SLP promises new performance package for 2009 G8

2009 G8 Firehawk- SLP Engineering

Posted September 28 2008 10:08 AM by HPPCHRIS
Filed under: Pontiac News, Chris Phillip

SLP is quickly preparing the 2009 G8 Firehawk to take the place of its popular 1992-2002 Formula Firebird package, also called the Firehawk.

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Stay tuned to highperformancepontiac.com for more details.

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Reader Comments:

1. SLP has enraged all its former customers by badging these cars with the once sacred Firehawk name. Check out this thread to see the true response SLP is recieving on this name bastoridization:
http://www.ls1tech.com/forums/showthread.php?t=989909

97ramsst - Posted September 29 2008 07:36 PM

2. Fantastic Idea. Horrible name. There's no reason to carry over an expired Firebird nameplate. give this G8 it's own name.

Blackened2k - Posted September 29 2008 07:51 PM

3. Let the Firehawk name go out with the Firebird, please.

ehatcher - Posted September 29 2008 08:37 PM

4. This is one of the worst ideas SLP has had. My family for years has owned many firebirds and to take and tarnish the firehawk name and the association with the firebird makes this an EPIC FAIL. SLP is going down the drain.

joshiedoom - Posted September 29 2008 10:20 PM

5. This looks like a very promising product, and bodes even better for future products for the 5th gen Camaro.

as far as the above comments, 97ramsst and a small subset of Firebird owners have made it a personal vendetta to smear SLP because they dont like SLP reusing the Firehawk name. Ignore their comments. These are people who have no idea what they are talking about.

Firehawk295 - Posted September 30 2008 05:04 AM

6. In my opinion, it's just the wrong thing to do. The name had heritage, now it'll be tarnished. There is an overwhelming negative publicity over this naming. Something new should have been developed rather than going back to an old name. It may be a nice upfit vehicle, but without the support of the buying public, it may not work out. Disappointing to say the least.

10thPontiacFan - Posted September 30 2008 06:29 AM

7. A small subset...please. The VAST majority of current Firehawk owners and the majority of F-Body owners feel the way I do. There has been nothing but negativity toward using the "Firehawk" name on this car on every single measage board on the internet. Only a very few people that could care less about the history of the name or people that are SLP Koolaid drinkers (and would have been fine with the name on Aztek if SLP slapped it on there) have been positive about this idea.
Its not the fact that SLP is modding the G8 that bothers people, its the use of the name "FIREHAWK" on it.

Please follow the link above and see if I am part of a small subset or part of the majority.

97ramsst - Posted September 30 2008 06:33 AM

8. Small subset?!? Are you joking?!?

Other than a couple knut-swengers for SLP, there have been thousands of people saying that the name just doesn't fit with the G8-sedan.

It's not a personal vendetta at all.
It has literally been an outcry of support to request a name-change. Some people just feel so offended or strongly about the situation that it makes them want to voice an opinion or statement to get the point across. When you want to make a point, do you just whisper in someone's ear & walk away? Heck no! If you are passionate about it, you scream it everywhere, over & over!
Which is what is happening on all the enthusiast forums around the web the last couple weeks. Dodge, SRT, Mustang, Honda, & all ther other type forums are in agreement.
Can anyone share any a facts where it shows that there is a majority vote for the name as fitting in the application here?

10thPontiacFan - Posted September 30 2008 08:54 AM

9. I applaud the idea of building a high performance G8. The car is already excellent, can't wait to see the performance results. The "Firehawk" name does not help my decision to buy the car though, it doesn't seem to fit the car at all.

ArrowFanatic - Posted September 30 2008 12:16 PM

10. i can't beleive they are doing this. WORST IDEA EVER

strokerblackhawk - Posted September 30 2008 12:20 PM

11. I HOPE SLP DOES UNDER BECAUSE OF THIS CRAP. I FOR ONE WILL BE BOYCOTTING SLP AS ONE OF THERE LONGEST LOYAL CUTOMERS NO MORE.

strokerblackhawk - Posted September 30 2008 12:22 PM

12. I like the idea of the G8, But hate the idea of SLP butchering the Firehawk name, They should be able to come up with something more original!!

cheetoh4 - Posted October 1 2008 07:09 PM

13. I give SLP credit, that they are trying to bring back something more bold back to sports car design and performance, but they are working with an inadequate canvas in the G8. Yes, it has power, but not the right look. I just do not get how GM and SLP can take a 4-door, boxey family sedan and slap a bunch of jazz on it, with tasteless wings, scoopes, and stickers and call it a "sports car." Let alone a "Firehawk!" GM got it right with the bold, unique, styling of the Fourth Gen F-bodies, and then they took it away.
Slapping a name like "Firehawk" on it just degrades the G8 more. It's looks like SLP is trying to steal from a legend of a name, in the Firebird Firehawk, just to give us the impression that the G8 is a mean, bold and sporty design. True, not many people know what a "Firehawk" truly is, and that it was a Firebird original. But by calling a G8 a "Firehawk" which has absolutely no correlation to the G8 name, all you are doing is pissing off the very best potential customers you may have in buying a performance Pontiac G8. Maybe it is desparation by SLP and Pontiac, or the greed of a few execs trying to make a quick buck by degrading and insulting the very customers that put them on the map. But please, give us an American Muscle car design that we all can be proud of again! Something bold, modern, powerful and trend setting in styling. Then we'll buy it. Till then, if you can't get the styling right, find someone with better marketing skills who can think of a more fitting name for your G8. You have to sell your poor GM/SLP design somehow, and the name "Firehawk" isn't enough to do that! Maybe we can help them out...
How about the SLP G8 "Gambler" Now that has a better ring to it. When you pull up next to a G8 at a red light... will that Mustang want to take the Gamble? Hell, you could even get Kenny Rodgers to sing in the commercial! Start a new legend, don't steal from the current one!

shippershack - Posted October 2 2008 06:02 PM

14. good idea, bad name. just does not fit the car

02HAWK_195 - Posted October 3 2008 02:35 PM

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