This whole Malibu business has me intrigued. Commodore sales are down severly because Aussies don't want large sedans as much these days. Small and medium sedans and SUV's are the go and the Sportswagon is probably what is keeping Commodore going until the VF. The overall VE design is way past its use-by date and now looks quite dated. We all know that this is because of external factors such as the GFC and GM's money problems, and that the VE was originally intended to only go for six years before a totally new design was introduced. Now, after more than six years, we are getting the first major face lift and the basic shell is intended to run until well past 2015, perhaps as late as 2018. I doubt that it will get anywhere near that before it is put out to pasture. Exports to the States will help, but not for too long as the yanks know this shell is already an old design and they will expect something better after a short time. The fact that the basic design has already been seen over there five years ago as a Pontiac won't help.
So, once the VF and the Malibu are both on our market, what will happen? If the Commie looks too much like a Malibu, it will hurt the sales of both cars. Both wil have to carry common GM styling traits such as basic grilles, lights etc. They are not too different in size, so how will buyers react? The average Noddy doesn't know or care that one is RWD and the other is FWD, so any advantages each has over the other won't be obvious to most buyers. The Malibu won't have a wagon I suspect, so that's one for the Commodore. Buyers these days are more interested in four cylinders than sixes and only sports-minded buyers want V8's, but I'm stuffed if I can see which way this will go. I wanted the VF to look better than the VE, but I don't think it does. The grile sucks. The design lacks imagination and flair. It's boring.
And from the pics I've seen, I think the Malibu is the better looking car, but design is very much a personal thing and no doubt, plenty here will disagree with me.
