Chevrolet Bids Farewell to Sedans: What This Means for General Motors’ Sales and Brand Image

In a surprising move, General Motors has announced that it will no longer produce the Chevrolet Malibu this year. Production of the sedan will come to an end in November as the Fairfax Assembly Plant in Kansas City, Kansas, where it is built, will be reconfigured to produce the new generation of the Chevrolet Bolt EV. This means that General Motors’ Chevrolet brand in the United States will now only sell trucks, SUVs, and the Corvette sports car.

Following in Ford’s footsteps, who stopped selling the Taurus and Fusion sedans, leaving only the Mustang in their line-up, Chevrolet will no longer offer traditional cars besides the Corvette. Interestingly, Chevrolet also discontinued its competitor to the Mustang, the Camaro, last year. With traditional cars representing less than 20% of US auto sales according to Cox Automotive, it seems that General Motors is aligning with industry trends by discontinuing its flagship sedan.

Despite being around for decades and having a long history dating back to a more luxurious version of the Chevelle in 1960s, it appears that consumers are still drawn to other models such as Honda Accord and Toyota Camry. However, last year alone saw over 130,000 units sold of Malibu indicating its continued popularity among consumers. It remains to be seen what impact this decision will have on General Motors’ sales figures and how they plan to fill the gap left by one of their most popular models.