General Motors lifted the veil on the all-new 2016 Chevrolet Malibu at the New York International Auto Show earlier this year. While this did not seem to be Earth-shattering news (car reveals happen all the time), it was significant for one reason – the previous all-new Chevrolet Malibu was introduced just three years ago.
The pace of development in the auto industry is quick. But for GM to replace what was a generally well-received car reveals just how competitive some segments have become. The last Malibu was a reasonably successful car for GM; the year the car was introduced in its home market, annual sales were in excess of 210,000, a record for the nameplate.
Yet there was room for improvement, so the car was remade, says Sam Coomes, marketing manager for the Malibu in the U.S. "We listened to customer feedback on the car and we fixed things. Customers said there wasn't enough legroom in the back seat; the new Malibu has a four-inch longer wheelbase that gives us the room we needed."
Also in New York, the all-new and radically styled 2016 Nissan Maxima made its debut. Billed as a "four-door sports car," the eighth-generation Maxima has the straight-line performance to back up this particular claim. The 3.5-litre V-6 under the hood is a stalwart from the Nissan/Infiniti line and an award-winner to boot. The Maxima shares the same wheelbase as the more conservative Altima, but is lower, wider and longer in another effort to set itself apart visually.
"The mid-size sedan segment in America is different from ours," says Bert Brooks, senior manager for product planning at Nissan Canada. "They have larger mid-size models and smaller mid-size models. The Altima is Nissan's smaller mid-size sedan and it sells in higher volumes both in Canada and in the U.S. The Maxima is our larger, more performance-oriented mid-size sedan – it's intended more for the enthusiast."
While it's not expected that the Maxima should challenge the Altima for sales leadership in either country, it's hoped that the bold new version will regain some of the model's former popularity. Sales of the Maxima in the United States last year were half what they were in 2002, the year 98,502 examples moved off Nissan lots. Sales of the Maxima in Canada last year were one-fifth what they were in 2004.
The Malibu and Maxima examples highlight the fact that, circa 2015, there are two different types of vehicles making up the mid-size sedan segment. There are the ultra-conservative class leaders that sell in the greatest numbers. And there are pretenders to the throne, vehicles that seek to lure discriminating buyers away with more content, more inspired performance or more radical design.
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