Quote:
Originally Posted by mgescuro
Pontiac Needs to Close
... another commentary by mgescuro ...
Sorry.
There is nothing more the brand can do.
What is Pontiac these days? G8, G6, G5, Grand Prix, Torrent, Vibe, Solstice,
Of all those, the only 2 worth mentioning is the G8 and Solstice.
G6 has become the fleet queen.
Grand Prix is puzzlingly still alive.
Torrent is a straight rebadged.
G5 is a straight rebadge.
Wave/G4 (or G3) will be a straight rebadged.
The above 5 have no business being in a brand for so-called “performance” cars.
And there is nothing at Pontiac that can’t be sold as a Chevrolet or badged as an SS.
The G8 family can easily live its life as the Chevy Impala (sedan), Chevy Nomad (wagon), and Chevy El Camino (truck thingy).
And Chevy Solstice has a nice ring to it.
Chevy Vibe would also be a nice addition as well.
Pontiac has limited global presence as it is, though it does fairly well in Canada. There’s no reason why Chevy can’t take it over in the marketplace.
I see no credible reason for Pontiac to soldier on. 
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Pontiac can be saved, and is already setup to do just that.
The Solstice changed many peoples view of Pontiac and what is the Solstice?
It is a small RWD performance roadster powered by a 2.4L I-4 or optional 2.0L Turbo I-4 - not a V8 in sight and the Solstice Coupe will help sales.
The G8 is getting great reviews and sales should pickup once the inventory is better (only 5,300 in inventory as of 6/1/08).
The Vibe sells well and provides Pontiac with a high MPG option for now.
As for the G5 and G6 - one word ALPHA.
The G5 should be replaced by an Alpha based Firebird.
The G6 and Alpha based? (I prefer Grand Prix with Gran Prix LJ and Grand Prix SJ models in true Pontiac style.)
Now you would have (5) strong RWD car models.
Solstice (Roadster and Coupe)
Firebird (Coupe)
Grand Prix (Sedan)
GTO (Coupe)
G8 (Sedan and Wagon)
Filling out the line is the G8 ST and the following FWD models
Vibe (but moved to GAMMA focused toward the Mazda3)
Barina (Also on GAMMA with 2.0LTurbo and AWD GXP model shared with Holden - focused toward Scion tC).
These models will invigorate the Pontiac Brand, not overlap with Chevy or Buick and give GM some volume for the Alpha platform.
Just adding the Firebird and Grand Prix Alpha models would be enough to solidify Pontiac's position and the Alpha models can have 2.4L engines in base models like the Solstice although hopefully in DI versions with a bit more power/MPG.