General Motors has been cutting their car lineup as the past few years have seen the deaths of the Buick Regal and LaCrosse, the Cadillac CT6 and XTS, and an assortment of Chevys including the Cruze, Impala, Sonic, and Volt.
The Chevrolet Spark will join them in the automotive afterlife this summer and it appears the Malibu may be living on borrowed time as well.
While that remains to be seen, the company has stopped accepting orders for the 2022 Malibu. When asked about the move, Chevrolet spokesperson Kevin Kelly told CarsDirect that the company is no longer taking orders for the Malibu “because we have received enough orders to fulfill the ‘22 model year.”
Also Read: Chevrolet Camaro Could Be Replaced By An Electric Performance Sedan
Some people may take that as an ominous sign considering it’s only February, but Malibu sales have been in freefall so it’s not surprising the company doesn’t want to build too many of them. Jumping into the numbers, Malibu sales have declined every year since 2016 when the company sold 227,881 units in the United States. While the decline has been somewhat gradual, they plummeted to a mere 39,376 units in 2021.
To put that into perspective, Chevrolet axed the Cruze after sales fell to 184,751 units. That’s nearly five times more than what the Malibu achieved last year.
Needless to say, the Malibu is officially on deathwatch. However, you might want to grab some popcorn as Automotive News’ Future Product Pipeline suggests the sedan won’t be killed until 2025. That being said, we might get an electric performance sedan to effectively replace both the Camaro and Malibu.
