At Chevrolet, there are two coupes – Camaro and Corvette. For the most part the mainstream mid-size coupe segment has died off. Only Honda and Nissan offer them. For luxury cars it is a different story, as there is more money to kick around. Their decline comes down to practicality and sportiness.
If you’re going to have something with reduced practicality, it mind as well be sporty right? Despite this, Chevrolet created some designs for a Malibu Coupe, showing them off to journalists at a design event in Warren, Michigan last week. The Malibu hasn’t had a coupe variant for a while, but there were some people out there hoping for a new one based on the next-generation 2013 Malibu.
Edmunds Inside Line reached out to GM design boss Ed Welburn for comment on the Malibu coupe after the event. “A Malibu coupe could be a pretty nice car….but it is not in the plan right now.” Michael Albano, Chevy’s public relations rep later said that the company had “no plans at this moment for anything more than the sedan.” Dead? Not exactly. Both statements are pretty open ended stating that it simply isn’t in the works at this juncture.
That doesn’t mean it couldn’t be in the future, although we wouldn’t count on it. Something that might factor in is the Malibu’s widespread global sale. GM plans for the 2013 Malibu to be sold in over 100 countries, which would up volume projections significantly. Here in the United States it is likely the business plan would be unfeasible.
IL calls the car’s design “striking, with a “fast backlight similar to a Cadillac CTS coupe, and an interesting strip of chrome trim surrounding the greenhouse.” We wouldn’t be shocked if it showed up as a concept someday to test public reaction. The 2013 Malibu Eco goes on sale in January of 2012, with the 2.5-liter standard model launching a few months later.
