Malibus were generally available in a full range of bodystyles including a four-door sedan, two-door Sport Coupe hardtop, convertible and two-seat station wagon.

For the 1965 model year, Malibus and other Chevelles received new grilles and revised tail sections and had the exhaust pipes replaced but carried over the same basic styling and bodystyles from 1964.

201 of the 1965 Malibu SS cars got Regular Production Option (RPO) Z16, which include a heavily modified chassis and Chevy's new 375 horsepower 396 cubic inch V8.

For the 1967 model year, the same assortment of bodystyles were continued with styling changes similar to all other Chevelles including a new grille and revised tail section with taillights that wrapped around to the side.

A police package Chevelle 300 (pillared 4 door sedan) was available for the 1969 model year which came with the L35 code 396 - it was built in few numbers when the Chrysler Corporation held the market for its law enforcement orders.

In 1971, Malibus and all other Chevelles got a new grille surrounded by single headlamps replacing the duals of previous years, and four round taillights similar to Camaros and Corvettes were located in the bumper.

The Laguna trim package was replaced with the Malibu Classic which used a stacked arrangement of four rectangular headlights and made its way to the dealers in the 1976 model year, offering the Chevrolet built inline six 250 CID as the base engine.

No doubt this design contributed to the number of factory air conditioning units sold with the cars, to the benefit of General Motors and Chevrolet dealers.

For the 1982 model year, the Malibu was facelifted with more squared-off front styling marked by quad headlights with long, thin turn signals beneath them.

In 1981, General Motors of Canada (GMCL) produced a special order of 25,500 four-door Malibu sedans at their Oshawa plant for Saddam Hussein's Iraqi government.

[7] These special-order Malibus carried the unusual combination of GM's lowest-power carbureted V6 engine, the 110 hp (82 kW) 229 cu in (3.8 L) unit and a three-speed manual transmission with floor shifter; air conditioning, heavy duty cooling system, AM/FM cassette deck, front bench seat, 200 km/h speedometer, tough tweed and vinyl upholstery, and 14-inch body-color steel wheels with small hubcaps.

[7] The proffered excuse for the cancellation was dissatisfaction with the cars' quality, notably difficult shifting of the transmission—which GM traced to a clutch release issue that eventually required on-site retrofitting by a crew of Canadian technicians sent to Iraq.

GMCL President Donald Hackworth was initially quoted as stating the company would try to sell the Malibus in other Middle East markets, but in the end the orphaned cars were all sold to the Canadian public at the greatly reduced price of about CA$6,800.

The Malibu Classic was last marketed in 1982; Malibus were produced as four-door sedans and as station wagons until 1983, at which time it was fully replaced by the front-wheel-drive Chevrolet Celebrity.

A new front-wheel drive Malibu was introduced for the 1997 model year on an extended wheelbase version of the GM N platform shared with the Buick Skylark, Oldsmobile Achieva, and Pontiac Grand Am, as a competitor to the Honda Accord and Toyota Camry which were the best sellers in the mid-size market.

The February 2002 issue of HCI: Hot Compact & Imports magazine featured the Chevrolet Malibu Cruiser concept that GM Performance Division built for the SEMA show in 2001.

The sixth generation of the Malibu initially debuted with a front fascia design featuring a wide grille split horizontally by a prominent chrome bar that ran the entire width of the car, shared ultimately cross-brand.

In 2011, the base LS 1LS Malibu gained more standard features, like Bluetooth technology with stereo audio playback capability, a remote USB and iPod/iPhone port, remote start, a security alarm, an upgraded OnStar system, power front driver's seat, chrome hubcap wheel covers, body-colored side mirrors with power adjustments and body-colored accents, a single wood dashboard accent, tinted windows, and a six-speed automatic transmission with overdrive and manual shift capabilities.

[34][35][36] The 2008 Malibu received critical praise from the automotive press, with The New York Times referring to it as being "like a super Accord, but from GM" and Car and Driver magazine declaring, "Camry, Beware."

[37] Car and Driver stated that while it would not be "enough to steal the top-dog sales title from the perennial Honda and Toyota mid-sizers", they noted "for the first time since Chevrolet revived the storied nameplate in 1997, it has enough of what it needs to sell in significant numbers to the public, not just rental fleets".

General Motors recalled 473,841 vehicles involving the Chevrolet Malibu, Pontiac G6 and Saturn Aura from model years 2007 through 2010 equipped with four-speed automatic transmissions.

[45][46] (original test) The 2013 Malibu moved to GM Epsilon II platform and debuted in Asia in late 2011, followed by North America in 2012 for the 2013 model year.

All models, aside from the LS 1LS, were equipped with a large touch-screen display using Chevrolet's MyLink and offering Pandora Internet Radio playback capabilities via a USB cable and an iPhone 4, 4S, or 5.

[citation needed] The European version was offered with a 2.4 L Ecotec engine with an aluminum block and cylinder head, and a 2.0 L Diesel (1,956 cc) VCDi developing 160 PS (120 kW).

Minor changes were made to the center console to deliver a longer armrest said to be more comfortable and a pair of cup holders and mobile-phone bins instead of the previous covered storage area.

[82] To operate the vehicle a parent enables the feature with a PIN in the settings menu of the Malibu's MyLink system, which allows them to register their teen's key fob.

[85][86] A few months ahead of the 2016 model arriving in dealerships, Chevrolet announced that the Malibu had hit a milestone, with more than 10 million sold worldwide since the car was introduced 51 years earlier.

The Malibu Hybrid uses a transmission ("two motor drive unit" in GM terms) similar to the second generation Chevrolet Volt,[83] but a much smaller battery, no plug-in option and a different engine.

[92] Safety features were also improved for the 2019 Malibu including Low Speed Forward Automatic Braking, IntelliBeam high-beam assist headlamps and a semi-automated parking system.

The Fairfax Assembly plant in Kansas City, where the Malibu is built for the North American market, is being retooled to build the Ultium-based second generation Bolt while production of the Cadillac XT4 was planned to end in January 2025.