GM Tapping 40 Years Of Drive Data To Make 2016 Malibu Most Dependable Ever: Video

When General Motors Company [NYSE:GM] launched its redesigned Malibu in 2008, it garnered immediate critical praise, proving that GM hadn't entirely ceded the mid-size market to Honda and Toyota. The seventh-generation car was a major victory for then GM vice chairman Bob Lutz, and would go on to win the coveted North American Car of the Year award.

No longer was the Malibu just a denizen of the airport rental lots.

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But while current models have continued to earn top marks from JD Power, sales have been slow, and the hasty refresh seen last year hasn't made the bottom-line impact the company was hoping for. Spy shots of the model GM is set to debut at the 2015 New York Auto Show next month—based on the “E2XX, " a highly modified version of the current Epsilon II platform—show a significantly sleeker car, which we've favorably compared to Audi's dead-sexy A7. Though the 2016 Malibu will be 300 pounds lighter than the current car, it will be slightly larger, in a bid to address complaints about the lack of legroom which have dogged the Malibu since 2008. As far as we know, there are no significant updates to the powertrain.