The Malibu is being phased out by Chevrolet.
This is not the first time General Motors has put one of its classic cars on the blocks. Chevrolet’s classic Malibu was available for model years 1964–1983 before its first discontinuation. The automaker revived the nameplate in 1997 as a family sedan and the last iteration will be rolled out in 2025.
“To facilitate the installation of tooling and other plant modifications, after nine generations and over 10 million global sales, GM will end production of the Chevrolet Malibu in November 2024 and pause production of the Cadillac XT4 after January 2025,” GM spokesperson Kevin Kelly told The Detroit News.
Malibu Last Sedan
The Malibu was Chevrolet’s last sedan in the lineup. The Detroit-based automaker will focus electric vehicles for that market as GM announced a $390 million investment in the Kansas facility for the new Bolt.
The Malibu, named for the affluent California community, lasted through eight generations and continues the trend of U.S. auto makers exiting the sedan market. Ford got out of the sedan business altogether in 2020, Chrysler recently ended production of its 300 sedan and Dodge built its final Charger sedan last year.
With Chevrolet out of the sedan business, Cadillac’s CT4 and CT5 are the last gas-powered four-door cars built by the Detroit Three.
Electric Vehicles
The sedan, however, may not die when the internal combustion engine does. As automakers build EVs on “skateboard platforms” —nearly flat combinations of batteries, electric motors, suspension, and steering components—that can be repurposed into different kinds of vehicles at a fairly low cost. In fact, Chevrolet has a series of electric SUVs built on its Ultium skateboard platform.
GM has already introduced one EV sedan—the Cadillac Celestiq. As noted by Kelley Blue Book, an electric Malibu revival would make a logical future step to do battle with EVs like the Tesla Model 3 and Hyundai Ioniq 6.
