DETROIT (AP) — The Chevrolet Malibu, the last midsize car made by a Detroit automaker, is heading for the junkyard.
General Motors confirmed Thursday that it will stop making the car introduced in 1964 as the company focuses more on electric vehicles.
The midsize sedan was once the top-selling segment in the U.S., a stalwart of family garages nationwide. But its sales started to decline in the early 2000s as the SUV became more prominent and pickup truck sales grew.
Now the U.S. auto market is dominated by SUVs and trucks. Full-size pickups from Ford, Chevrolet and Ram are the top selling vehicles in America, and the top-selling non pickup is Toyota's RAV4 small SUV.
Last year midsize cars made up only 8% of U.S. new vehicle sales, but it was 22% as recently as 2007, according to Motorintelligence.com. Still, Americans bought 1.3 million of the cars last year in a segment dominated by the Toyota Camry and Honda Accord.
GM sold just over 130,000 Malibus last year, 8.5% fewer than in 2022. Sales rose to nearly 230,000 after a redesign for the 2016 model year, but much of those were at low profits to rental car companies.
But the midsize car segment made a bit of a comeback last year with sales up almost 5%.
GM said it sold over 10 million Malibus, making nine generations since its debut.
GM's factory in Kansas City, Kansas, which now makes the Malibu and the Cadillac XT4 small SUV, will stop making the Malibu in November and the XT4 in January. The plant will get a $390 million retooling to make a new version of the Chevrolet Bolt small electric car.
The plant will begin producing the Bolt and XT4 on the same assembly line in late 2025, giving the plant the flexibility to respond to customer demands, the company said.
The Wall Street Journal reported the demise of the Malibu on Wednesday.
FILE - The 2016 Chevrolet Malibu Hybrid is introduced at the New York International Auto Show, April 1, 2015. The Malibu, the last midsize car made by a Detroit automaker, is heading for the junkyard. General Motors confirmed Thursday, May 9, 2024, that it will stop making the car introduced in 1964 as the company focuses more on electric vehicles. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews, File)
FILE - A 1965 Chevrolet Malibu is displayed at the company's booth during Guangzhou 2013 Auto Show in China's southern city of Guangzhou, Nov. 21, 2013. The Malibu, the last midsize car made by a Detroit automaker, is heading for the junkyard. General Motors confirmed Thursday, May 9, 2024, that it will stop making the car introduced in 1964 as the company focuses more on electric vehicles. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung, File)
FILE - A Chevrolet logo is shown at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit, Sept. 13, 2023. The Chevrolet Malibu, the last midsize car made by a Detroit automaker, is heading for the junkyard. General Motors confirmed Thursday, May 9, 2024, that it will stop making the car introduced in 1964 as the company focuses more on electric vehicles. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya, file)
LONDON (AP) — WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange faced a hearing Monday in the High Court in London that could end with him being sent to the U.S. to face espionage charges, or could provide him another chance to appeal his extradition.
The outcome will depend on how much weight judges give to assurances U.S. officials have provided that Assange’s rights won’t be trampled if he goes on trial.
In March, two judges rejected the bulk of Assange's arguments but said he could take his case to the Court of Appeal unless the U.S. guaranteed he would not face the death penalty if extradited and would have the same free speech protections as a U.S. citizen.
The court said that if Assange, who is an Australian citizen, couldn’t rely on the First Amendment then it was arguable his extradition would be incompatible with the European Convention on Human Rights, which also provides free speech and media protections.
The U.S. has provided those reassurances, though Assange's legal team and supporters argue they are not good enough to rely on to send him to the U.S. federal court system.
The U.S. said Assange could seek to rely on the rights and protections of the First Amendment but that a decision on that would ultimately be up to a judge. In the past, the U.S. said it would argue at trial that Assange is not entitled to the constitutional protection because he is not a U.S. citizen.
“The U.S. has limited itself to blatant weasel words claiming that Julian can ‘seek to raise’ the First Amendment if extradited,” his wife, Stella Assange, said. "The diplomatic note does nothing to relieve our family’s extreme distress about his future — his grim expectation of spending the rest of his life in isolation in U.S. prison for publishing award-winning journalism.”
Assange, 52, has been indicted on 17 espionage charges and one charge of computer misuse over his website’s publication of a trove of classified U.S. documents almost 15 years ago. American prosecutors allege that Assange encouraged and helped U.S. Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning to steal diplomatic cables and military files that WikiLeaks published.
Commuters emerging from a Tube stop near the courthouse couldn’t miss a large sign bearing Assange’s photo and the words, “Publishing is not a crime. War crimes are.” Scores of supporters gathered outside the neo-Gothic Royal Courts of Justice chanting “Free Julian Assange” and “Press freedom, Assange freedom.”
Some held a large white banner aimed at President Joe Biden, exhorting: “Let him go Joe.”
Assange's lawyers say he could face up to 175 years in prison if convicted, though American authorities have said any sentence would likely be much shorter.
Assange’s family and supporters say his physical and mental health have suffered during more than a decade of legal battles, which includes seven years spent inside the Ecuadorian Embassy in London from 2012 until 2019. He has spent the past five years in a British high-security prison.
Assange’s lawyers argued in February that he was a journalist who exposed U.S. military wrongdoing in Iraq and Afghanistan. Sending him to the U.S., they said, would expose him to a politically motivated prosecution and risk a “flagrant denial of justice.”
The U.S. government says Assange's actions went way beyond those of a journalist gathering information, amounting to an attempt to solicit, steal and indiscriminately publish classified government documents.
If Assange prevails Monday, it would set the stage for an appeal process likely to extend what has already been a long legal saga.
If the court accepts the word of the U.S., it would mark the end of Assange’s legal challenges in the U.K., though it’s unclear what would immediately follow.
His legal team is prepared to ask the European Court of Human Rights to intervene. But his supporters fear Assange could be transferred before the court in Strasbourg, France, could halt his removal.
Judges Victoria Sharp and Jeremy Johnson may also postpone issuing a decision.
If Assange loses in court, he still may have another shot at freedom.
Biden said last month that he was considering a request from Australia to drop the case and let Assange return to his home country.
Officials provided no other details but Stella Assange said it was “a good sign” and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the comment was encouraging.
FILE - WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange being taken from court, where he appeared on charges of jumping British bail seven years ago, in London, Wednesday May 1, 2019. Assange faces what could be his final court hearing in England over whether he should be extradited to the United States to face spying charges. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham, File)
London court to decide whether WikiLeaks founder Assange is extradited to the US
London court to decide whether WikiLeaks founder Assange is extradited to the US
