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NEWS
Has Holden's Malibu come up short?
A fast-tracked upgrade for the Chevy Malibu in the US won't be replicated hereHolden is content that the new Malibu will meet the needs of target buyers without bringing forward a facelift and upgrade that was rushed through for the American Chevy Malibu.
The reasons for the Chevrolet initiative were many and varied, but can be summed up as a fix for mediocre fuel economy, poor ride and marginal rear-seat accommodation.
If there's one of those points that didn't need to be sorted for Australia, it's the ride quality, as the Australian media discovered from driving the new car for its local launch earlier this week. Holden engineers have gone to some lengths to tune the suspension right for Australia first time. Local designers have also devised what they feel is the appropriate look for the car in the local market, so scrub the need for the Chevy's facelift too.
What about fuel economy though? Or the stingy rear legroom?
Holden's Philip Brook, Executive Director of Sales and Marketing for the company, reckons that the company has both those issues covered, based on market research. Prospective Malibu buyers in Australia differ from their counterparts in America, he says, and the Malibu will meet the company's sales predictions here without the urgent upgrade program required for the Chevrolet version.
"Value is by far the number one reason for buying in the segment," Brook told motoring the evening before the local launch of the new car. "Fuel economy doesn't even make it into the top half dozen [reasons]."
According to Brook, the principal reasons Aussie buyers cite – in order – for purchasing a medium-segment passenger car are: value, design, previous satisfaction, features & technology and reliability.
For those buyers wanting the lowest possible running costs from their Malibu, there's the diesel engine option, Brook pointed out – and that's something the Americans don't have. American buyers have been notoriously averse to buying diesel-engined cars, which is why Chevrolet introduced a 2.0-litre petrol-turbo four-cylinder as a component of the upgrade for Malibu. It's the fuel miser variant in the range, but the turbo is there for those moments when drivers need a bit more performance.
In Australia the diesel does much the same job, so there's no requirement for the petrol-turbo here, Brook points out. Another reason not to bring the smaller-capacity turbo engine here is the cost it would add to the retail price of the Malibu in what Brook describes as a "price competitive segment". The diesel is an expensive option here ($4000), but for private buyers prepared to own the Malibu for several years there's a prospect that the diesel will pay for itself down the track – such is the difference in fuel economy between the diesel and the standard 2.4-litre petrol engine.
Brook says that the petrol-turbo engine would be "as expensive as a diesel", but without the same fuel-saving qualities.
"They're very expensive, these small-capacity turbos," he explained.
Brook believes that Australian new-car buyers in other segments are also less concerned about fuel economy than other issues. The Holden exec pointed out that the country's most popular car last year was the Mazda3, which is not the most economical model in the small car segment. It highlights the pervading market view (according to Brook), that just getting a four-cylinder car is 'near enough' to sensible and fuel-efficient. Most buyers won't look any further than that.
As for the question of rear-seat accommodation, which was thrown at the Chevy Malibu during its first year on sale in North America, it's largely immaterial for the car's prospective buyers here, Brook revealed the next day.
During a presentation he explained that the buyer type for the Holden Malibu is likely to be composed of "fairly affluent buyers", with 65 per cent of them male, around 48 years of age, 85 per cent married, but parent to only '0.7 kids'. In other words, in Australia, the Malibu is a car aimed at DINKS ('Double income, no kids') and empty nesters. In America, the Malibu is perceived to be a 'small' car (relatively smaller than the mid-size status it enjoys here, that is), and would be called upon as a second family car, which means carrying kids around in the back – up to teenage years as well.
This is why, according to Brook, the question of rear-seat accommodation has become a cause celebre for the car in the US, but is unlikely to pose a problem to the same extent for Holden. And Holden's sales goals for the car are "modest" – and undisclosed to the media. The only way to determine whether Brook's reading of the market for the car is correct will be in hindsight, after 12 months of VFACTS figures show how the Malibu has stacked up against its rivals in the medium segment.
Even then, the Malibu name may take some time to establish in the marketplace, and that may bear no correlation to flaws in the car's basic design, as Chinese market experience has revealed. In China the Malibu has got off to a slow start, according to Holden MD Mike Devereux, but sales have picked up substantially in recent times. Devereux also echoed and amplified Brook's comments about market expectations in American and Australia.
"In America these cars [medium-sized]... are the best-selling cars... versus small cars here. And America doesn't have that fairly good-sized large-car segment sitting right on top of it..." he said during a Q&A session.
In America, the Chevrolet passenger car above the Malibu is the Caprice-sized Impala, which might be just too big for some buyers in the US. That's why revising the Malibu has been imperative for the American market.
But with the affordable new VF Commodore on tap to address the needs of families here, Holden can afford to argue the Malibu as it stands will do the job.
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Written byKen Gratton
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