GM mentions possible return of Pontiac via Facebook..

[MAC]

I for one would be ecstatic!, as long as they dont do the whole Pontiac "G" series again. ugh, biggest mistake ever imo.

http://gmauthority.com/forum/discuss...again#Item_115

[Blue17CamaroZL1]

I actually like the G6 and G8. The G3 and G5 were rather dull.

[DaBears]

I'll believe this when i see it. Honestly I dont see a good reason to bring it back. One reason GM went bankrupt was because they had too many stupid brand names. Granted Pontiac was one of the cooler brands.

I simply dont see many good reasons to bring it back and spend capital on it.

[The_Blur]

That looks like a Pontiac enthusiast, not a GM insider. I'd love to see a return of Pontiac as a niche brand, but GM has much bigger fish to fry these days. All the money it would cost to basically restart the business side of things—hiring designers, buying office space, negotiating factory production, etc.—needs to be directed toward GM's existing products. GM needs to produce efficient products and do its best to maintain performance along the way. The years ahead are going to be a battle between efficiency and performance, and I don't see how a performance-oriented brand is going to contribute to GM's business success right now. Even if GM had the buyers to make Pontiac profitable, there's the CAFE score to consider. In other words, a successful, performance niche-oriented Pontiac division is bad for GM because it would cost GM millions in the form of fines, taxes, and other charges.

In order to bring back Pontiac, GM needs to prioritize efficiency. When GM is the go-to manufacturer for small, efficient vehicles, only then can GM consider expanding its boundaries as a performance manufacturer. That means we're probably going to see very few new performance products out of GM in the near future, aside from redesigns and slated engineering changes to existing platforms. Expect to see Camaros and Corvettes in GM's future, not Firebirds, Trans Ams, and GXPs.

[Padre]

So a bunch of posters on an independent (re: not official) GM forum are discussing Pontiac?

Yawn.

Padre (wants a GTO!)

[dgformula2k]

I see the dead horse is back. Where's my club?

[MAC]

It was via "Gm Authority" on Facebook. Yes I realize it may not actually be "Authority" but perhaps they have ties with them enough to pursuade them to bring it back...
don't get me wrong, the G series vehicles were fine, it was the Names of them that i had an issue with.
the G8 is a beast of a car.

[TheCaptain]

Under their title badge it clearly says:
"The Ultimate Independent authority for everything General Motors"

[jcamere94z28]

As much as I like Pontiac.... its seriously not gonna happen. That website is a blog from GM fans. They probably hold no power over anything over at GM. It would be nice but probably not business smart for GM to do.

[ParisTNDude]

That GM didn't sell Pontiac is a disappointment. Roger Penske backed out on buying Saturn, but I bet he would have jumped on the idea of buying Pontiac and, in my opinion, he would have produced a performance car that would beat the competition. I would love to see Pontiac return even though I've never owned one.

[DGthe3]

Originally Posted by MAC

It was via "Gm Authority" on Facebook. Yes I realize it may not actually be "Authority" but perhaps they have ties with them enough to pursuade them to bring it back...
don't get me wrong, the G series vehicles were fine, it was the Names of them that i had an issue with.
the G8 is a beast of a car.

A quick visit over to QuantCast.com tells me that Camaro5 probably has more influence at General Motors than GM Authority does. And as proud as I am with our site, realistically, we have very little influence over GM ... and we're (mainly) only talking about 1 car here.

As for the G-series names, the G6 and G8 had a reason behind them. The G6 was the Grand Am: 6th Generation, while the G8 was the Grand Prix: 8th Generation. The problem was the G3 and G5 which made absolutely no sense and were probably just chosen because there were smaller than the G6.

Originally Posted by ParisTNDude

That GM didn't sell Pontiac is a disappointment. Roger Penske backed out on buying Saturn, but I bet he would have jumped on the idea of buying Pontiac and, in my opinion, he would have produced a performance car that would beat the competition. I would love to see Pontiac return even though I've never owned one.

The problem with selling Pontiac, or Saturn, or Saab, or Hummer is was those brands had little to no engineering or manufacturing resources. So unless you're a big manufacturer with engineers to spare and manufacturing plants being idled, those brands are worthless.

The Penske deal with Saturn fell apart because Nissan/Renault wouldn't commit to providing Penske with cars.

[LimaCharlie]

Highly doubt it.

[JamesNoBrakes]

Originally Posted by DaBears

I'll believe this when i see it. Honestly I dont see a good reason to bring it back. One reason GM went bankrupt was because they had too many stupid brand names. Granted Pontiac was one of the cooler brands.

I simply dont see many good reasons to bring it back and spend capital on it.

Yeah, that would be an awesome way to help reverse all the progress GM has made in the last 5 years!

There seem to be so many people that car about the name more than anything, but when it comes down to dollars, it's never worth it for the company. I liked the last Grand Prix body style, GTO was kinda cool, even if it was all FWD, saw a V8 Bonneville today (not sure what the diff was tho, haha) and even that last body style wasn't too bad compared to the horrible previous one, but at the end of the day these were not great cars and a GM G8 would make me just as happy compared to being called a Pontiac, and if there's no room in the lineup, it's ridiculous to make an entirely different brand for them. In business I'd say it's the exact opposite of what you would want to do, you are trying to find a market for a product, rather than find a product for a market.

[jandaseve]

Could'nt they bring back cars under the GMC name if they really wanted to? i.e. GMC Trans Am, GMC GTO, etc. I know GMC is primarily a truck brand, but they do make "crossover" vehicles. And the El Camino sister car (can't remember the name right now), that's debatable on being a truck or car. I think the El Camino look alike actually had two names, started as one model in the 70s, and changed names in the 80s. But anyway, the reason I ask is the rumored "Chrysler Cuda" comes to mind. If Chrysler can consider re-using old plymouth model names then why can't GM do it with pontiacs or even olds'.