrible unsafe malibus for half of it’s price…
Usually overseas Chinese are very pro China, and support Chinese cars. You seem to be the only one at the other end of the spectrum.
you don’t really seem to get my point of view…
for me, these procedures (CLONING CARS!!!) are destructive for ANY market.. for me, it doesn’t bring any good for chinese auto industry.
I AM supportive to chinese auto industry!!!!!
I’m so against cloning cars because for me, IN MY OPINION, this only brings disavantages for the industry development…
thus, besides that, it’s repulsive that these chinese automakers have no respect at all with other brands… they just do the simplest way: copy the project instead of thinking on new solutions for their market..
I was not criticizing you, but rather admiring your break from the norm.
Tell us some more about the Shenyang Hummer.
I’m an engineer.
I work at GM.
I develop new Hummers.
My life is about the auto industry.
I’d be PISSED if someone simply copied, with no effort at all, the product I’ve worked to my bones to get it right.
Instead of a hybrid car wht about a clean diesel. It’s been proven that in Europe some of the new range of diesel engines are cleaner and more economical (and cheaper) than a hybrid. We can buy a VW Polo Turbo diesel which does 65mpg and emits 99g/km of emmisions. Both of which beat a hybrid hands down. why are hybrid cars seen as our saviours when clearly they’re not as good as their hype suggests? Now if you could produce a hybrid diesel, that’s perhaps a thought (Peugeot/Citroen are currently developing one for Europe but god knows when it’ll be launched).
obviously a diesel Polo would fit a lot better on chinese market needs…
GM is taking the malibu hybrid to China because seems to be the only option for a green car they have. Since GMNA doesn’t make diesel vehicles, they developed this hybrid malibu…. which, in NA, is very well positioned.
Diesel small vehicles (non-SUV/trucks) are popular only in Europe…
that’s why GM doesn’t have these ultra-efficient diesel cars, because people in America are not used to the idea of a diesel regular car…
I’m pretty sure they are going to market it as a luxury car for chinese standards also… that’s probably another reason they are taking the malibu.. I’m pretty sure they can make more money selling one malibu then VW selling one polo.
Well, knowing you work for GM. I must say bravo to what GM has done as of late. Their European cars were better than their NA counterparts but I’m amazed how far GM has come along with their NA cars. I’m glad GM has learned from their mistakes. How’s the development coming along on the diesel H3?
Thanks a lot for the compliments. While I can not say we will aways be making the best cars in the World, what I can assure you is that we will aways be doing the best out of our souls to that.
GM’s been seeking for quality improvement these past years.. instead of looking for cost cuts to make cars cheaper, GM went on the direction of material improvement while not raising the costs of the plataform. The results you can see. Better built cars every new generation.
You’ve nailed: I’m right at the H3 Diesel project. I can’t give you much information about it, but things are looking pretty sweet =)
I take it, this is the H3 that is going to be produced in South Africa for the European/African/Asian markets no?
yep, it is primarily set for these markets
I take your point with regard to the Polo. I have been an owner of many GM models (Vauxhall in the UK) and loved them, and indeed their build quality, style and sometimes technology seems light years ahead of GM NA. Why not use some of the excellent GM Turbo and Twin Turbo diesels you have at your disposal in Europe and make a hybrid out of them? Surely they wouldn’t need to many alterations to make them American emissions compliant? Saturn, indeeds imports Euro cars and rebadges them (Astra for one and I hear the Zafira is another). Would it not be cheaper to import them to China??
Prius is made in Japan, not China.
So… it’s June now - has there been any more recent news about the Malibu coming to China?
I can tell you that it is definitely not coming. Certainly not in this generation of the Malibu.