Environment

Chevy Malibu Ecologic Label Sticks with Customers

Mar 4, 2013 12:45 PM ET
Campaign: GM Waste Reduction
Ecologic labels allow Chevrolet customers see environmental features of their car.

GM BeyondNow

If you visit a Chevrolet dealership and ask for the sticker price of a 2013 Chevy Malibu, you’ll be given two costs: the vehicle’s cost and its cost to the environment.

All 2013 Chevy vehicles sold in the U.S. feature EcologicTM window labels listing various environmental features and benefits.

According to consumer research, 63 percent of Malibu customers cite “environmentally friendliness” as an “extremely” or “very important” reason for purchase. That number increases to 78 percent for Malibu Eco buyers.

“We’ve seen an increase in customers looking specifically for fuel efficiency, but many people are intrigued by reading their vehicle also is made in a responsible way,” said Matt LaFontaine, general manager, LaFontaine Automotive Group in Dexter, Mich.

The Chevy Malibu’s environmental credentials are built in at almost every step of production.

  • GM’s landfill-free Toledo, Ohio plant manufactures the highest-volume transmission for the Malibu. All waste from daily operations there is reused, recycled, or converted to energy. And the facility is powered 17 percent by renewable landfill gas and a 1.2MW rooftop solar array.
  • Malibu’s highest-volume engine is produced at GM’s Tonawanda plant in New York, another landfill-free facility. An area Chamber of Commerce recently recognized Tonawanda for implementing and practicing a ‘green’ and sustainable business philosophy.  Environmental efforts include wildlife habitat development and installing electric-vehicle charging stations in employee parking lots.
  • Most Malibu midsize cars are assembled at Fairfax Assembly, a 2012 Pollution Prevention Award-winning plant recognized by the Kansas Department of Health and Environment for energy-reduction and recycling efforts. The facility recycles 91 percent of its everyday waste.

GM also reduces waste while manufacturing the Malibu. Shredded tires from vehicle testing at GM’s Milford Providing Ground are combined with other post-consumer plastics to create baffles that deflect air and water under the hood. Eighty-five percent of the vehicle itself is recyclable, which conserves resources and reduces landfill deposits.