In many ways, that scenario is identical to GM. 30+ years of building crap yet, suckers like myself were so gung-ho about their product that we bought anyways. Whether it was that fuzzy warm “Buy American” feeling or the “me too” mentallity that everyone was buying, so should you.

Then I found out it was because people like myself never gave anything else a chance and were quick to dismiss because it was against the grain = not a GM. I now drive an X5 which I have had for about 3 years now, never given me a lick of trouble, it’s quick, it’s nimble and it is built well. Cannot say the same about my (multiple) GM experiences.

Disgruntled owner for life. Take care GM, you’ll never win me back.

From a marketing perspective, GM is doing a lot of things right. The fact that they are on the cusp of becoming a profitable company backs this up. Are their cars first-rate? Not yet. But they’re getting there. The products is undeniably improving. To address a few points made thus far: The G6 doesn’t set my soul afire, but its a pretty well-sorted out car. The Accord is pretty darn perfect as you expect of a Honda, but honestly I didn’t find the interior to be dramatically better than that of the G6, and really, the stying is pretty bland. The new Civic is the best car value I think in existence, which is why I drive one. I chose it over GM competitors because of its resale value and efficiency. The new Camry looks like a nicer Mazda. And the Mazdas still look like cheap boy-racer wannabe sedans. Bottom line, though, is this–to say that GM is light years behind is close-minded. Why is GM so blatantly singled out? If you want to trash American cars Ford is a much better candidate. You want poorly-built interiors, look at Ford. Ford boasts not a single desirable product in its lineup save for maybe the trucks and the Mustang, despite that fact that is it really cheaply built. I simply do not understand why (until the Fusion was brought into this) Ford is generally immune from such well-deserved criticism.

Quite mediocre. The interior is all flash an dlittle substance. Seats are thin,the dash plastics are hard and the door panels? OMG. horrid. The drive was boring at best, bordering on unstable at highway speeds. if this car is amy bit liek the Aura, and I imagine it will be about 99%, then Gm still has a ton of work to do.

sj79: you could put away your prejudice and learn some tao lessons on balance, then probably you’ll realize that the strongest and largest don’t win the hearts of the mass.

As for this Malibu – I thought SSR right away. I don’t think this will look that great, but I’ll reserve judgment until I see the whole car.

S-60-Driver: I don’t stare at the oncoming Fusion or Milan, and that’s the truth, though I do admit they do have attractive/non generic head lamps/taillamps, but the thing is, their interiors aren’t quite up to par, and the reality is they don’t do much for the industry or the segment as a whole. Think about it, the new Camry for example has something for everyone, it has the base CE/normal LE, the sporty SE (check anywhere, the new SE is supposed to be pretty fun which is a surprise), it has the XLE which is a Lexus ES350 for less money, and of course for the green crowd there’s the hybrid Camry. You see how this car totally dominates the market by reinventing it and adding more to it than any car in years? That’s why its Motor Trend’s Car of the Year, and that’s why it’s smashing the Fusion/Milan.

Don’t deny that u stare at the oncoming Fusion or Milan on the road. They have attractive grilles. Non-generic headlights and tallights.

GM needs to come up with their own design. They have a looooong way to go! In meanwhile, screw GM.

The front end pic looks fine and is infinitely better than any Honda or Nissan front end. Honda hasnt figured out how to design an interesting front end yet. You cant be a Honda/Nissan/Toyota fan and than criticize GM’s designs. GM may not be ahead at much, but they are definitely capably of designing more attractive vehicles than the Asians.

Also, you can say “shit” on this site, no need to pull out your cutesy little !’s.

Oldsmobile: Put aside your obvious biases, and be realistic, this won’t make a dent in Camry/Accord sales , and it won’t even compare to either of those two, not even close. The realiy of this is that GM is a far, far inferior car company to both Toyota and Honda, and doesn’t know jackshit about making cars these days, they clone, they badge engineer, they cost cut, and they make cheap, poorly performing vehicles compared to the competition. This is no secret, lets get out of denial

Only thing that looks great is the Fusion/Milan. Always look great everywhere on the road in any direction!!

No offense to you Oldsmobile but I really have got to laugh at the ridiculous claims that Putz and his crew spew about their offerings. This goes down in the “Yeah right” history books with the X5 beating Saturn Vue the Chevy commercials comparing the Cheapuinox to a Lexus RX.

“Wow…let me just say, that looks tight. If this is on the market to compete against Camry and Accord, and it has this front end, and that interior, this will CRUSH the competition. It’s about time GM got serious, and this shows it.”

lol. That’s some funny shit man. The only thing this is going to “crush” is your GM “faithfuls” hearts when this thing comes to market and it’s biggest customer is Avis Rental Car.

I will hold off on judgement until the Detroit show next month.

For the record: the reception on GM fan sites hasn’t been that good for this shot.

Having said that, I like what I’ve seen of the new Malibu so far. I’ll say what I’ve heard a couple of other people on LLN say about the interior: it looks really nice in the photo; if it comes across with a nice, sturdy, well-crafted feel (like the ’06 Impala does), I think it’ll be a winner.