Automotive News, Media & Press - Malibu To Be Offered With an Autostick

You know, those autos that allow you to change gears with a button so you feel sporty. Not a true automatically actuatated manual a la Ferrari and BMW, this is sorta like a Tiptronic.

Anyway, I dont like where they put the gear selecting buttons, plus, its in a Malibu.

http://osx.wieck.com/pv/WKA/2003/08/05/WKA2003080535500_pv.jpg

J.

Why not just offer a real manual tranny? :eyes:

At least the gear selection is in a more natural place. I don't like having the gear selecting buttons on the steering wheel. It doesn't feel right to me. Whenever I want to shift, I will always naturally reach for a floor/center-console mounted shifter.

That's pretty cool. Too bad they won't do something about how ugly it is.

It's just a switch. Move it to the steering wheel where it belongs.

http://www.cheersandgears.com/2004_malibu_ted_front.jpg

http://www.cheersandgears.com/2004_malibu_ted_front.jpg

:barf: :barf: :barf:

It gets worse :)

Here are some excerpts from USA Today.

"One of GM's most important debuts this year comes with next week's production launch of a redesigned Chevrolet Malibu midsize car. GM spent $722 million to develop the Malibu and Malibu MAXX, a hatchback version, that comes out later this year. "

""It's a big bet, we did not try to do a cheap car," GM product czar Bob Lutz said in an interview with The Detroit News in June. "This is a very expensive car to produce and we're betting people will notice."

Chevrolet general manager Brent Dewar expects to sell as many as 200,000 Malibus in the 2004 model year, with potential annual sales of 300,000 units, 10% of the division's 3 million unit target. "

That is going to take a lot of rental car fleets to sell 300k of them.

For a little good news.

A redesigned Corvette, the C6, will make its debut early next year. Cowger showed an early "spy" photo of the car in Traverse City and offered a few details: longer wheelbase, shorter overhangs, fixed headlamps for the first time since 1962 and a smaller Corvette badge, or insignia.

The car will be more powerful than the current model. Cowger's only hint as to how powerful was, "Think about Ted Williams' unmatched feat from 1941 — his batting average." The late Boston Red Sox slugger's average that year was .406.




J.