Malibu insider: The General wears Prada

"Iconic" is one of those corporate-speak buzzwords enjoying its 15 minutes of fame, and while not as annoying as "robust," it's starting to bug me. But where robust is just getting tossed around to describe everything from bran flakes to sweat socks, iconic has taken on a deeper, more disturbing meaning with industry's talking heads. It seems like when someone from the car biz uses the "i" word to describe a design these days, what they really mean is they're reaching back to the glory days when their products still resonated with customers.

General Motors interior design chief Dave Lyon is a stylish guy. He knows an icon when he sees one, and he takes his interiors seriously. Dressed in Prada jeans, he recently addressed a group of less-nattily turned out automotive journalists to talk about the new Chevrolet Malibu's interior. During the presentation, the "i" word came up more than once as Dave showed images of dashboards from Chevy's past said to have inspired the look of the Malibu. All were from the 1950s and early '60s. Not surprisingly, there were no examples from the '70s and '80s, when GM was busily turning out forgettable cars--many of which, fortunately, rusted off the road before they could be remembered by a lot of folks. Those were the days when the General really got serious about giving away the store and its customers to ever-increasingly competitive imports.

But GM is smartening up, as evidenced by models like the well-executed Outlook/Acadia/Enclave SUVs, and new Cadillac CTS. They look good inside and out. The Malibu interior looks and feels vastly improved over previous models, at least in the pre-production model Dave brought to show. Materials are better as is fit and finish.

The new Malibu is obviously an important model for GM; one exec described it as being possibly the most important launch in the company's history. He could be right. Winning over a generation of customers raised in Hondas and Toyotas won't be easy. We haven't had a chance to drive the Malibu yet, but it may be a family sedan with promise.            

Whether it ever rates iconic status remains to be seen.

--Jim Travers

Comments

[John]

Why does every automotive journalist have to spend the first half of every article slandering a domestic company before they actually give a review?? Ofcourse if it a Japenese lets get right down to nitty and gritty and talk about how great it is.
And BTW, have you seen the new Camry?? It's interior is crappy, yet noone goes on and on about it.

[Jaymes]

Looks like a smaller cup of Impala. GM just can't differentiate between car models. One brand looks like the bigger brother with smaller badges. As Homer Simpson would say....Boring

[Lou]

Yeah, tell me about it John!
It's by the language of illusion that the present media contenders live and breath. Use to be that the media reported the facts. To bad there is no review of the integrity of information gathering of some of these magazines.
When is the last time you saw a major media report the 20+ cars that GM currently has which get over 30 mpg?
Or have you heard of the sludge build-up problem in the Toyota Tundra engines?
Have you heard of the new hybrid fullsize GM trucks and SUV's that get better fuel economy than the v-6 Camry?
Or how about the treatment of the workers at the Georgetown Kentucky Toyota plant?
As long as people blindly rely on other people for their information, they will blindly accept whatever their told.

[Go GM]

John: If you ain't drove it, don't knock it.

Camry owners are about to become passe.

[ken]

It disturbs me that Consumers Union now spends an ever-increasing amount of its limited resources on such trivial matters as this article covers, and others such as auto shows. Or have you started accepting "freebies" from manufacturers?. How is your objectivity protected when you cosy up to manufacturers to get a "first look" at future models? To comment on the competitive importance of yet another revised Malibu and once again its importance to the future of its manufacturer is not what CU used to be about. (This is the line GM and the auto media have used every few years since Camry and Accord took over almost two decades ago.) I wish you would return solely to anonymously purchasing and fully testing and reporting in the detail you used to, the models your readers actually buy and left this sort of "reporting" to the media who depend on, and get, the financial support of advertisers, and serve mainly to promote corporate interests. Your credibility is undermined by your increasing stress on things such as style, that you used to leave to each of your readers to assess for themselves, at the expense of matters which they cannot gather research for themselves before purchasing which, after all, is the purpose for which Consumers Union was established seventy or so years ago.

[Jeff Bartlett]

Rest assured, Consumer Reports remains dedicated to empowering consumers to make informed purchase decisions based on insights from comprehensive test programs, surveys, and professional expertise. We do so without fear or favor. Through the blog, we are supplementing our traditional product evaluations by offering candid views of our test programs and the industry through the voices of our editors and engineers. Think of the blog as a free supplement to the core Consumer Reports products. With the preview events, such as that attended for the Malibu, Consumer Reports pays its way. We typically drive to local events, and do not stay at posh hotels and collect generous gifts, as other media outlets often do. For us, these events provide a good opportunity to see and often drive a pre-production model and meet with the car's development team. What we learn from preview events and auto shows help us with our planning and in delivering preview information. After all, a midsized sedan shopper may want to wait to see the Malibu before committing to another model just prior to its launch.

As for the earlier comments, fun aside, the expressed opinions about the Malibu are positive and optimistic, though our final judgment will only occur after we purchase a production car and put it through our extensive test program.