GM Scores Among Award Finalists

Perhaps marking GM’s reemergence from the automobile wilderness, the domestic car giant makes four of the six finalists for the 2008 North American Car and Truck of the Year award. Even better, the automaker now finds itself in a position to score wins in both Car and Truck of the Year a feat no other company has achieved two years in a row, a feat no other company has achieved. 

Truck of the Year finalists include GM’s Chevrolet Tahoe Hybrid SUV and Buick Enclave crossover SUV, with Mazda’s CX-9 crossover SUV filling the third spot. As for Car of the Year, the Honda Accord will compete with GM’s Cadillac CTS sport sedan and the highly praised Chevrolet Malibu midsize sedan.

Now if the world’s largest auto manufacturer could only transfer this success to sales. While its vehicles continue to improve, the perception of domestic cars in terms of quality and design still lags behind Japanese and European makes. Earning awards is nice, but earning back car shoppers is obviously GM’s more pressing goal.

Vote is in: GM Rules (Detroit Free Press)

Chevy to Introduce Malibu Hybrid in Just 11 States

Citing limited numbers of the 2008 Malibu Hybrid, Chevrolet has announced it will restrict the debut of the vehicle to 11 states, concentrating sales on the West Coast and in the Northeast. That means that if you’re interested in a new Malibu Hybrid but live in fly-over country, you’re out of luck for the time being.

Chevrolet says it doesn’t want the hybrid vehicles sitting on low-volume dealerships gathering dust, but after the anticipation for the vehicle, some would-be Malibu fans are left scratching their heads. Of course, this move could be just a stop-gap as the company develops a more efficient full-hybrid version of the sedan.

Right now, Chevy’s schedule for the Malibu looks like this: The standard gasoline version debuted in November, and the gas-electric hybrid version will hit those key markets in January. If you live in the Midwest, Southeast or Mountain West, however, you may have to wait until that full hybrid comes along.

GM to Limit Malibu Hybrid to 11 Markets (Autoweek)

Cars.com Faceoff: 2008 Chevy Malibu, Honda Accord, Toyota Camry

The best-selling cars on the market are always mainstream midsize sedans. The Honda Accord and Toyota Camry top that list almost every month, but now Chevy has hopes that its redesigned Malibu can make some waves in that pool. Cars.com’s Mike Hanley, David Thomas and Joe Wiesenfelder pitted the four-cylinder versions — the most popular engine choice — against each other to find out which one would win without boring the owner at the same time.

Cars.comparison: Family Sedans (Cars.com)

Friday Fleet Notes: 11.30.07

Cars.com’s notes from our test fleet return after an extended break due to the L.A. auto show and Thanksgiving holiday. That means we had some good impressions built up on a number of recently reviewed cars and SUVs including Chevy's all-new Malibu.

2008 Jeep Liberty

• I was wowed by the extra-large ragtop sunroof, and the airlock-like sound you get when that top closes. It opened up, letting a lot of sunlight into the car, and gave it a near-convertible feeling. That said, the driving experience left me feeling like I was hovering over the wheels, not really attached to them — just kind of bobbing up and down on the suspension. I didn’t feel directly connected to the road, and there was some pretty noticeable lean in turns. — Patrick Olsen, managing editor

Video: Check out the Accord, Camry and Malibu

Last week when I was checking out the new Chevy Malibu for our review, I was also able to test drive the competition, including the Toyota Camry and the new Honda Accord. Having some extra time on my hands, and extra tape in the video camera I was able to highlight some of the difference between the three cars and hopefully give some insight into the hotly contested segment.

Ed. Note: GM supplied all three cars and I believe all three were representative of what consumers would find on dealer lots. They were all near base model, four-cylinder trims. The Honda and Toyota performed similarly to other vehicles provided to us at other times by the respective automakers.   

Video: 2008 Chevy Malibu

No overview of a new model would be complete without some video to go with it, right? That’s why I spent some time shooting the all-new Malibu on my recent test drive. You can check out the numerous bowties hidden in the lights, the interior color scheme, the folding rear seats and, of course, the trunk.

More Malibu News

Your Chevy Malibu Questions Answered

Last week we asked you to submit questions about the redesigned Chevy Malibu. Today, we’re going to try and answer the ones we’ve already received and any new ones you can think of.

What’s the interior quality like? I’d be most interested in a Saturn Aura vs. Chevy Malibu comparison. — Scott J.

The overall quality is quite good. Compared to the Aura, Chevy has improved on the feel of the bulky plastic covering the doors and dash. It is a softer type of plastic and in almost every shade looks and feels better than the Aura. To me that were the glaring issue with the Aura’s interior. One thing they didn’t change was the center stack which I talk about later.

Cars.com Reviews the New 2008 Chevy Malibu

With hundreds of miles of Tennessee and Mississippi roads under our belts, we’re back from reviewing the all-new 2008 Chevy Malibu. This is GM’s big hope to best the import competition. Actually, GM is pretty honest with its hopes for the new Malibu: It just wants consumers to consider the Malibu when shopping for an Accord or Camry. That bluntness is appreciated, and in our review we try to plainly spell out the pros and cons of the new family sedan from Chevrolet.

2008 Chevrolet Malibu Expert Review (Cars.com)

Which 2008 Chevy Malibu is Right For You?

The new Chevy Malibu went on sale last week behind a massive advertising blitz. The sedan comes in four trim levels with three engine choices, and ranges in price from $19,345 to $26,345, before a $650 destination charge. GM is hoping the car’s value statement will attract as many customers as its all-new design. To help decipher the difference in trim levels, we’ve designed the guide below. A review of the new Malibu can be found here.

LS: Starting at $19,345

• This is the base model that gets Chevy all that good advertising of a starting price below $20,000. The LS comes well-equipped, but its biggest drawback is a lack of standard stability control. It does come with the same six airbags and traction control as the rest of the lineup, plus 16-inch wheels, but for just another $1,000 we’d opt for the LT.   

What Do You Want to Know About the 2008 Chevy Malibu?

In September we spent a lot of time on the blog talking about the redesigned Honda Accord. The car is a best-seller and quickly became the most-searched car model on Cars.com after commercials for it hit the airwaves. One common complaint inquiry was if we would cover the new Chevy Malibu in the same way when it went on sale in November. The answer was yes.

To back up our claim, we’re opening up the discussion to the readers. Take the space in the comments below to send us your pressing questions about the new Malibu. We’ll be driving it this week and delivering a full review, as well as video and blog coverage. Tell us what you want and we’ll try to bring it to you as best we can.