2013 Chevrolet Malibu to Showcase a Superior Interior

In talking about Chevrolet's approach to developing the cabin of the all-new Malibu, Crystal Wyndham—director of interior design for the vehicle—emphasized how important it was to exceed customer expectations and deliver what she called "obtainable luxury." And while we won't find out about the next-gen Malibu's obtainability until Chevy releases pricing information later this year, it's now clear that the brand has the "luxury" part of the equation covered.

That's the key takeaway from a recent Chevrolet press event held at GM's Milford (Mich.) Proving Ground, where a number of media types gathered to get the inside story on the 2013 Malibu's truly impressive new interior.

2013 Chevrolet Malibu: New Kind of Expression

The completely redesigned Malibu does have some fairly large tire tracks to fill, too. After all, the current-generation Malibu was named North American Car of the Year when it debuted, and it has continued to leverage a sleek and sophisticated design to find plenty of customers in the U.S. market. The new model isn't quite revolutionary, but it is much more expressive, both inside and out, featuring exactly the kind of attention to detail that one would normally see on much more premium vehicles.

2013 Chevrolet Malibu: Tipping The Interior

For example, Chevy uses a process called "tipping" to add extra color to the top surface of Malibu's textured interior accents to create an appearance of added depth for a more premium look. It's the kind of detailing usually found only on higher-priced vehicles, but it pays off in the Malibu, where it helps materials look more natural and inviting, with a sharp two-tone effect. This attention to detail is also evident in the way the trim piping matches the color of the Malibu's ambient lighting and the unique "vent-style" design cue that separates the glove compartment from the dash on the passenger side of the cabin. That, along with Chevy's use of high-quality, metallic-painted molded plastic to accent the center stack and front console, represent notable design innovations that aren't found on many mainstream vehicles, which still seem to rely overly much on the same old shapes and textures. The molded plastic deserves special attention, because it's a good example of how an automaker can take a material usually derided as a cue for cheapness and give it a surprisingly upscale execution—that also happens to be very hard to pick up in the photos. Another excellent example of attention to detail: Chevrolet designers even have updated the grain patterns in the new Malibu's wood trim for a more "modern" design.

2013 Chevrolet Malibu: More Room

Notable as well is the way designers maintained Chevy's classic "dual cockpit" layout while increasing customers' perceptions of spaciousness. Of course, it also helps that the increased room is no mere perception. Because the 2013 Malibu sits on a wider track, there actually is more room for occupants: Front/rear shoulder room increases by 1.5/3.5 inches as compared to the current Malibu, while hip room grows by 2.7 inches in the front and 2.8 inches in the rear. The additional room also allows for ergonomic improvements to the center stack, where control knobs are about 15 percent larger and all fonts/symbols are specifically designed for enhanced readability by "older" drivers.

2013 Chevrolet Malibu: MyLink

But at the same time, the number of controls and buttons has been reduced to make operating the vehicle systems easier and more intuitive. And this thinking went into the design of another highlight of the Malibu's interior: The Chevy MyLink system and its seven-inch full-color touchscreen interface. This is essentially Chevrolet's answer to Ford SYNC, providing voice control over certain vehicle functions, but the Bow-tie team brought a whole different mindset to bear on its system. Chevy modeled both the look and functionality of MyLink on the same template used by today's smart phones, which means the touchscreen displays a simple, customizable, eight-icon homepage as its MyLink starting point, and the system provides voice-activated control solely over the Malibu's connectivity, phone and audio functions—the same kind of functionalities many people are already used to dealing with on their smart phones. The flip side of this is that Chevrolet engineers made it clear they think extending voice control to climate and other vehicle systems adds a layer of complexity that owners don't need and don't want.

As far as exactly what MyLink brings to the party, it's most of the usual stuff: Bluetooth compatibility, wireless audio streaming, access to Pandora and Stitcher Radio, Gracenote for metadata and enhanced voice recognition, and, naturally, OnStar integration in vehicles with that service. Significantly, MyLink will be simple to update and standard on all but the base models of the 2013 Malibu. Oh, and it has one particularly cool industry first: Behind that seven-inch touch-screen is a small storage space, one of many throughout the Malibu's interior.

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Then, making it that much more enjoyable to listen to the Malibu's MyLink-enhanced audio, there is the effort Chevy engineers made to keep out unwanted road noise. The current Malibu was benchmarked to be as quiet as an Infiniti G37, and Chevrolet aims to surpass that achievement with the new model. Thus, the 2013 car boasts an isolated engine cradle, an acoustically laminated windshield and front glass, 16 expanding-foam acoustic baffles, specially shaped exterior mirrors, triple-sealed doors, a noise baffle barrier in the trunk and fully sealed, acoustic perimeter water deflectors in all four doors. Final figures are not yet available, but thanks to noise-reduction solutions like these, the 2013 Malibu is expected to have the lowest levels of wind noise in its segment.

2013 Chevrolet Malibu: Seat Labs

And it just may have the highest levels of seat comfort, courtesy of the GM Seat Lab. Bottoms may not always be top of mind for customers, but they are here, so engineers use sophisticated tools to take care of them. Resources include state-of-the-art pressure-mapping technology that relies on data from more than 4,600 individual points to create a detailed, graphic representation of how occupants sit in a car seat. Further, this extensive design work isn't limited to the Malibu's driver's seat—it's used to create optimum accommodations at all five seating positions.

Wrapped in equally striking sheet metal—and featuring an available eAssist powertrain capable of 26 mpg city/38 mpg highway—the 2013 Chevrolet Malibu will go on sale early next year.