Chevrolet Malibu Turbo Performance concept headed to SEMA show

By Tim Beissmann
October 24th, 2012

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The Chevrolet Malibu Turbo Performance concept has been previewed online ahead of its unveiling at next week’s 2012 SEMA aftermarket show in Las Vegas.

It’s difficult not to see hints of the Holden Commodore in the sporty concept, which is based on the Chevrolet Malibu Turbo production car that sits at the top of the all-new medium sedan range in the US.

The rebadged and localised version of the base car, called the Holden Malibu, will go on sale in Australia around the middle of 2013, filling the hole between the locally manufactured Holden Cruze small car and the Commodore.

The Malibu, which was unveiled last week at the Sydney motor show, will be available with a 2.4-litre petrol engine and a 2.0-litre diesel. Holden earlier this year said it would not rule out introducing the Malibu Turbo down under, but has revealed no plans to do so at this stage.

Like the production car, the Chevrolet Malibu Turbo Performance concept generates 193kW of power and 353Nm of torque (between 1700-5500rpm) from its 2.0-litre turbocharged direct injection petrol engine – putting it almost on par with the 210kW/350Nm 3.6-litre V6 in the Commodore SV6.

Chevrolet says the Malibu Turbo sprints from 0-100km/h in 6.3 seconds and has a top speed of 250km/h.

Enhancing the concept’s on-road ability is Chevrolet’s HiPerStrut front suspension and rear spring set-up, six-piston front brake calipers, and a cold-air intake system to help the engine draw in cooler, denser air.

Finished with a Berlin Blue Tricoat exterior paint job, the Malibu Turbo Performance concept sports a bespoke body kit, red front fog light surrounds and red inner exhaust bezels, black-tinted chrome accents, clear tail-light lenses, 20-inch alloy wheels wrapped in Pirelli P-Zero tyres, and unique Turbo badges.

The Jet Black/Navy Blue interior features leather and suede Recaro sports seats with red stitching, a flat-bottomed steering wheel, suede-wrapped gearshift boot and black chrome trim plates.

The Malibu Turbo Performance concept will line up alongside a host of bespoke aftermarket-tuned Chevrolet vehicles at SEMA from October 30.

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jekyl & hyde

looks great.sure the front’s not the vf commodore but?…
Jober As A Sudge

Hopefully they do a better job of tweaking the Malibu than what Walkinshaw did with the Cruze!
- Monk
  
  That Cruze was way too fast. We are lucky the nannies at Walkinshaw slowed it down for us!
Robin_Graves

Malibu TURDbo. Scary to think of a Leganza doing 250km/h
- Aussie and proud
  
  idiot…….where does it say it’s a Leganza……..It’s one of America’s longest running models. At least have something constructive to say or don’t say anything
  - Holdenwoo
    
    Gangnam Style!
  - Jober As A Sudge
    
    “LEGO”
    - Monk
      
      HAHAHA. I get it – you construct with Lego.
  - Robin_Graves
    
    This Malibu is a 2013 Daewoo Leganza with a different badge. Newsflash for you, the only Holden that is remotely Aussie is the Commodore, the rest are Daewoo rubbish.
    - horsie
      
      Robin. how many times do we need to tell you.
      There is no Daweoo or Leganza.
      Daweoo no longer exists, so how can this be a Leganza ?
      - Robin_Graves
        
        All GM did when it bought Daewoo was change the sign out the front and register the company under a different name. We al;l know the crude is a Nubira / Lacetti, the Malibu is a Leganza, the Craptiva a Winstorm and the Barina is a Kalos / Lanos. Anyone who thinks differently has clearly had the GM marketing machine pull the wool over their eyes.
      - Igomi Watabi
        
        yeah, someone is stuck in 2000. Alfa’s rust and Jags have bad electrics too. Ah, bless. Bring me my tea and me ear-trumpet, Marj.
      - http://www.facebook.com/people/Pete-Petrass/1299968544 Pete Petrass
        
        The Ford trolls are out of the box again……..
      - Johnny
        
        GM Daewoo was simply rebranded GM Korea. Its still the same company – Its like British Petroleum changing their name to Beyond Petroleum. Same company different name, purely for marketing purposes. Its not like Daewoo did a SAAB and ceased to exist.
      - Patrick
        
        Geez you are a boring prude aren’t you
    - grumpy
      
      even the commodore isnt all aussie,dosent it have bits from a US buick?
      - Bigjv
        
        The Current VE Commodore was designed on the “Zeta” platform from the ground up, in Australia.
        
        However they used Buick bits that you are talking about back in the 90s with the Buick 3800 engine that they paired with an OPEL Chassis to make the VR Commodore and onwards. The Buick engine was tweaked into the ‘ecotec’ from 1994/5 before being replaced by the GM HFV6 “alloytec” then “SIDI” that they use today…
      - Robin_Graves
        
        The Commodores engines and trans have always been imported tech ever since the demise of the black motor (thank god) and the VN 5.0lt (which were actually pretty good) The best 6 cylinder ever in a Holden was a Nissan RB30 in the VL, its all been down hill ever since.
      - Robin_Graves
        
        The Commodores engines and trans have always been imported tech ever since the demise of the black motor (thank god) and the VN 5.0lt (which were actually pretty good) The best 6 cylinder ever in a Holden was a Nissan RB30 in the VL, its all been down hill ever since.
      - Johnny
        
        The Commodore has always been based on the GM V Platform which started in 1967, which started out as a Opel Commodore A. VE Commodore was the first Australian designed Commodore.
Unidexter Hopping

Man, I hate GM design and quality.
- Aussie and proud
  
  compered to what?
F1orce

The Sonata 2.0t generates 204kW & 365Nm

All on regular gas
- Pro346
  
  Who cares?
- matt
  
  please, stay out of aussie forums… hyundai’s flagship here is the “i45″ with a gutless non turbo engine… WE DONT REALLY GIVE 2 TOSSES ABOUT THEM!
Pro346

Looks great! And being a GM product virtually unlimited aftermarket support unlike Hyundai and kia
Sanjay

Looks a bit busy at the front but otherwise – I likey. Same HiPerStrut front suspension setup as the Opel Astra OPC, and similar power…but in a more usable body. Release it for ~$40k and it’ll be successful.
Zaccy16

Looks a bit cheap but looks about the same size as the commodore!
horsie

can someone at HSV please hire whoever did the design of this body kit.
It may not be brilliant but its a hell of a lot better than the current HSV.
- Golfmother
  
  Daewoo sports division , bogan edition .
http://www.facebook.com/people/Karl-Sass/100000921334936 Karl Sass

At Least it looks good! Lots of VF in there it seems.
Gtr-xu1

The Malibu scrubbed up ok in a sports model,love the front styling.
OOOO

Is it just me or could the Malibu be the new Commodore post 2017?
- http://www.facebook.com/people/Karl-Sass/100000921334936 Karl Sass
  
  Large FWD sedans never sell well here, except maybe the Camry. To replace the Commodore with this would be asking for Mitsu 380ish sales, barely 900 a month.
  - OOOO
    
    True, just look at the history of the Taurus in Aus and the backlash at potentially getting it back.
    You never know what GM may do come 2017.
    If the segment isn’t strong, they might just throw the Malibu here as well, and say. That’ll do ya.
Hugh

Those rear lights or a similar design will be on the next Commodore I reckon.
- OOOO
  
  The next Commodore is being styled to suit north America more than here. Looks like GM has either taken over the styling job or, Holden are just doing as they’re told.