| All along General Motors (maker of GMC air filter) | | | | has woken up to who its competition is." |
| has been preparing its redesigned Chevrolet Malibu | | | | Aside from Honda and General Motors other |
| to compete with Toyota's Camry, believing that | | | | automakers are also improving their entries in the |
| it's the toughest competitor to beat in the family | | | | family sedan market such as Ford Motor Co. that |
| sedan market. But another competitor has | | | | boost the horsepower and changed the names of |
| emerged and has made its debut just last | | | | its entries Five Hundred and Montego to Taurus |
| Tuesday---the Honda Accord. | | | | and Sable. Ford believes that the change in names |
| A redesigned Honda Accord was unveiled in Novi | | | | would boost sales. |
| Michigan, marking the start of a really intense | | | | Chrysler and Nissan have also redesigned their |
| battle royale in the family sedan market. The | | | | Sebring and Altima sedans in dealerships since |
| eighth generation Accord is scheduled to hit | | | | November as 2007 models. General Motors' |
| dealerships next month. The prices are not yet | | | | Saturn division since last August of last year has |
| announced but expected to fall between $20,000 | | | | started selling a new midsize sedan, the Aura |
| and $30,000. | | | | which replaces the L-Series. |
| On the other hand, GM will release its redesigned | | | | The family sedan market is very important to |
| Malibu in early November. The company however, | | | | automakers and accounted for about one in five |
| has not yet made any statement regarding the | | | | of 16.5 million new vehicles sold annually. Industry |
| price. | | | | analyst David Healy of Burnham Securities is |
| The 2008 Accord is available in coupe and sedan | | | | however, seeing a stagnant sedan market for the |
| form with four or six cylinder engines and with | | | | coming 2008, and sees growth only somewhere |
| manual or automatic transmissions. According to | | | | else. He said, "I think the growth area is going to |
| Honda, the 2008 Accord sedan has gained 3 | | | | be crossover SUVs and maybe even full size |
| inches and given an additional 3.3 cubic feet of | | | | pickups, and SUVs might make a small recovery." |
| space which qualifies it more as a large rather | | | | General Manager Richard Lang at Nardy Honda in |
| than a midsize sedan under the federal guidelines. | | | | St. James says that the Accord is his bestselling |
| Meanwhile the new Malibu is still part of GM's | | | | model and ever since that price of gasoline have |
| effort to gain back the market share lost to | | | | increased more and more buyers have chosen to |
| Japanese competitors. The new 2008 Malibu was | | | | purchase four-cylinder variants. |
| also increased in length by 3 inches and will be | | | | Honda has been able to sell more than 354,000 |
| offered with four or six cylinder engines, delivering | | | | Accord sedans and coupes last year making it the |
| 164hp and 252hp. Fuel consumption is 31miles per | | | | second best selling car after Toyota Camry with |
| gallon and 26 mpg respectively. | | | | 448,000 units sold. GM on the other hand was |
| Local dealers are also expecting the new Malibu to | | | | able to sell 163,800 Malibus and 289,000 Impalas |
| outperform its predecessor. Mark Calisi, owner of | | | | last year. |
| Eagle Chevrolet in Riverhead said, "General Motors | | | | |