2012年上半年最不受欢迎汽车

    今年五月份，美国在线的汽车博客Autoblog也批评了这款轿车，因为在研究了它的价格、油耗和竞争情况后，对比结果实在是不乐观。评测师杰夫•萨巴蒂尼写道：“记住，我们喜欢Malibu。我们也在说服自己推荐它。即便如此，我们要推荐的也不是Malibu Eco。因为哪怕我们喜欢Malibu Eco，我们也实在看不出这款轿车的卖点在哪里，比竞争对手强在哪里——甚至比其它雪佛兰的车型强在哪里。”

    资深汽车评测师伊斯拉•代尔上周日在《纽约时报》（New York Times）上耐心地解释了Malibu Eco的设计缺陷。他指出，Malibu Eco的轴距缩短“可能与国际样式的全球化因素有关”。他还谈到了通用研发轻度混合动力系统背后的企业战略思想。他表示，通用是想既具备完全混合动力轿车的所有优点，又不过分增加车子的成本和复杂性。代尔还安慰了读者一番，表示尽管通用将于今年年底推出改款Malibu，但“我不认为我会喜欢其它的Malibu车型。”

    最后，代尔总结道，通用犯了一个常见的错误，它想通过一种解决方案搞定两个不同的问题。这不禁让人想起通用之前也曾搞过这么一出。为了把多功能乘用车MPV的便利性和SUV的吸引力结合在一起，通用推出了一款非常失败的名叫庞蒂克-阿兹特克（Pontiac Aztek）的车型。这一次通用想把完全混合动力和传统汽油引擎的优点结合在一起，结果却是哪一样都没有做好。Malibu Eco既缺乏前者的燃油经济性，又缺乏后者的效率和价值。

    与其它轿车相比——甚至是与雪佛兰旗下的其它车型相比，Malibu Eco的缺点都很明显。它的城市油耗为每加仑25英里，高速公路油耗为每加仑37英里，远远比不上价格相近的凯美瑞混动版。后者的城市油耗为每加仑40英里，高速公路油耗为每加仑38英里。它也比不上雪佛兰的涡轮增压版科鲁兹（Cruze）。科鲁兹车身更小，售价也更便宜（底价19,680美元），而且它的后备箱体积更大，油耗也更加经济（城市每加仑28英里，高速公路每加仑42英里）。通用给Malibu Eco打上了“更聪明、更智能”的标签。雪佛兰的一位发言人对我表示：“像最近推出的其它雪佛兰车型一样，Malibu在中型车市场很有竞争力，而且随着2.5L发动机和涡轮增压发动机即将在今年晚些时候加入，它还会变得更有竞争力。”

    独立观察人士显然不同意他的看法。丰田早在20多年前就开始探索充分混合动力的普锐斯（Prius），20多年来从没有摇摆过。相比之下，通用的态度常常摇摆不定，先是大搞电动汽车，然后又搞起了混合动力，然后又开始搞电动汽车。而通用的最新成果Malibu Eco从主要的量化标准上来看得分都很低，因此通用已经在无意间把Eco打造成了2012年上半年最不受欢迎的汽车。

    译者：朴成奎

    In May, AOL's Autoblog reluctantly panned the car, because after looking at its price, mileage, and the competition, it just couldn't make the numbers work. "Remember, we like the Malibu," reviewer Jeff Sabatini wrote. "We're trying to talk ourselves into recommending one. And we just might -- but it won't be the Eco. Because even though we enjoyed the Malibu Eco, we still can't see how the car makes sense, vis-à-vis the competition -- or even compared to other Chevys."

    The topper came in the featured review in Sunday's New York Times July 8th. Veteran reviewer Ezra Dyer took pains to explain away the Eco's design shortcomings: The shorter wheelbase -- "may be related to international-type globalization factors" -- as well as more cosmic questions about the corporate thinking behind the mild hybrid, attributing to a effort to provide all the benefits of a full hybrid without the cost and complexity. Dyer even offered a note of consolation, writing that "I suspect that I'll enjoy the other Malibus" when they are launched later in the year.

    In the end, Dyer concluded that GM has committed a familiar mistake: trying to find one solution to two different problems. It brings back memories of the merger of minivan convenience with sport utility appeal that resulted in -- dare I say it -- the Pontiac Aztek. In trying to combine the benefits of a full hybrid and a conventional gasoline-powered engine, the automaker came up with neither. The car lacks the fuel economy of the former and the efficiency and value of the latter.

    When compared with other cars -- even other Chevys -- Eco's shortcomings are stark. With a fuel economy rating of just 25 miles per gallon city/37 highway, the Eco can't lay a glove on the similarly-priced Camry hybrid, which is rated at 40 mpg city/38 highway. It also comes up short compared with Chevy's turbocharged Cruze. The smaller, less expensive (base price: $19,680) Cruze has a larger trunk and also gets better mileage: 28 mpg city/42 highway. "A smarter, more intelligent drive" is how GM bills the Eco. "Like other recent Chevrolets, the Malibu is competitive in its segment and will become increasingly competitive with the addition of the 2.5 liter engine and turbo engine later this year," a Chevrolet spokesman told me.

    Independent observers clearly disagree. Unlike Toyota, which pioneered the full hybrid Prius more than 20 years ago and never wavered, GM has vacillated -- swerving from EVs to hybrids and back again. With its latest effort coming up short by key quantitative standards, the automaker has inadvertently created in the Eco the most disliked car from the first half of 2012.