Despite the all-new Chevrolet Malibu being one of GM’s most important vehicles of all time, thousands of dealerships remain without Malibu sedans to sell. Initial demand has far outweighed supply and its likely that General Motors won’t be able to meet consumer deman until sometime this spring.
Back in November, GM announced that it would expand Malibu production to a second plant, but the new sedan still fell short of demand. The new Malibus “are turning faster and more prolifically than we anticipated. They’re selling well in Southern California. They’re selling well in Flint,” Mark LaNeve, GM North America vice president of vehicle sales, service and marketing, told The Seattle Times. “We don’t have anywhere near the availability we’d need for peak [sales] performance.”
GM sold about 7,000 Malibus in November — well above its less-than-ambitious goal of 500 units — and boosted sales to 12,172 in December — a 6.7% increase over last year. In contrast, during the month of December, Toyota sold 38,831 Camrys, Honda sold 31,255 Accords, and Nissan sold 25,171 Altimas.
“I have three on the lot right now, and if I had 20, I’d be happy,” said Guy Drose, sales manager of Raymond Chevrolet in Antioch, Illinois. “People are asking for options on the vehicles that we don’t have on the lot at the moment. Hopefully, they’ll see the value in the car and wait.”
Analysts say the initial drought of vehicles shouldn’t hurt GM, but could if it lasts for the long-term. “If they don’t have the inventory that’s going to be necessary to meet demand, that may cause some lost sales,” Jesse Toprak, senior analyst for Edmunds, told The Seattle Times. If the Detroit automaker can boost production in the next few months, there should be any problems. But “if the distribution timeline stretches beyond that,” Toprak said, “there could be problems.”
GM also recently announced that the Malibu Hybrid would only be available in 11 U.S. markets at launch.
