The all-new 2013 Chevrolet Malibu is such a well-engineered car. GM didn’t just designed it on the simulators, they actually got on the road and tested it to destruction, hence the million mile record.
The Malibu just racked up one million development test miles accumulated in about 22 months on six continents. They went to this enormous length to make sure the car’s overall ride and handling, comfort, quality and durability is up to the highest qualities.
That’s the thing about on-road development. You come across problems that just don’t appear on computers and you can tweak the car further.
And they went around the globe for the tests because the new Malibu will be sold in nearly 100 countries on six continents, making it Chevrolet’s first global midsize sedan. The million test miles were accumulated since the first quarter of 2010 on a fleet of about 170 pre-production vehicles, driven for a cumulative average of more than 45,450 miles every month. That’s the equivalent of:
- 66.66 years of driving a car 15,000 miles annually
- 201 round-trips between New York City and Los Angeles
- Two trips to the moon and back.
“You learn a lot about a car when you spend so much time in it – and that’s exactly the point,” said Mark Moussa, global chief engineer. “In the last year and a half, during every minute of the day, a 2013 Malibu has been driving somewhere around the world – all to make it the best car it can be.”