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Feds killed Pontiac according to Lutz


Jeffrey

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http://jalopnik.com/the-feds-killed-pontiac-bob-lutz-says-1452735716

 

Looks like Pontiac was on the verge of becoming a bad ass performance oriented company before the feds made GM pull the plug. I have said since GM killed Pontiac they should have made the brand into a low production performance division instead of killing it. They were onto something with the G8 and Solstice and with the now ATS supposed to be the next G6 they had some great cars coming. Sad at what could have been....

 

THANKS OBAMA!

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Well, when your business needs 60 billion in handouts to keep going, you might have to make a concession or two. Government motors lol.

 

GM was a mess way before the bailout. Jose Ignacio Lopez was working on cleaning up the fat until VW stole him away (and trade secrets as well) back in the late 80s early 90s.

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Reading this made me want them back even more. When I first started to keeping with cars I always couldn't figure out why everything car wise (GM especially) was FWD, but then started researching Pontiac and started to love the extra RWD options and the sportier, more aggressive appearances.

 

I always read rumors that it was because sales of Pontiac's, namely the G8 GT/GXP and the Solstice platforms. The G6's may have been front wheel as well, but I loved the styling of the GT and GXP models, specifically the coupes. I also thought they would be a cool option for someone who wanted something "sporty" without the insurance costs and impracticality of learning to drive a RWD vehicle in adverse conditions.

 

Maybe some day we will get lucky and get Pontiac again.

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Pontiac was a brand of duplicates other than the G8, and the Solstice (with the death of Saturn) which could have easily been absorbed by Chevrolet...

 

G3 (= Aveo)

G5 (= Cobalt)

G6 (not as good as the Malibu and Aura)

G8

Solstice (= Sky)

Torrent (= Equinox)

Vibe (= Matrix)

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Pontiac was a brand of duplicates other than the G8, and the Solstice (with the death of Saturn) which could have easily been absorbed by Chevrolet...

 

G3 (= Aveo)

G5 (= Cobalt)

G6 (not as good as the Malibu and Aura)

G8

Solstice (= Sky)

Torrent (= Equinox)

Vibe (= Matrix)

 

With a lineup like that, I'm amazed they went away.

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Pontiac was a brand of duplicates other than the G8, and the Solstice (with the death of Saturn) which could have easily been absorbed by Chevrolet...

 

G3 (= Aveo)

G5 (= Cobalt)

G6 (not as good as the Malibu and Aura)

G8

Solstice (= Sky)

Torrent (= Equinox)

Vibe (= Matrix)

 

Yes it was, and it still could have been used much better.

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I'm hoping GM will revive Pontiac one day, but until then we can only hope. Never got why Buick wasn't killed and Pontiac was, I always thought Pontiac moved more cars and was definitely more appealing to the younger car buyers than Buick was.
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Pontiac was a brand of duplicates other than the G8, and the Solstice (with the death of Saturn) which could have easily been absorbed by Chevrolet...

 

G3 (= Aveo)

G5 (= Cobalt)

G6 (not as good as the Malibu and Aura)

G8

Solstice (= Sky)

Torrent (= Equinox)

Vibe (= Matrix)

 

In that spirit look at GMC and Chevy. Not a single GMC model is different. Yeah nicer trim on some, but merge the two brands and call the nicer trim levels chevy denalis or something. Pontiac could have survived.

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I'm hoping GM will revive Pontiac one day, but until then we can only hope. Never got why Buick wasn't killed and Pontiac was, I always thought Pontiac moved more cars and was definitely more appealing to the younger car buyers than Buick was.

 

Buick stayed because they are massive in china. It was a global thing.

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In that spirit look at GMC and Chevy. Not a single GMC model is different. Yeah nicer trim on some, but merge the two brands and call the nicer trim levels chevy denalis or something. Pontiac could have survived.

GMC should not exist either imo.

Buick stayed because they are massive in china. It was a global thing.

 

This

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While I really like Pontiacs I can see why it was killed off. Obviously Hummer and Saab were always losers under GM's control, Saturn was going downhill and really shared all it's models with the rest of GM by the end same as Pontiac. Buick was positioned better with more up to date vehicle components. GMC, while you can make the arguement for merging into Chevy, has always been a big part of the medium duty truck market and has the infastructure in place for it.

 

I personally felt the same way when Pontiac got the axe as most of you. It's too bad they let the brand get somewhat stale by basically rebadging other GMs even though most of us liked the styling difference. I still like Oldsmobile and would have liked to see them stay around to develop a few of their cars and engines that were unique.

 

The cars I really miss is the G8, Solstice, Firebird, GTO, and Grand Prix. I also would've loved to see the stillborn G8 based Ute hit the streets. These were great performing cars, most were RWD and they were all fun to drive. The Chevy SS is no real replacement being limited numbers and overpriced. The Camaro is a decent car somewhere between the old 4th gen and the GTO, but it lacks the Pontiac flare.

 

Oh well can't control what the masses want to buy, and some pencil pushers decided that what we have now is what would get GM to thrive. So far it's not horrible.

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