Pontiac G8 Production Prototype Unveiled By Holden

[JoeT]

First Pontiac G8 Prototypes Roll Off The Line

GM Holden Limited
4 July 2007
www.holden.com.au

GM Holden celebrated today as the first Pontiac G8 engineering prototypes to be produced at Holden Vehicle Operations in Elizabeth rolled off the line.

The G8 will be available in Pontiac dealerships in the United States in early 2008 to take its place among General Motors' flagship high performance vehicles.

The Pontiac G8 performance sedan will be the first North American product to be based on GM’s new global rear wheel drive architecture, developed by the global team based here in Australia.

Production of the Pontiac G8 is scheduled to commence at the Holden plant in late 2007, bringing the production line to a maximum capacity rate of 620 cars per day.

Announcing this production milestone was Holden Executive Director of Manufacturing, Rod Keane.

He was joined at the media event at the Elizabeth plant by government and industry officials including The Hon Ian Macfarlane MP, Federal Minister for Industry, Tourism and Resources and the Hon Kevin Foley MP, Deputy Premier of South Australia and Minister for Industry.

Mr Keane said, “ The Pontiac G8 highlights GM Holden’s rear-wheel drive expertise. It shows that international borders pose no limits on the creativity and expertise demonstrated by a global team based here in Australia.

“General Motors is drawing on Holden’s recognised leadership in rear-wheel drive cars to be able to deliver uniquely tailored vehicles for markets in Australia, the United States, the Middle East and South Africa.

"With exports integral to GM Holden’s future business strategy, the flexibility we have here at the Elizabeth plant is central to achieving that. When full production of the Pontiac G8 gets underway we will be building cars here at Elizabeth for every continent except Antarctica.”

The export program will expand the model range at Holden’s Elizabeth plant to 18 domestic and 15 export vehicle lines.

Holden has Australia's longest running and largest automotive export program which has delivered more than 772,000 vehicles over the last 50 years.



Holden Unveils New Export Model

Tim Dornin
4 July 2007
www.drive.com.au

Local car maker Holden is primed for a renewed assault on the lucrative US auto market, revealing a prototype of its latest export model, the Pontiac G8.

Based on the recently released VE Commodore, the new car will help secure the long-term future of vehicle manufacturing at the company's Elizabeth assembly operations in Adelaide.

Full production will begin later this year with Holden expected to ship more than 30,000 to the US each year from 2008.

That would lift production at Elizabeth to full capacity at 620 vehicles a day and lift Holden's annual exports to more than 70,000, or about half its total production.

Executive director of manufacturing Rod Keane said the Pontiac G8 was an extremely significant export program for Holden and a cornerstone of the company's business plan.

"Growing our export base is a vital part of achieving our long-term success and is a strategic imperative for our capacity utilisation here at Elizabeth," Mr Keane said.

"Traditionally we have been a local manufacturer that has exported.

"But as we move into this program we are balanced 50-50 between domestic and export."

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GMI's Official Pontiac G8 News, Pictures & Videos Thread

Pontiac G8 today with Holden's Rod Keane, Hon Ian Macfarlane MP and Hon Kevin Foley MP

[firebird1324]

wow, that car is really sharp.

as a pontiac man, this is the new number one car on my wish list...i can't wait to own one!

[TaHoE]

I dunno, there is something cartoonish about it now...I must see more pics though

[Aych Es Vee]

so ..... wait......
those pictures are old. Are they talking about that unveiling which happened ages ago?

if not, wheres pics of the one they're talkin about?

[hq308]

Originally Posted by Aych Es Vee

so ..... wait......
those pictures are old. Are they talking about that unveiling which happened ages ago?

if not, wheres pics of the one they're talkin about?

I was trying to work that out too. Still good to see the G8 is another step closer.

[JoeT]

I couldn't find any pic's of todays unveiling yet, so I posted those pics that accompanied the wheelsmag.com.au report on their site.

[Aych Es Vee]

ahh, I see

[mcool]

my next car!

[JoeT]

There ya go - a news release and pic's of today's unveiling.

[camaro_freak]

stupid wheels.. where are the wheels from the concept!

[Aych Es Vee]

very cool

So it has the normal SS wheels then.




I wonder what model this is? Because the SV6 has the same wheels too.

[chinamonty]

Interesting that they forgot to mention England (Vauxhall). Do they consider that an HSV product rather than a Holden product. I guess technically it is but they should have included it as the cars that HSV get come off the same lines as the other before they are modified.

[TaHoE]

...ahh I see the new pics, much better...thank god.

[mgescuro]

Good thing the Pontiac logo is unchanged from that boring grey they had on the concept.
Perhaps the stupid idiot at GM who suggested that "having color on logos" was not seen as premium was fired.

[slowinthefastlane]

I think the front end looks better than the concept! I can't wait to see in the states.