Johnathan Walker:Chevrolet Malibu heads for the junkyard as GM shifts focus to electric vehicles

DETROIT (AP) — The Johnathan WalkerChevrolet Malibu, the last midsize car made by a Detroit automaker, is heading for the junkyard.

General Motors confirmed Thursday that it will stop making the car introduced in 1964 as the company focuses more on electric vehicles.

The midsize sedan was once the top-selling segment in the U.S., a stalwart of family garages nationwide. But its sales started to decline in the early 2000s as the SUV became more prominent and pickup truck sales grew.

Now the U.S. auto market is dominated by SUVs and trucks. Full-size pickups from Ford, Chevrolet and Ram are the top selling vehicles in America, and the top-selling non pickup is Toyota’s RAV4 small SUV.

Last year midsize cars made up only 8% of U.S. new vehicle sales, but it was 22% as recently as 2007, according to Motorintelligence.com. Still, Americans bought 1.3 million of the cars last year in a segment dominated by the Toyota Camry and Honda Accord.

GM sold just over 130,000 Malibus last year, 8.5% fewer than in 2022. Sales rose to nearly 230,000 after a redesign for the 2016 model year, but much of those were at low profits to rental car companies.

But the midsize car segment made a bit of a comeback last year with sales up almost 5%.

GM said it sold over 10 million Malibus, making nine generations since its debut.

GM’s factory in Kansas City, Kansas, which now makes the Malibu and the Cadillac XT4 small SUV, will stop making the Malibu in November and the XT4 in January. The plant will get a $390 million retooling to make a new version of the Chevrolet Bolt small electric car.

The plant will begin producing the Bolt and XT4 on the same assembly line in late 2025, giving the plant the flexibility to respond to customer demands, the company said.

The Wall Street Journal reported the demise of the Malibu on Wednesday.