The traditional family sedan has faced dwindling sales over the past several years, mainly due to the increased popularity of crossovers. The Ford Fusion, Chevrolet Impala, and Buick LaCrosse are all victims and it appears yet another long-running American family sedan will soon be added to that list. GM Authority claims it has the inside word that the Chevrolet Malibu will be discontinued after the 2023 model year.

The Malibu Hybrid was already dropped from the lineup at the end of 2019. Aside from the Malibu, the only other sedan Chevy sells is the subcompact Sonic sedan, also sold as a hatchback. Its future is also in question so it's entirely possible Chevy could be finished with sedans outright in the very near future. There is, of course, a chance an all-electric sedan will debut as part of the brand's upcoming swarm of new all-electric vehicles, most of which will share a common platform. For now, no such announcement has been made.

The Chevy Malibu, currently in its ninth-generation, was refreshed just last year but sales have been disappointing. A total of 131,917 units were sold in the US last year. That may sound like a lot but this was a 42 percent decrease compared to 2018. This factor alone did not entirely determine the Malibu's fate, but rather the coronavirus pandemic. The automaker's original plan was to keep the Malibu in the lineup until 2025 following a 2023 refresh.

A recent report claiming GM intends to further streamline its product lineup throughout also hinted at certain vehicles being dropped, though the Malibu wasn't named outright. Still though, the decision to end the Malibu's long run a couple of model years early now makes sense given the increased economic uncertainty and the need to shift funds elsewhere.

While Detroit's automakers are abandoning the family sedan segment they dominated for decades, their Asian rivals continue to remain committed despite also experiencing decreased sales. Both the Honda Accord and Toyota Camry dropped in sales by 8 percent and nearly 2 percent, respectively from 2018 to 2019. The ongoing pandemic isn't helping matters in 2020, though both brands are convinced not all customers want crossovers for a variety of reasons.

With Detroit likely to soon be out of the sedan picture completely, Asian brands see opportunity.

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