The Financial Times is calling the 2008 Chevrolet Malibu GM’s “last-chance saloon.” Where have I seen this headline before? Oh, yeah, pretty much every time one of the domestic automakers has launched a major new sedan in the last quarter-century.

But the reality is that no one product is going to make or break the manufacturer. The company’s situation might improve or worsen, at times considerably, but no single product will put a vehicle manufacturer securely back on top or plunge it into bankruptcy. These companies never take that level of risk with new products, for the simple reason that no one in charge is truly willing to bet a decades-old, multi-billion-dollar company on a single new product. Because they’re sane.

And so what we have actually witnessed has been a long, slow, somewhat controlled retreat, with the manufacturers managing to remain solvent, if just barely. So why the dramatic language in the press? Because long, slow reteats, while tragic, don’t make for gripping headlines. “Make or break” products do.