Bailout blow-out car deals

Check out the Chevrolet Malibu on AOL Autos

"Detroit just doesn't know how to build cars Americans want to buy," is a charge that's been lobbed around a lot the past few weeks. The new Chevrolet Malibu is evidence that, while they may not have done it often enough up to now, Detroit does, in fact, know how.

It's a sign of the desperate times that incentives like these have spread to not only a car that's as good and as popular as the Malibu, but to the just-getting-going 2009 model year version.

One of the reasons discounts are so big on domestic cars right now is that many companies feel compelled to entice buyers. This is necessary because car buyers fear the companies could actually go bankrupt, seriously damaging the resale value of their cars. That risk is part of what's reflected in the extra-low prices domestic products are fetching right now.

NEXT: 2009 Ford Focus