Buick, Pontiac & GMC To Get 12 New Vehicles Over The Next 20 Months - No Trans Am

[maherj2]

I see no problem in focusing Pontiac toward lighter 4cyl turbo engines etc. We don't need V8's and RWD (as much as I love them) to acheive performance and sales goals. With all of the new, excellent product being offered by GM lately I'd love to see some new models focused on economy and performance from this brand.

[mrgto]

Originally Posted by paul8488

GM really doesn't have their heart in Pontiac. Let it die... they don't need a new GEO brand. Saturn is currently doing Pontiac better than Pontiac (with the exception of the G8)... turn the G8 into a Caprice or Impala, let the Vibe / Nummi connection die, and put poor Pontiac out of its misery.

No, you need to get someone in the higher up's of GM to do what the people who want the product want.

Give us a RWD Solstice coupe, Give us a V8 retro coupe, give us the G8 6spd manual. Pontiac can't be a high volume division so make it the performance division. Let Chevy/Saturn have the sales numbers. Get rid of buick...most of their core is looking towards the sky anyway.

[monza164]

So after all this debate it looks like there wont be a Tans Am or GTO. All those wasted flame wars. Boy if Pontiac doesn't get the Alpha platform there wont be much point for them will there? The Solstice and G8 could easily go to other brands.

[WishIhadatruck]

Originally Posted by maherj2

I see no problem in focusing Pontiac toward lighter 4cyl turbo engines etc. We don't need V8's and RWD (as much as I love them) to acheive performance and sales goals. With all of the new, excellent product being offered by GM lately I'd love to see some new models focused on economy and performance from this brand.

I think this would make sense if CAFE is the real problem. Give the brand different and more aggressive styling and make every car a performance model. Great handling should be the primary focus, fun to drive. Smooth high revving 4-cylinders with turbo options would work fine. I love V8's too but if those aren't an option that doesn't mean I necessarily want a Chevrolet. I'd hate to see them kill the division. If RWD won't be allowed then make AWD a limited option on the turbo models.

[FierySolstice]

GM KILL BUICK!!!!!!!! They should of done that years ago!! We don't need your old people cars anymore!!! We have Cadillac and Saturn to fill the void! We NEED Pontiac! If GM cuts Pontiac, then I really don't think I'll buy another GM car after I'm done with this one. I'll go German, or even Japenese before I go back to a company that killed my favorite brand!

[nadepalma]

Pontiac will remain a car-only brand for the foreseeable future, dealers were told. But because of new legislation requiring vehicles to reach a fleet average of 35 mpg by 2020, Pontiac might not end up as GM's performance division, dealers said they were told.

"The plan is being tweaked because of the gas situation," Thompson said. "I hope they don't give up on performance because they don't have to. You can use four-cylinder engines to achieve incredible power."

Just incredible. We heard whispers of this when we posted our "Rumors and Rumblings" piece on the front page, and now here is the confirmation that the plan is shifting.

I hope that whatever happens, Pontiac DOES NOT become (or continue to be) just a Chevy clone with a twin-kidney up front.

Pontiac should be affordable "performance", but at the very least they should be attractive and sporty vehicles. If that means that Pontiac must offer only cars, then by all means, make them with great handling, turbo engines, AWD-optional and MANUAL TRANSMISSIONS. You can't have a "performance" without some of these elements -- especially if an all-RWD lineup is now out of the question.

Shame this news -- I hope we find out more as events move forward.

[Lichtronamo]

Originally Posted by mrgto

Though I did hear there might be a G5 GXP.

It's called a badge engineered Cobalt SS.

[351E]

Originally Posted by paul8488

GM really doesn't have their heart in Pontiac. Let it die... they don't need a new GEO brand. Saturn is currently doing Pontiac better than Pontiac (with the exception of the G8)... turn the G8 into a Caprice or Impala, let the Vibe / Nummi connection die, and put poor Pontiac out of its misery.

if you did that, you'd almost have to bring Saturn into the GMC/Buick franchise to take Pontiac's place ... and GM won't do that given the effort they've put into making Saturn stores independent. With only Buick and GMC offerings, would those dealers will have a sufficient portfolio? Probably not, given the coming trend toward smaller, fuel-efficient cars ... which neither Buick or GMC are poised to do very well.

Somehow, the Saturn/Pontiac overlap needs to be addressed, espcially if Pontiac moves away from the RWD performance theme. Pontiac + GMC crossover starts to look just like Saturn.

[mrgto]

Question....what happens if they don't meet CAFE standards? I mean let Chevy and Saturn have all the uninspiring 40mpg cars...off set it with the Corvette/Caddy's and Pontiacs. Kill Buick here in America.

[Lichtronamo]

Originally Posted by nadepalma

Just incredible. We heard whispers of this when we posted our "Rumors and Rumblings" piece on the front page, and now here is the confirmation that the plan is shifting.

I hope that whatever happens, Pontiac DOES NOT become (or continue to be) just a Chevy clone with a twin-kidney up front.

Pontiac should be affordable "performance", but at the very least they should be attractive and sporty vehicles. If that means that Pontiac must offer only cars, then by all means, make them with great handling, turbo engines, AWD-optional and MANUAL TRANSMISSIONS. You can't have a "performance" without some of these elements -- especially if an all-RWD lineup is now out of the question.

Shame this news -- I hope we find out more as events move forward.

If they're not going to do a line up of RWD based performance cars, even as a niche within combined PBG stores, then Pontiac has no purpose. "Performance" versions of volume Chevrolet and/or Saturn products can meet the limited market needs for performance vehicles competitively with other manufactures or make Saturn like to be like the perception of Mazda (Rethink Zoom Zoom?). However, because of dealer franchise issues, they won't just up and announce that Pontiac is going away. However, they will slowly over the remaining life cycles of the current products, shift the next generation products elsewhere in the portfolio. Sky stays at Saturn, Delta II and Epsilon II and Zeta go to Buick, Theta goes to GMC along with a Zeta based unibody truck like the Denali XT and the Vibe goes away with expiration of NUMMI.

[FierySolstice]

Originally Posted by mrgto

Question....what happens if they don't meet CAFE standards? I mean let Chevy and Saturn have all the uninspiring 40mpg cars...off set it with the Corvette/Caddy's and Pontiacs. Kill Buick here in America.

Thank you! Finally someone agrees about Buick NA.

[63cat]

What are the other new cars coming?

[casket_demon]

Originally Posted by 63cat

What are the other new cars coming?

Probably more trucks,SUVs,and a hardtop Solstice.

[Ultra Magnus]

Originally Posted by mrgto

Give us a RWD Solstice coupe, Give us a V8 retro coupe, give us the G8 6spd manual. Pontiac can't be a high volume division so make it the performance division. Let Chevy/Saturn have the sales numbers.

Exactly. Pontiac doesnt need to be a million seller. Let the big brands have that. If Pontiac sold 250-300K units of very focused, perfromance cars then Pontiac is viable, especially as part of BPG. Honestly Pontiac only needs three to four models. The Solstice and G8 are the endpoints now all GM has to do is fill in the middle. A driver oriented G6 should be a priority. And then the halo car can be brought in. Seriously, how badly can 50-100K V8 powered cars affect CAFE when as a corp you sell 9.3 Million vehicles?

[Chaz_23]

Does anyone really think that 20 years from now there will be BPG?