Only 700 Falcons sold last month. Why bother?

[Marco]

Evidently on some of the US websites the Malibu has also been criticised for many things, including poor packaging. Lack of rear leg room compared with the US model Accord and Camry is a low point. GM are evidently rushing out a facelifted version to deal with the various criticisms. By the time 2017 rolls around there should be an all new model.

Mind you if the Malibu is poorly received here, Holden will be in a bind for 2017.

Cheers, Matthew

Current Wheels has a review of the US spec version - unimpressive.

[AllWheelSlide]

This is quite sad for Aus, especially seeing that the FG is a very good car.

[steve_t]

Hilux, Navara, Triton, Ranger - how's the building industry going over there? Pretty strong?

[Jamolad]

Hilux, Navara, Triton, Ranger - how's the building industry going over there? Pretty strong?

Reckon a lot of it would be more to do with the hole-digging industry - mines buying them for use at their sites, and then their FIFO workers buying them for when they are back home to cart around their toys like motor cross bikes, jet-skis etc.

Also seems to be a big increase in regular families jumping out of their SUVs and in to dual-cab utes - starting to see less of the SUVs and more dual cabs on the school run. These days they are not as basic 'work horse' as they used to be - two rows of seats and most offering all the features and comfort of the SUVs and sedans with the added lifestyle benefit of the tray. Its getting harder to find someone to borrow a trailer from these days, and Commodore and Falcon ute owners no longer need to run the stickers that say "Yes this is my ute; no I won't move your ****ing fridge!"

[Hi Octane]

^^^ Not to mention ute's are a good tax dodge.

[redvxr8clubby]

Evidently on some of the US websites the Malibu has also been criticised for many things, including poor packaging. Lack of rear leg room compared with the US model Accord and Camry is a low point. GM are evidently rushing out a facelifted version to deal with the various criticisms. By the time 2017 rolls around there should be an all new model.

Mind you if the Malibu is poorly received here, Holden will be in a bind for 2017.

Cheers, Matthew

I suspect it will be about as succesful as Epica, it's a shame because Holden could do with a good mid sizer. As you say if they don't have it well received before 2017 they will be in a bind.

[redvxr8clubby]

Corolla is crawling back up, now they are back on track with cars that look better. before they were bland and boring looking, i think they are stealing design cues from Hyundai. noticed how popular hyundai were getting while at the same time Toyota was declining from its high spot, too many boring shapes for too long.

I think the bland looks isn't helping Cruze either, sales going down big job cuts, again it's a pity because they are making an effort with Cruze in the refinement, chassis and transmission, quite a good article in recent Wheels mag about MY14 Cruze, but I think it's biggest problem will be it looks exactly the same, 1.6 turbo should be a good thing.

[planetdavo]

Had a good poke around a Malibu last week. Make no mistake, they are a big car.
As always, time will tell. Holden haven't had a medium class car on buyers radars for basically 10 years now, when the bigger and much more expensive ZC Vectra was released, so results won't happen overnight.

[planetdavo]

Evidently on some of the US websites the Malibu has also been criticised for many things, including poor packaging. Lack of rear leg room compared with the US model Accord and Camry is a low point. GM are evidently rushing out a facelifted version to deal with the various criticisms.

The boot is HUGE in these, and a very usable shape. Depends what the buyers priorities are I guess- more rear legroom for regular back seat passengers, or more boot space to cart stuff around.

[planetdavo]

I think the bland looks isn't helping Cruze either, sales going down big job cuts, again it's a pity because they are making an effort with Cruze in the refinement, chassis and transmission, quite a good article in recent Wheels mag about MY14 Cruze, but I think it's biggest problem will be it looks exactly the same, 1.6 turbo should be a good thing.

The main "problem" for Cruze is the continuing high Aus dollar. Buyers can go for Japanese or Euro badges for little or no extra money whilst it remains where it is.

[Jag530G]

Had a good poke around a Malibu last week. Make no mistake, they are a big car.
As always, time will tell. Holden haven't had a medium class car on buyers radars for basically 10 years now, when the bigger and much more expensive ZC Vectra was released, so results won't happen overnight.

The Malibu is nearly as big as a VZ Commodore, but you can see why it has rear legroom issues, have a look at the wheelbase vs length in comparison to the VZ Commodore, 17mm shorter car but with a 61mm shorter wheelbase. Also compared to the smaller Cruze, the Malibu has a 53mm longer wheel base yet 262mm longer car. Both are front wheel drive but the Malibu is the king of overhang, no wonder it has a big boot. The sad truth is that the Epsilon II platform is GM back at its bad old ways, designing big-on-the-outside-small-on-the-inside cars. (Begs the question, why would anyone actually buy the Malibu? The Cruze has nearly as much interior space for 4 and a VE/VF isn't much bigger on the outside if you need space for 5)

The Toyota Camry is built on a 37 mm longer wheel base but is 54mm shorter overall, far better interior packaging. The problem for GM is that the Camry (and Accord) has dominated the US family sedan sales chart for years, partly because of the rubbish GM served up since the 70's. There is an entire generation of Americans who have grown up and won't consider GM for a family sedan, they reflexively buy Camrys and Accords and the Malibu won't change their mind unless it was blindingly better. GM have been found wanting with the new Malibu, which is a bit sad when you consider much of what else they have released recently has been great.

Cruze Wheel Base 2,685 mm
Malibu Wheel Base 2,738 mm
VE Commo Wheel Base 2,915 mm
VZ Commo Wheel Base 2,789 mm
Camry Wheel Base 2,775 mm

Cruze Length 4,597 mm
Malibu Length 4,859 mm
VE Commo Length 4,894 mm
VZ Commo Length 4,876 mm
Camry Length 4,805 mm

Cruze Width 1,788 mm
Malibu Width 1,854 mm
VE Commo Width 1,899 mm
VZ Commo Width 1,842 mm
Camry Width 1,820 mm

Cheers, Matthew

[planetdavo]

It's probably not the best comparison to compare rear wheel drive wheelbase measurements with front wheel drive drive wheelbase measurememnts. Front wheel drive cars almost always have an inherent "statistical" failing, in that the front wheels have to be further back toward the rear of the car to allow driveshafts to run behind the engine block.
At the end of the day I've sat in one in all seating positions and wouldn't call them remotely cramped. If Malibu has less space than some others but usually has kids/younger teens in the back, it's hardly going to matter either way is it. If it has less space than some others but regularly carries basketball players in the back, it might! Where the driver/front passenger sits also affects the space the rear passengers have too remember. Most people I know never fully extend their front seats to the rear of the seat travel.
Like I said, time will tell. Cruze hardly set the world on fire as far as the media was concerned when it came out either, but the punters bought vastly more of them than the AH Astra and Viva combined.

[IJ.]

Drove a Mates 1.4 Cruze last weekend with close to 400Kg's of people in it, was surprised just how good it performed.

GF is thinking about buying one.

[JimmyXR6T04]

Despite what holden fans think of ford, it wouldn't be good if they weren't around. Holden fans should thank ford! If ford didn't produce the current GT, how much longer would it have taken HSV to up the ante!

[Plenty]

Despite what holden fans think of ford, it wouldn't be good if they weren't around. Holden fans should thank ford! If ford didn't produce the current GT, how much longer would it have taken HSV to up the ante!

Don't think there would be anyone on here that would actually like to see the Falcon go.