It's Official, Pontiac Dead at end of 2010!

[brentil]

Originally Posted by achieftain ...and no carryover of Solstice or Vibe into other channels (read brands) within GM. (live from conference)

Not surprised on either, Solstice already had it's expiration date coming up, and the Vibe only exists because of Toyota.

[Chemist]

Originally Posted by Pterosaur Bummer for sure but I suggest writing letters is a bit of a waste of time and needlessly bothering good people. Seriously, writing to "KeithPaterson:Kappa Program Engineering Manager"? Do we seriously believe Mr. Paterson voted himself out of a job, or could do a danged thing about it?

I concur. It's the numbskulls at the top that messed this one up.

Originally Posted by Pterosaur Our votes should have been cast years ago by buying the cars new. How many on this forum own a Toyota? Pontiac, and GM in general, brought this on themselves through poor marketing, "badge engineering", bad union contracts, executive squander, etc. Solstice and Sky...how silly is that? GM has been way to "fat" for a long time and this is the natural result.

I replaced an American made bicycle with my American made (GM) car.

Originally Posted by Pterosaur For the record, 15 new cars purchased since 1990, 14 were GM...5 Pontiacs, 1 Dodge. Write letters with your checkbook if you want to see a company survive. If not, you are free to lament their death but understand why they had to go. Still sad to see them go.

Here's where you and I seem to part ways. My parallel sentence is, "For the record, of the four (4) new cars purchased since 1983 (seven cars purchased total), 1 Honda, 1 Ford/Lincoln/Mercury, 1 Hyundai, and 1 GM. The three used cars were GM, Toyota, and Isuzu. The latter two were _beaters_ for the kids to drive while in school."

I can no more imagine buying 15 new cars in 19 years than I can imagine flying without the aid of an airplane. I do not condemn, but simply cannot understand this level of turnover.

Clearly, _I"M_ the reason GM is having difficulties! I buy a car, then drive it until it becomes too expensive to repair, and only then do I purchase a new one.
Sorry, folks, Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa!

[ZUPF DE]

[dengel]

Very sad to see this announcement. I was truly hoping the plan to keep Pontiac a "niche" brand would be viable. I sure hope GM doesn't go too far to the "green" side and leave no choices in their line-up for true car enthusiasts to buy.

I am glad that I bought my G8 when I did, even if it wasn't the best financial decision for me. It looks like I will now be the owner of a rare Solstice and an even rarer G8.

[Pterosaur]

Originally Posted by Chemist ...I can no more imagine buying 15 new cars in 19 years than I can imagine flying without the aid of an airplane. I do not condemn, but simply cannot understand this level of turnover.

My wife and I each need a car, we put on a lot of miles making a lease unattractive. I hate driving out of warranty and until recently GM has had very short warranties. And I enjoy driving a new car.

From a purely financial view, what I do is expensive. Buy new, and drive it into the ground is probably the best way to go. I confess, I am indeed an "auto-holic".

I too do not "condemn" anyone who chooses to by used or foreign...only pointing out if you do then do not be surprised by the fall of an American icon. Letters don't help, sales do.

[BellaVerde]

Prophetic that a brand I grew to love has become irrelevant in this new era. Well, no one lives forever, and all attempts to lengthen life just results in a healthier corpse. As the world moves on to Volts and Priori, the emotion that goes with owning a "really cool car" will have to sustain us old farts from the performance era.

[Pterosaur]

My biggest concern with the loss of Pontiac is the extended availability of parts...body panels in particular. Many of the mechanical bits are available as they are used on several different cars made by multiple parts builders. If I understand correctly, the main body panels are "hydro-formed", a very expensive process. I assume GM owns the only tooling. I doubt an after-market panel manufacturer will be making a big investment in tooling for a small market roadster. No more steel panels? The law says GM needs to supply parts for 10 years but if they're not around how can you force them to stay in business making body panels?

[GXPFreak]

Originally Posted by Pterosaur My biggest concern with the loss of Pontiac is the extended availability of parts...body panels in particular. Many of the mechanical bits are available as they are used on several different cars made by multiple parts builders. If I understand correctly, the main body panels are "hydro-formed", a very expensive process. I assume GM owns the only tooling. I doubt an after-market panel manufacturer will be making a big investment in tooling for a small market roadster. No more steel panels? The law says GM needs to supply parts for 10 years but if they're not around how can you force them to stay in business making body panels?

GM will have to stock parts for ten years.

[MomsSol]

Maybe I just don't understand business analyst - but could someone PLEASE explain why anyone would kill a brand that out sold another by nearly 2:1??

2008 GM Vehicle Sales
Chevrolet 1,801,131
GMC 376,996
Pontiac 267,348
Saturn 188,004
Cadillac 161,159
Buick 137,197
Hummer 27,485
Saab 21,368
Total 2,980,688

Pontiac outsold Buick by over 50%

[achieftain]

Originally Posted by BellaVerde Prophetic that a brand I grew to love has become irrelevant in this new era. Well, no one lives forever, and all attempts to lengthen life just results in a healthier corpse. As the world moves on to Volts and Priori, the emotion that goes with owning a "really cool car" will have to sustain us old farts from the performance era.

It's just too bad we couldn't have gone out on a car at least that the average shadetree mechanic could work on. It will take a BS EE just to open the hood of a Volt or Converj.

[cmwags]

We've come to enjoy all the Pontiacs we've purchased since our 1995 Grand Prix with HUD. Then it was 2004 Vibe, the 2006 Solstice and last Nov. a new 2009 Vibe! They've been fun, reliable and we will miss the chance to replace them in later years!

[smartin]

It sucks but I expected it.

[Cheers]

They are already running out of parts. I could not get a rear shock anywhere in the system a couple of weeks ago AND THERE IS NO AFTER MARKET TO USE AT THIS POINT

[rob the elder]

GM has to do what it needs to do to remain a viable business entity. They are being driven into a corner with the Administration on one side and the Unions on the other but that is where they are at.

The Kappa was in all probability not going to out live its current set of tooling and based on everything I have read was a money loosing product line from the beginning. It was created to buff the image of two now dead brands, Pontiac and Saturn. Too little too last and caught in the housing financial crash like a lot of other things in the economy. So while the management of GM is culpable, its not totally their fault.

I have a 20002 Jeep Wrangler. They dont make them any more. I wanted doors. I got the last two that were available in the country a month ago. You can still go buy a new Wrangler, just not a 2002 Wrangler. No car gets produced forever. Yet you manage to find parts for them if you really want.

I saw two MGs from the 1960s out this weekend top down in Parker Colorado. Beautiful cars but they stopped making parts for them, what 40 years ago? Yet somehow people find a way to keep them running.

If you are 50 now and live to be driving at 80 that means 30 years from now you wont care about parts anymore. There are a hell of a lot more kappas floating around now than there were MGs back in the day.

I even saw an Austin Healy this weekend. Looked great.

Our warranties are from GM and not the product line. We need GM to stay viable so our warranties are still good, but even the best warranty will run out someday. Oh wait, no they dont. My Jeep has a lifetime powertrain warranty for the orrigional owner. So I guess I can drive it till it falls apart and take it in for refurbishment and then do it all over again.

We have two kappas and two Jeeps. We enjoy the kappas on good days and drive the Jeeps the rest of the time. The wife is putting 6k miles a year on her Sky and I am putting about 12k miles a year on my Sol. At that rate, they will be well under 100k when the warranty times out.

I suggest that we should mourn the passing of the brand, but our cars were destined to pass in any case. I gaurantee that there was never going to be a 2020 Solstice / Sky. So its really a matter of timing.

And on the upside, one of the things that is great about our cars, besides they are really fun to drive and get stares all the time, is that they will remain relatively rare. The end of production will mean that they will not go the way of the Miatta and be all over the place and so common place as to be boreing and every day.

[njtex]

A Stingray version of the Sol/Sky and a Chevelle version of the G8 sold through Chevrolet would make me real happy!