General Motors expects to be making $5,000 more on the sale of its newest Chevrolet Malibu even though the sticker price has only barely changed. How? Because the world's largest automaker has been reducing the deep discounts and heavy sales to rental companies which affected the profitability of the previous model Malibu.
The new Malibu will have a manufacturers’ suggested retail price of $19,995 to start. The hybrid version is expected to sell for $22,790. It is expected that the 2008 model will be a financial success even if no more cars are sold than were sold last year.
As many as 40 percent of the old Malibus were being sold to fleets in some months. This lowered the vehicle’s value because it saturated the market.
Our take? It’s interesting to discover all the hidden elements that can affect the sale and value of a car. It’s not just dependent on how consumers will accept them.
The competition is fierce. General Motors hopes that the new Malibu will compete well with the Toyota Camry and Honda Accord. Toyota sold 360,000 Camrys and Honda sold 302,000 Accords from January through September of this year. In contrast, Chevrolet sold about 90,000 Malibus.