How to rename the lineup

[Maki]

I know a lot of you (including me) dislike the alphanumeric names Pontiac uses today,and after reading a thread on this forum about the naming contest for the new G8 ute, I asked myself why doesn't Pontiac do the same thing to the rest of the lineup. If GM executives insist that the Grand Am, Bonneville, Grand Prix, Sunfire, Sunbird & Phoenix nameplates carry a lot of baggage, then perhaps some older nameplates can be used or a competition can be started to come up with a new name. So far i came up with these ideas:

G8- Tempest. It's a cool name and has history. If a coupe ever comes out with a V8 then the GTO name could be revived

G6- Ventura??? Another historic name that was once used on a cool fullsize car but in the 70's it was used for a rebadged Chevy Nova. Don't know if it fits the G6 (or the future rwd G6)

G5-??? couldn't come up with nothing nice. Pontiac had the Astre, Sunbird & Sunfire and none of these nameplates sound good to me


I would like to hear some of your ideas for names for the current lineup

[eurohazard]

When I think "Tempest", I think poor man's GTO.
When I think "Ventura" I think Nova with a silly vinyl top.

Your idea is good though....Pontiac should find some real names instead of copying the Japanese and Germans with alpha numerics.

[jkennedy293]

The problem is that all of the old Pontiac names recall images of land yachts. The only names halfway usable are LeMans, GTO, and Firebird.

[Get_ A_Clue]

Originally Posted by jkennedy293

The problem is that all of the old Pontiac names recall images of land yachts. The only names halfway usable are LeMans, GTO, and Firebird.

I love this GM fanboy site! Who cares what old Pontiac names from the 60's and beyond conjure up to YOU guys. I'd say 95% of people out there have no idea of Pontiac's storied history and therefore would never know that "Tempest" was an old name. I'm 36 and my idea of Pontiac is crappy, plastic-paneled Grand Ams and Bonnevilles, bloated white-trash Firebirds, the ugliest-car-ever-created Aztec, and those awful moon vans. LeMans? No way! I remember that from the 80's as some rebadged sh*tbox from Korea.

You guys need to realize that Pontiac means nothing but crap to most people. My generation grew up on Hondas, Toyotas and Nissans because most of them, like me, had been burned by poorly designed and built American cars.

I think using names from Pontiac's glory days is a great idea: Tempest sounds cool as hell. That names conjures up SOMETHING....mean, fierce, fast. G8, G6, G5 don't do a damn thing.

[autofan]

Originally Posted by Get_ A_Clue

I love this GM fanboy site! Who cares what old Pontiac names from the 60's and beyond conjure up to YOU guys. I'd say 95% of people out there have no idea of Pontiac's storied history and therefore would never know that "Tempest" was an old name.

I agree with you. Younger buyers do not have much if any historical connection to Pontiac's older nameplates. I think Catalina, Parisienne and Ventura are strong names that would work very well. I also think GM is crazy to dump names like Grand Prix that have such a strong and (mostly) positive recognition. I know the idea is to enhance the brand name and downplay the model names but in doing so they have to re-educate the public on what the new models are.

[FenwickHockey65]

Grand Prix was a good name, I'll never understand why they scrapped it. Grand Am was starting to get old with a bad rep. GTO is still good, Tempest is good, Firebird is still kickassical.

[wescoent]

[quote=Get_ A_Clue;1442862]I'm 36 and my idea of Pontiac is crappy, plastic-paneled Grand Ams and Bonnevilles, bloated white-trash Firebirds, the ugliest-car-ever-created Aztec, and those awful moon vans. LeMans? No way! I remember that from the 80's as some rebadged sh*tbox from Korea. QUOTE]

Pretty much my exact impression as well.

[Firebird00]

I've never liked Tempest. It sounds very ho-hum and boring to me. The best names for Pontiac are Solstice, Firebird-T/A, GTO, Grand Prix, Bonneville (classy sounding!), and even Sunfire. All of these names bring out some kind of passion whereas the G-names do NOTHING.

[eurohazard]

G's conjure up;

G's up, ho's down
G-string
G-spot
G-rated
G-ee whiz Wally! (shameless Leave It To Beaver reference)

[Maki]

Originally Posted by Get_ A_Clue

I love this GM fanboy site! Who cares what old Pontiac names from the 60's and beyond conjure up to YOU guys. I'd say 95% of people out there have no idea of Pontiac's storied history and therefore would never know that "Tempest" was an old name. I'm 36 and my idea of Pontiac is crappy, plastic-paneled Grand Ams and Bonnevilles, bloated white-trash Firebirds, the ugliest-car-ever-created Aztec, and those awful moon vans. LeMans? No way! I remember that from the 80's as some rebadged sh*tbox from Korea.

You guys need to realize that Pontiac means nothing but crap to most people. My generation grew up on Hondas, Toyotas and Nissans because most of them, like me, had been burned by poorly designed and built American cars.

I think using names from Pontiac's glory days is a great idea: Tempest sounds cool as hell. That names conjures up SOMETHING....mean, fierce, fast. G8, G6, G5 don't do a damn thing.

I'm 27 and I know what your talking about and agree with a lot of what you say. I like Tempest and it would fit the g8 nicely. I don't remember the Ventura and thought it could fit the G6 since they were both compact cars. However I'm not against using some of the so-called damaged nameplates like Grand Am. It was a popular product for GM in it's time but they neglected the car and replaced it with the bland G6 (which a lot of people still refer to as a Grand Am). If Chevy can make Malibu work for them despite it's previous unlikable past image,then maybe Pontiac can do the same for Grand Am. A lot of money was wasted in promoting this nameplate....why throw it all away and alienate the loyal buyers. Of course they can try and come up with a new name,but I doubt they can come up with something good,because most new names sound ridiculous...but they can try.
When the Civic came out most people laughed at it until the first oil crises came. They stopped laughing but the car was still considered a POS econobox,but that didn't discourage Honda to drop the name. Honda built it's image through the years with a good car that improved every generation and now has a name with equity and a loyal buyer base. GM should learn from this example.

[jamiepeterson2]

I prefer the old storied Pontiac names, but a viable case can be made for alpha-numerics as well. However, I do not think the 'G' rated Pontiacs carries the brand appropriately.

What is missing is the sporty image. Simply put GT fits that image. Therefore just rename the range as follows:

Compact: Pontiac GT4
Midsize: Pontiac GT6
Full Size: Pontiac GT8

Rename the Solstice as the Pontiac GTC
Re-up the Pontiac GTO puh-lease!
And include the new Pontiac GTP sport ute pick-up
Rename the Torrent as the Pontiac GTX crossover
Rename the Vibe as the Pontiac GTR crossover

The new XYZ generation should have no problem with that, and the old fogeys who still live in the past can probably relate to it much easier.

[Maki]

Isn't GTX and GTC used for certain version of the Opel Astra???

[eurohazard]

I'd just like to point out that I'm only 32 myself. But we were pretty poor growing up....in the 80's all of our cars were 60's models! I related, noticed, and understood those older nameplates better than most folks my age.

[XP300]

The Ventura of the 1960's was a full size car. I'd love to have a 1961 Ventura 2dr hardtop. It had clean lines and great performance.

[chinamonty]

GT6 was a Triumph.
Is Pontiac a tribe name or a chief's name. If so see what that may bring. I suspect "Sitting Bull" would not be popular though LOL. I seeem to remeber Ute being a tribe name too.