Chevy Marketing Chief ‘Pleased’ With Malibu’s 7% Share, But Wants More

ELKHART LAKE, WI – Russ Clark, global marketing manager-midsize cars at Chevrolet, acknowledges the midsize ’13 Malibu sedan is trailing the Ford Fusion, Toyota Camry and Honda Accord in sales, but points to a segment that has become the U.S. market’s largest and most competitive.

“(At one time), Camry and Accord had 50% of that market, and the rest of us fought for the other half,” he says, in a wide-ranging interview at the Midwest Automotive Media Assn.’s spring car rally at the Road America racetrack here.

“But in the last year, a new Malibu, Fusion, (Nissan) Altima, plus new cars from the South Koreans, have made midsize cars the most competitive segment again. We sold 13,000 Malibus last month, our best month for the year, and some of our dealers say they are short of Malibus now.”

With midsize sedans, combined, selling more than 2 million units each year, Clark says he is happy with the Malibu’s 7% share. “I'm pleased where we are, since just 1 percentage point in share is a big deal in that market.”

However, Chevrolet does not intend to stay at 7% and is looking to drive up its share. Therefore, the new-for-2013 Malibu will be tweaked and upgraded for ’14, although Clark declines to elaborate on the changes.

“All I'll say is more information is coming shortly,” he says. “It's such a competitive market, you can't stand still and need to build on your strengths.”

Clark also acknowledges that although the ’14 Impala large sedan shares a platform with the Buick LaCrosse and could have been offered with a choice of all-wheel drive, it only will come in front-wheel drive.

“It's AWD-capable,” he says of the new Impala, “but that would raise the price and probably would only account for 6% to 7% of sales. So why do it? Besides, if you want AWD, we offer (cross/utility vehicles) for that.”

Clark says he sees the large-sedan segment growing this year with a new Kia Cadenza, Toyota Avalon and Nissan Maxima joining the Impala.

Chevy expects about 25% of Impala sales to come from leasing, he adds. "We almost got out of leasing two or three years ago, but that's just another way for people to be able to get a new car.”