2012 Chevrolet Malibu

2012 Chevrolet malibu

2/12/2020

mid-size - sedan

With more of a move towards the segment leaders, Chevrolet still seems like it’s a runner of the pack. Maybe if some minor changes to its design and company overview, the new Malibu may have a chance at being more than a pack runner.

Up front Chevrolet has still gone with more of a box appeal. The headlights for starters could be pushed down a bit, so it would follow the bodyline. This would give the headlights more of an evil look. Next if you take a look at the front grill, it seems to draw your eye in. This is well done, but it could have been a bit longer and maybe brought down a bit on the top centre. This would give the appearance of a point in the middle of the box. Up on the hood they have added some odd looking notches which appear that they are suppose to create a bump in the centre. But if you look closely, you will find that they are just poorly executed hood ducts with no where to go. Added to this the hood does seem a bit too tall for a car. It would seem more fitting to be on a small truck, not a sedan. The best way to fix this problem would be to bring the hood line up from the side of the headlights to meet with the bottom corners of the windshield.
The last major change needed for the face of this car, would be if Chevrolet added in some bigger side air ducts. The ones they have are way too small for the room they have. This extra room makes the appearance of the front bumpers very noticeable. If you brought the size of the air ducts up, you could eliminate the appearance of the bumper.

Out back it may come as to no surprise that some elements were borrowed from the Camaro. Now if you cannot find this design feature, then you are not looking at the tail lights. This is a nice feature for Chevrolet fans, but for the rest of us, it just makes the rear end of this car stand out. This you say may not be a bad thing, but when you consider how smooth the rest of the rear is, the hard edges of the taillights are not a fit for this rear. This comes off as the biggest problem the rear end face. Now add in a duck tail spoiler and an oversize exhaust, and you have the makings of a muscle car wannabe. Yes the Malibu could be cool looking car, but that could only happen if you drop the duck tail and smooth out the lights. The oversized exhaust is the one bonus to the Malibu considering that most other competitors do not utilize the exhaust into their design.

Checking out the side of this beast, we find some great sized wheels and some decent sized wheel flares. The flares could be brought up a bit. This would help lower the look of the car, making it more appealing to the aftermarket crowd. The one thing that is missing from the side of the Malibu is that the bodyline tends to disappear. This makes it hard to see where this car is going. Is it staying low, or rising up. Having a more defined bodyline could help people see that this is a fast cab forward car, not something that is low out front and tall out back mismatch

Overall the 2012 Malibu is a good looking car for the mid-size segment. It has a bit of evil appeal, hard lines and smooth curves all blended into a simple design. Yes the Malibu is new, but it still follows the same design language as the past two models. This gives it a real cookie cutter shape, which makes it more of a sheep in the world of cars. To beat the competition Chevrolet will have to step up its game and become the wolf in the world of sheep.

Front End = B-
            Good – Headlight setup, fog light design
            Bad – Hood line, hood notches, too many hard lines

Rear End = C+
            Good – Exhaust setup, smooth lines
            Bad – Duck tail, Camaro lights

Side = B-
            Good – Wheel size, window design
            Bad – Too smooth, front wheel flare size

Overall Appeal = C
            Good – Good Stance, Chrome
            Bad – Cookie Cutter, Suburban appeal