The auto giants have to make decisions on the cars they will produce years in advance and General Motors has been retooling its factories for the 2025 rollout.
The formerly legendary Motown automaker just confirmed that Biden policies played a big part in its decision-making process.
Now consumers have fewer choices for vehicles because of Biden’s interference in the car market as this classic car line is discontinued.
RIP Malibu
The Chevrolet Malibu was born in 1964 as a muscle car before it transitioned into being an affordable family sedan when it was phased out in the early 1980s.
Chevy revived the Malibu in 1997 as a mid-size sedan in order to compete with the Toyota Camry and the Honda Accord.
The Malibu’s sales have declined in recent years as more drivers have switched to crossovers.
Rental car companies have comprised the bulk of Malibu sales.
Now the Malibu is being deep-sixed so the Kansas manufacturing plant that produced it can switch production to the Chevrolet Bolt, an electric vehicle.
A General Motors spokesperson told FOX Business, “To facilitate the installation of tooling and other plant modifications. . .GM will end production of the Chevrolet Malibu in November 2024 and pause production of the Cadillac XT4 after January 2025.”
The Cadillac XT4 compact crossover is also built at the same manufacturing plant in the Kansas City area as the Bolt.
The GM spokesperson added, “When production resumes in late 2025, Fairfax will produce both the Bolt EV and XT4 on the same assembly line, which gives GM flexibility to respond to changes in consumer demand.”
With a $400 million investment in the Bolt, GM is following other car companies and switching toward the production of Bidenmobiles.
The Bolt is a subcompact EV that was discontinued after its first-generation model was beset with problems that led to several recalls.
Over a dozen instances of Bolts randomly catching on fire resulted in every vehicle being recalled.
GM warned owners in 2021 to park the Bolt at least 50 feet away from other vehicles, which is the last thing any car owner wants to hear.
Rethinking EVs
The demise of the Malibu means that the Corvette is the last sedan that Chevrolet will sell in the United States.
The Bolt was a money pit for GM during its first run, but the Detroit automaker is betting on a new model gaining traction with drivers due to the big EV push from politicians and “green” institutions.
In 2017, the Bolt was named Motor Trend Car of the Year and North American Car of the Year.
However, the Bolt never caught on with drivers after its numerous problems, and there’s nothing suggesting that this next go-round will be any better.
Bidenmobile demand is collapsing because it was artificial in the first place.
This has caused GM and other car manufacturers to re-evaluate their production of EVs.
Cadillac reversed its plan to switch to a fully electric lineup by the end of the decade.
John Roth, General Motors Vice President of Global Cadillac, said that sales of gasoline-powered models will continue in the 2030s.
Roth told WardsAuto, “We will be offering an all-EV portfolio and let the customer be our guide. What that materializes to. . .we will work through internally discussing our competitive advantage in the marketplace, and not put all our cards on the table all at once.”
General Motors’ electric vehicle lineup is struggling, which makes the decision to soldier ahead with the Bolt even more dubious.
Informed American will keep you up-to-date on any developments to this ongoing story.
