The next Chevrolet Malibu will make its debut for 2013.
It’s not often you get a chance to crawl inside a major product more than a year before its official launch, but even as most makers are starting to push their 2012 products, we found ourselves this week getting up-close-and-personal with the all-new 2013 Chevrolet Malibu.
The Malibu, you may recall, created something of a shock wave when the current version made its debut as a 2007 model – quickly grabbing an array of awards including the coveted North American Car of the Year trophy. It remains a solid seller, but the market has moved on and with all-new versions of the top-selling Toyota Camry and Honda Accord soon to market – never mind offerings like the Hyundai Sonata and Ford Fusion to deal with – Chevy is wisely hoping to wow us with the next-gen Malibu.
We got a first glimpse of the midsize sedan at the New York Auto Show, a few months back, but the General Motors division had a prototype on hand – along with some of the key designers and engineers working on the 2013 program – as we headed out to its sprawling Milford (Michigan) Proving Grounds.
There’s no question that Chevrolet isn’t planning to play it safe. As senior GM officials have stressed, the worst thing you can shoot for is simply a “competitive” vehicle. Inside and out, if Chevy ever hopes to seriously tackle the imports it has to be bold and aggressive.
A look at the outgoing and incoming Malibu models.
And those, we quickly realized, are two words that readily defined the 2013 Malibu. The styling starts where the outgoing model leaves off, delivering a more striking and muscular appearance with exterior design cues that suggest a much more expensive car than you’d expect. That fits into the theme of “obtainable luxury” that has defined the new program, according to stylist Crystal Windham
The hood is more sculpted, with a presence you’d be well aware of seeing it come up in your rearview mirror. The rear borrows the high deck lid first introduced on the 2001 BMW 7-Series – which both improves aerodynamics while also giving the Chevy sedan more presence – and trunk space.
The new Malibu is roomier and more lavishly outfitted, especially on the high-line LTZ
Speaking of space, the new vehicle is slightly longer and a full 2.7 inches wider which means a generally more roomy cabin – plenty of hip shoulder — and up-front legroom though the rear passengers do lose about an inch there.
This week’s “tour” focused primarily on interior design, and that’s where you have to be impressed. Even the base car is a big improvement over the outgoing Malibu – the LS arguably more refined than the old, top-line LTZ.
What you find is a traditional Chevrolet dual cockpit layout, here made more distinctive by a horseshoe center stack tastefully ringed in chrome. The instrument panel, with its twin gauge cluster was clearly influenced by the oh-so-popular Chevy Camaro, Windham confirmed. But, if anything, the emphasis is on elegance, rather than sportiness.
The pop-up LCD screen conceals a roomy storage bin.
The LTZ, in particular, is likely to shock those who walk into Chevy showrooms. The prototype on display featured the well-appointed leather-trimmed cabin. Chevy has come up with a technique called “tipping,” typically seen on much more expensive products, that gives the interior fabrics a subtly two-tone, three-dimensional appearance that plays nicely off other details such as the contrasting seat piping and baseball stitching on seats and instrument panel.
The good news is that even the base model shares some of these details.
Those seats, incidentally, are also a fair bit more up-market than you’d anticipate, with some models offering four-way lumbar support, a relative rarity in the segment.
A rear end influenced by designs as diverse as the Chevy Camaro and the BMW 7-Series.
Another likely surprise-and-delight feature will be the pop-up, 7-inch LCD display used for the new Malibu’s infotainment system and, if you opt for it, the onboard navi. It’s a beautifully hi-resolution display – but what matters is what it controls, the new Chevy MyLink technology. Think Sync, as in Ford Sync, and out of the box MyLink will not only access the usual array of radio sources but connect to smartphone apps Pandora and Stitcher – with more promised.
Chevy officials declined to criticize Ford, which has been taking hits for problems with its latest touch-based infotainment system. (Click Here for more on what Ford is doing to fix its MyTouch system.) But Chevrolet promises more buttons and more redundant ways to get to the feature you want.
Clearly influenced by Ford's Sync, Chevy will introduce the MyLink system on the next Malibu.
Back to the pop-up LCD display, one of the nicest revelations was the positively huge storage box it conceals where you can stash wallet, smartphone and more. The trick was disconnecting the display “head unit” from the actual electronics, which are hidden under the front seats.
While we will have to wait for a chance to drive the 2013 Chevrolet Malibu, Chevy gave us a look at some of the features it will offer – and some of the steps engineers are taking to enhance such features as ride and comfort.
Start with noise. The new model is literally filled with various blankets, foams and other materials designed to reduce, block or absorb noise. That’s no easy challenge considering the next-generation Malibu will be going on sale in over 100 markets worldwide. Some, like China, are a real challenge because of rough roads, tire choices and other limiting factors, noted Kara Gordon, who oversees noise-related efforts.
It’s not just how loud the noise is, she points out. “The quality of the sound (also) matters. And even little things can have a big impact on your perception of a vehicle. “The loudest sound you ever hear is the first rattle in a new car.”
What will we hear when we finally get the 2013 Chevy Malibu on the road? We’re being promised a chance to find out later this summer.