Gm needs to bring back the pontiac line

[Thrillz]

Anyone else feel the decision to drop pontiac now with cars that actually would fit the excitement idea was a brain fart. I would have loved to be in the room when they said ya we have the G8 the best pontiac ever and the trans am based off the 2010 camaro lets kill the line now.






If you build it they will come. If all future pontiacs are as good as these rides this would be a solid money making line.

[bmwdon]

firebird!?!?? ddaaaaammnnnnn!!!! I wish

[AlSuwaidi]

nice.. but would be pure canibilzation... it would hurt camaro sales .. and increase costs

[Buhmblbe]

I've had an 84 Trans Am and a 2002 Grand Prix GTP and a 96 Camaro in the past and while all were great cars, the unfortunate fact is that GM can't afford to create conflict and competition within its own brand right now. It just wouldn't be a good business decision right now imo. That said...I'm sure as hek glad we have our camaros back on the road now.

[FenwickHockey65]

There was no Firebird in development alongside the Camaro. What you posted is an aftermarket job.

Pontiac only had two decent cars at the end: G8 and Solstice. G8 was sold under the wrong division from the start, had it been badged a Chevy, it would have received much more brand exposure, advertising dollars, and probably would have seen increased sales. GM lost money with every Solstice built.

Plus, Pontiac had no overseas exposure outside North America. Couple that with the fact that a crapload of G6s and G5s were going to fleet, GM had good reason to kill Pontiac.

[DGthe3]

Originally Posted by Thrillz

Anyone else feel the decision to drop pontiac now with cars that actually would fit the excitement idea was a brain fart. I would have loved to be in the room when they said ya we have the G8 the best pontiac ever and the trans am based off the 2010 camaro lets kill the line now.

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If you build it they will come. If all future pontiacs are as good as these rides this would be a solid money making line.

Here is the problem, it takes more than 1 model to make a brand, and the majority of Pontiacs were not G8's or Solstices. They were mainly G5's and G6's. And of course you had the recently introduced G3 Wave (aka rebadged Aveo). I can't come up with a good reason to buy a G3 or a G5, their price point forced them to be nearly identical to their Chevy counterparts, from styling to features to price. They were the same except for some very minor changes. This practice is stupid, and GM was right to end it. BUT they couldn't differentiate the cars more like they do with more expensive models because nobody would pay for the extra cost involved. So, stop the practice and Pontiac becomes a very small niche brand with only a few models. And those models will steal sales from the other core brands.

Lets use the Firebrid and the Camaro as examples here. It looks like the Camaro is set to hit about 130k for 2010 MY (from here on out I'm just guestimating the numbers). So say there was a Firebird that sold ... 30k units a year. How many people are out there who would buy a Firebrid but never a Camaro? Certainly not all 30k buyers. Maybe 1/3 of them? So that would make for 140k sales total. Spending a hundred million dollars (by a company with serious financial problems) on tooling and testing for 10k more sales per year doesn't sound like a good business plan to me, unless they can sell those cars for $10k more a piece, which they can't since its a Pontiac. Buick or Cadillac? Maybe (I wish for GM to make a Camaro based Grand National/GNX someday).

[ron10]

hate to see any line of american car disappear.would love to see pontiac back in business.

[1bad65]

Originally Posted by ron10

hate to see any line of american car disappear.would love to see pontiac back in business.

Me too.

[EROC]

GOD, that top car looks fricken phenomenal! Love it!

[G8GT4now]

Just bring back the G8 as a Chevy then, the rest of the pontiacs I can live without.


That firebird photo is beautiful. who makes that kit?

[FenwickHockey65]

Originally Posted by G8GT4now

Just bring back the G8 as a Chevy then, the rest of the pontiacs I can live without.

Why bring back the VE Commodore when you can bring the VF?

[UCI CamaroFan]

It would be dumb to bring Pontiac back. Pontiac operated for years without any profit. GM would just be competing against itself.

[CaniacFan]

It unfortunately is time for Pontiac to move on. Other than additional jobs being available with Pontiac, Chevy's sales would take a hit.

My first car: 1977 Pontiac Firebird - Red vinyl seats and an 8-track player!! I was a 17 yr old hottie with a hot car (back in the day).. Now I'm driving the envy of my neighborhood and LOVIN every minute of it. Lori

[The_Blur]

Pontiac had potential. It was a great brand that wasn't great in the end.

We're on a Camaro board talking about losing Pontiac. How many of us are also Pontiac forum members? For most of us, Chevrolet is our first choice, and Pontiac was always a close second. Why bother with second place when the top spot is available? Can you see how this mentality over time killed the Pontiac brand?