In this week’s post:
- Why kill the Chevrolet Malibu?
- Do we need to make Volvo pay tariffs?
The first question comes from a Chevy fan who is upset that the Chevrolet Malibu is being discontinued, and blames us for its departure.
Q (YouTube): I know for a fact that outlets like TFL are responsible for the Chevrolet Malibu being cancelled.
Dismissing the Chevrolet Malibu and refusing to review it like everyone else made it unknown to buyers. It’s cancel culture like this that makes you so incompetent. How many times did you review the Malibu despite it competing against the Toyota Camry you reviewed hundreds of times.
The Chevrolet Malibu is fantastic with power and real good economy. The only thing it didn’t have is a hybrid WITH AWD but so what? It was very efficient and my 2019 is over 100,000 miles with absolutely no problems!
It’s not just you and your pack of clowns that are at fault and I can name tons of other journalists who are just as guilty. You all have bias against Chevy and it just cost Americans jobs. I hope you can sleep well at night!
– Ken_KoolAid
A: Sleeping fine Ken, thanks.
First of all, I opted to count the easiest-to-find video reviews of the Chevrolet Malibu that TFLcar produced. There were about a dozen, which means that we averaged more than one per year over a decade. That doesn’t count the posts we wrote here on TFLcar.com. In addition, there haven’t been that many changes over the past few years, which means we don’t have new info to offer viewers.
Now, if you read Zach’s latest Chevrolet Malibu coverage, you might catch that section where he states:
“…the Malibu hasn’t fared as badly as Ford’s Fusion and Taurus sedans did before they’re demise, as the company still sold 32,749 in the first quarter of 2024 (again, thank fleet sales for that). Nevertheless, that only represents 8.4% of Chevrolet’s overall quarterly sales, where SUVs and trucks now reign supreme as the brand already killed off the Impala and the Sonic for the North American market in 2020.”
Fleet sales, low overall consumer desire (8.4% of overall sales is poor), and the fact that GM wants to plant for the next Chevrolet Bolt – that seems to be a factor too. Rather than lash out about the failure of your sedan with GM, blaming us for its demise – perhaps you should ask yourself a simple question: “Which U.S. automaker is still building sedans?”
Better still: “how many consumers are buying sedans vs SUVs in this market?”
You won’t like the answer.
– N
The last question comes from a viewer who thinks that the proposed tariffs for Chinese tech should be extend to Volvo’s EVs.
Q (via: AskNathan@TFL.com) I used to be a huge Volvo fan. But now with their terrible PR, customer service and snaky sales people, I’m done.
For over 40 years I owned Volvos. At least a dozen. The company changed since they went to China and the terrible staff are part of that change. I think that they are ruined and that they should be responsible for paying chicken tax on electric vehicles. Since they are poorly built Chinese cars.
— RodStewartFan56
A: So far, I think Volvo EVs are quite good.
I have yet to experience the build issues you mentioned. In fact, I spent a week driving through California in a Volvo XC40 Recharge, and it was outstanding. Perfect car for SoCal, and the build quality, performance and overall experience was mighty good. Honestly. Soon, I hope to drive the EX30, which will be among one of the least expensive EVs sold in the United States – for now.
Sure, many companies have a few bad apples representing them, but it can’t be all bad with Volvo right? If you have complaints, I recommend contacting both Volvo and Geely. At least let them know your concerns.
As for tariffs… I do not cover foreign policy, nor do I have a horse in this race. I do know that slamming a company that offers an inexpensive EV in this market will increase the price – which is the point. That bothers me because consumers will suffer. It’s always the buyers who are looking for inexpensive cars that seem to suffer the most.
I wish that would change.
Rather than pointing fingers at organizations like the UAW, the White House and pressure from automakers, I just hope that all parties can find a way not to hurt the consumer.
– N
