GM for years has always had the two mid Sized FWD sedan approach. Currently it is the Malibu and Impala. Used to be the Corsica and Lumina, etc.

Honda and Toyota (not counting the Avalon, which is not a volume car) do well with one "just right" sized sedan (the Accord and Camry). These cars sell right around 400,000 units a year.

Currently GM sells between 400,000 and 500,000 Malibu's and Impala's a year. The only reason they hot this volume is because GM discounts them so much that it would be stupid not to buy them. They are profitable..but not on the level of Camry and Accord. The Impala especially has a huge margin..but $5,000 in incentives really eats that up.

I do know GM spent $900 million on the Malibu. That seems like alot untill you realize that Ford spent $3 Billion on the 95 catfish Taurus (which initially held it's ground sales wise despite the hidous design). I am willing to bet they spent around $250 million on the new Impala. This kind of investment will be lucky to hold ground for now. This kind of effort on GM's part in such a key segment will make it very hard for them to stay afloat.

Rather than continuing developing and marketing two car lines, to me it would make much more sense to spend more than normal on developing one "just right sedan". Espeically when you consider the potential to get nearly the same sales out of one car. Put all of GM's engineering behind it, and build the best FWD sedan in the world. Then use it for a cross over and spread it across brands.

Just a thought...

 

From a designer's perspective, sounds easy, but...

...how do you define 'right sized'? Honestly? It it somewhere in between dimension and cost wise, or Impala sized with Malibu pricing (non discount pricing)?

It's a good idea, but being 'right sized' is only part of those other two cars' success.

 

The current Impala (despite the name) is really belongs to the "midsized segment," just like the Lumina it replaced. That line of evolution goes back to the FWD A-body Celebrity.

Impala=Lumina=Celebrity="Midsized"

The current Malibu evolved from the "compact segment." You have to admit that the Corsica was a "compact," just like the FWD X-body Citation which replaced the old RWD X-body Nova.

Malibu=Corsica=Citation=Nova="Compact"

Before you start to argue that the Cobalt/Cavalier is a "compact," I should remind you that the J-body Cavalier was the direct replacement for the "subcompact" RWD Monza.

Cobalt=Cavalier=Monza="Subcompact"