WILL PONTIAC PERSEVERE?

Posted February 4 2009 06:51 AM by HPP_EDITOR
Filed under: Editorials, Tom DeMauro

Though the bigger question is will GM survive this economic meltdown, Pontiac has been on the bubble since the whole thing started.

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Though GM may have learned some lessons from the difficulties it endured with retiring Oldsmobile, it still doesn’t mean that its divisions will survive the current crisis.

As more Pontiac models disappear, the outlook dims. Though many of you believe that if Pontiac just started to build Firebirds and GTOs again it would surely survive, it doesn’t appear that those avenues will be fully explored at this point. Are the G8 GTs and GXPs and the Solstice GXP the last of the High Performance Pontiacs? What’s your opinion?

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Reader Comments:

1. Pontiac died in 2002 when they started to kill off the Firebird,Bonneville,Grasnd Am ect,and started coming up with the "G" whiz machines. They even screwed up the solstice by not giving it a V-8. Lutz and his staff,as usual, blew it by trying to compete with BMW. Everyone knows the yuppie snobs that buy beamers are not going to buy Ponchos its a status thing to them you see. Unless they make a drastic change back to "THE PERFORMANCE ONE",which is not going to happen, nothing can save them. Who the heck EVER thought a 4-door was a performance car. Pontiac is dead,long live Pontiac!!!

creepyracing - Posted February 6 2009 01:27 AM

2. I would hope that Pontiac has some tricks up their sleeves. The new GTO they came out with had a decent powerplant but lacked ANY styling related to the goats that started it all. I was ashamed to see that thing wearing the bagde...just call it a holden and dont waste our time. When I was in my late teens I'd have slaved for a trans am, but now I can get a coupe...and only a coupe?? What is going on??? Plus the pricetags are getting outrageous. Are we really going to pay upwards of 40K and then fill the thing with $2 to $3/gal of gas. I guess it all depends...who still wants to go fast...but how deep are your pockets. Get with it GM...i'd buy a GTO with a single star crash rating if it was a true goat,affordable, and had some go.

sharkbait - Posted February 7 2009 05:01 PM

3. As current owner of 4 Pontiacs (1970 Formula 400, 1991 WS6 TA convertible, 1999 WS6 Formula, 2008 Vibe), I am sorry to say that I see the writing on the wall and the demise of the brand that I have been driving since the 60's. There is plenty of blame to go around including Lutz & co, but I also blame the US govt and the American public.

IMO, GM is currently making vehicles second to none and has been doing so for some time now. My '99 Formie runs like a scalded dog, has never had a service problem, and gets great fuel economy (28mpg highway) for a car that can turn a 13 second quarter mile. My '05 Duramax outpulls all of the foreign trucks and still gets better economy (18 mpg city and 22 mpg highway, ok less when pulling my 9,000 pound big box, but show me a tundra that can pull my big box and still get 14 mpg.)

My '08 Vibe has averaged a combined city/highway 31.5 mpg for the last 13 months/36k miles (every mile ever driven, every gallon of gas ever burned, all charted on a spreadsheet). And no service problems ever. OK, you say that my Vibe is a toyota/pontiac co-venture, yes I agree, it is, but if that is what it takes to survive, I will deal with it.

Getting back to my earlier point about blaming Lutz, the US govt, and the American public.

Lutz: the marketing effort should have been much more aggressive on the GM car quality and fuel economy talking points of existing models. It came too late on the (GM) Chevy Malibu, another great car for the money with style, economy, safety, and reliability.

US Govt: we all know that the foreign nameplates have been dumping their models over here, while our models have been taxed over there to the point where they are unaffordable. The US govt needs to level the playing field or we will all be driving hondas and toyotas. Even if the h&t's are made here, all the profits go over there! I say tax onto them as they tax onto U.S.

American public: wake up and smell the quality, reliability, and fuel economy. The argument about poor quality is no longer valid, at least not from my perspective after driving my '99 Firebird, 2000 Malibu, 2005 Duramax Crew, and 2008 Vibe. No service problems, no failures, no breakdowns, no problems, no bull. Good economy, good ride, good experiences.

If I really thought the GXP or Solstice had Pontiac excitement for me, maybe I would have sold or traded one of my Birds for one of them, but alas, they did nothing for me. I did look at the G8, but it also did nothing for me. And the GTO, another Lutzism.

I had a talk with my local Pontiac dealer about 3 years ago and suggested that Pontiac build a 2800# 2 door AWD V8 Turbo Retro coupe and convertible with ABS, AC, PW, cross drilled rotors, stabilitrac, leather, etc. for about $35-40k. He said it would never happen. He was right! Too bad, I would have been customer #1 in line.

Black_Bird_99 - Posted February 17 2009 10:50 PM

4. Mr. black_bird_99.. Some good points I agree, except for a couple.. Sorry it was ignorance, lack of marketing and dealership knowledge that didnt let the GTO soar like it should(I own three pontiacs 1967 and 2004 GTOs twin turbo 6spd, 2001 WS6 convertable head and cam pkg 6spd, also a 2005 CTS_V 6spd SC, 2006 Denali, 2008 CTS) and my GTO is always the best looking thing on the road and always 1 of the fastest, its a 200mph plus car my bird can't do that.. and my GTO hands down in every aspect(stock to stock)handed my ws6 its ***
But I agree force toyota and all *** imports to be subject to GM's UAW problems and yes please tax the hell out of them so maybe americans will final be forced to really look at a better car(s) OUR OWN!

*** YOU DO KNOW IN 2008 TOYOTA LAYED OFF MORE U.S. WORKERS THEN GM/FORD/CHRYSLER COMBINED! WTF!

thegreatone - Posted February 19 2009 06:39 PM

5. We AMERICANS can compete with anyone on this earth, If you don't make us play uphill while at the same time sell ourselves and our families down the road!!!

flourman - Posted March 6 2009 04:04 PM

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