Pontiac division possible scale back?

[BANDITCAR]

Taken from a recent article:

Motorheads don’t want to hear it; refuse to believe it — but ugly realities are coming down hard on the ‘09 Camaro that will very possibly cause GM to pull the plug before the first one ever rolls off the line. Doubt that? Consider the stillborn rear-wheel-drive next generation Chevy Impala — nixed because of concerns within GM about the possibility of meeting the pending (2012) 35 mpg fuel economy edict recently passed by Congress. A lighter front-drive car with a V-6 instead of a V-8 can make the cut; a V-8 RWD Impala can’t. So it’s gone. So is the talked-about next generation GTO. And the future of the G8 sedan looks not so good. GM is openly talking about scaling back the entire Pontiac division — and ending its role as a performance brand.

Could this hold a bad future for a car like the Solstice? If performance is taken out of the equation of the automobile industry then could the production of the Solstice come to a close? I certainly hope not, but it does have me worried.


See the whole article here:
Why the 2009 Camaro is Doomed - FQuick.com

[kwtoxman]

Pontiac has been on the front line of the GM chopping block for a while. If the industry takes more hits I see it going.

But I wouldn't mind a rare car either.

[sunnygator]

Yep it could happen....let's hope clearer minds prevail. I can see scaling it back to a "pure" performance line, just leave Sols and G8s, etc.

[Fformula88]

The Sol's fate is independent of Pontiac's as a division. The Solstice, as a product, needs to sell. Lately, sales are becoming harder to come across. That, as much as anything, threatens it's existence.

As for Pontiac as a whole, there isn't much performance there. The Sol is low volume. The G8 is new. Other than that, there are no unique products in the whole division. G6 is now the oldest Epsilon clone in GM, the G5 is a rehashed Cobalt, the Torrent an Equinox afterthought, and the Grand Prix is done.

I think the only question left is whether Pontiac or Buick leaves the building first. My gut would tell me Buick would go first, but it IS a popular brand in China, which might put Pontiac in real jeopardy.

[jazz07]

wow its the big one louise . lets hope not. my family have been a huge pontiac supporter. i could see Buick going before Pontiac. you hardly hear a thing about Buicks. if they take all the fun out of cars might as well bring back the yugo or ride a moped. but seriously pontiac needs cars like the solstice and G8 (i dont know who thought about giving Pontiac an El Camino but i think that is a HUGE mistake) to at least get people into the showroom. Even the GTO back in its hayday was not a large volume car in the grand scheme (96,000 in 1966 not when they sold over 250,000 LeMans). it was there to get people into the showroom. Pontiac has been the performance division since 1960 even in the dark days of the 70's Pontiac made performance cars. hopefully GM will not make the biggest mistake of their lives.

[stang]

I don't see Pontiac going away. Performance is more than horsepower and engine size. Besides, has Pontiac really ever had more than two "real" performance cars at any given time?

As for the 35mpg CAFE rules. Those are for the year 2020 not 2012. That's 12 years of technological advancements that we'll slowly get to benefit from. If they can make a 2.0L engine that gets 200hp and 35mpg in the next 10 years, I see no downside for anyone.

[-Zenith-]

What about Hummer? I can't see that brand remaining relevant in the current economy. I'd dump that mess before considering the demise of Buick or Pontiac.

[Mac]

I think that GM missed the boat with the new camaro, this should have came out at least in 07. They have been showing this off for SO long that it is almost vaporware. To bad too, i have had a F body all my life my first was a 71 bird that served we well to the day i used it as light pole remover. I bought my z28 1971 in 1980 and it was my daily driver for well 28 years. Now my soltice is my daily and the old camaro sits next to it in our garage.

Maybe we might see a camaro VOLT? that might be a very cool thing since this car is not out untill 2010-12? might not be to hard to cross it over to a plug in. I would be waiting in line for such a car. NO gas should meet any cafe standard.

It will be a sad day if Pontiac does closes the doors. I am one of those that only buys american made cars. I tend to keep them along time, my GMC truck is 20 years old and runs like a top 200,000 miles. The old z28 has 230,000 miles and 50,000 on the last rebuild of its 454 runs like bat out of hell with a 6 speed.

Pontiac is a legend in an american cars. GM keep it.

[brentil]

Don't forget, this is the entire reason GM combined Buick/GMC/Pontiac so they could cut models and possibly brands without creating issues like they did with killing Oldsmobile.

[Fformula88]

Originally Posted by Mac I think that GM missed the boat with the new camaro, this should have came out at least in 07. They have been showing this off for SO long that it is almost vaporware. To bad too, i have had a F body all my life my first was a 71 bird that served we well to the day i used it as light pole remover. I bought my z28 1971 in 1980 and it was my daily driver for well 28 years. Now my soltice is my daily and the old camaro sits next to it in our garage. Maybe we might see a camaro VOLT? that might be a very cool thing since this car is not out untill 2010-12? might not be to hard to cross it over to a plug in. I would be waiting in line for such a car. NO gas should meet any cafe standard. It will be a sad day if Pontiac does closes the doors. I am one of those that only buys american made cars. I tend to keep them along time, my GMC truck is 20 years old and runs like a top 200,000 miles. The old z28 has 230,000 miles and 50,000 on the last rebuild of its 454 runs like bat out of hell with a 6 speed. Pontiac is a legend in an American cars. GM keep it.

It has seemed to be a long time to get the Camaro to market, but trust me, they are not dragging their feet on it either. When they pulled the plug after MY 2002, they did not have an active replacement program going. It wasn't until a couple years ago that a replacement program took shape and they showed the concept. It takes a couple years to bring any new vehicle to market. The Solstice only took 27 months, but it was the fastest GM has ever brought a concept to market from the point it was green lighted, and in some respects the short gestation period has shown too.

GM's biggest problems is they are battling rising oil prices. It suddenly is not looking like the best of times to be releasing a 4000 lb V8 car. Yet, they are not having trouble moving G8's either, so maybe it will be successful anyway.