Why wait until 2007 - Get the (Canadian) Pursuit here asap!

 

Because an American Pursuit is a stupid idea.

I don't like the sound o fa 'quickie spinoff' eithre.

 

Because an American Pursuit is a stupid idea.

I don't like the sound o fa 'quickie spinoff' eithre.

Atleast they are sticking by their decision! ha-ha

 

Stupid, Stupid, Stupid...

 

I thought dealers were complaining that Pontiac was too must like other GM divisions? How is a Cobalt knock-off going to help? Pontiac needs a sport compact, NOT a rebadged Cobalt.

Dumb idea.

 

Pontiac gets the SV6, the Torrent, and soon a Cobalt rebadge... good job GM.

 

If GM can make it as different as Solstice and Sky, then why not?

 

well we havent seen it yet, and nothing is said to be true so theres still hope here!

 

I like the G6 but I think it has a stupid name, especially when they offer a 4
cyl version. Had it just been the next generation Grand AM it would have been much better accepted in the marketplace. I'm sure the media would still blast it but at least the 200,000+ annual GA buyers would understand what they were purchasing. Love it or hate it the GA was Pontiac's best seller since '84

 

Will they call it a Pursuit or a G4?

 

If GM can make it as different as Solstice and Sky, then why not?

Because a "Quickie Spin-Off" will not mean they will be very different. Think Pontiac Pursuit vs. Chevrolet Cobalt, same car, except one has a different grille.

 

I find it very hard to belive that the G6 gets the blame!! Amazing, finaly a good looking Pontiac, something that looks really classy...and it gets blamed for the failure of a divison?
How about that outside of the GTO, there is absolutly nothing that I would want from Pontiac that I coudlnt get from Buick or Chevy? G6 is ALL that Pontiac has. And with 3 models leaving, dated models at that, Im sure that it hasnt helped the sales of Pontiac. Buick has had an fill in for the cars its replaced. Centry and Regal out, LaCrosse in. Lesaber out, Luceren in.
Chevy...Cavi out, Cobalt in. Malibu out, Malibu in. Impala out, Impala in. Tracker out, Nox in.
Pontiac...Bonnie out...? Sunfire out...?
What we are gunna get is a Pursuit. A Cobalt with a Pontiac nose, alright.
Mark LaNeve, you told us that you would cut down on copy cats.
The more I think about it, Pontiac is worthless. I feel sorry for the Solstice, as I think that its a great car for a division that is inline for the slaughter. Pontiac is deffinatly next on the block.

 

A Pursuit with a Turbocharged engine option - reminiscient of the Sunbird Turbo and how it was different from the Cavalier of the day - wouldn't be such a bad thing. But a complete rebadge would disappoint a lot of people and make Pontiac into a brand with 3 rebadges: SV6, Torrent, Pursuit......and a brand with little reason to survive except to emulate Chevy cars in the GMC-Buick-Pontiac sales channel.

So while I love the idea of Pontiac getting a Sport Compact type car:

http://www.gminsidenews.com/forums/showthread.php?t=11539

I am definitely not loving the idea of Pontiac having three GM rebadges, and all of them Chevies.

Maybe Pontiac should change its slogan to "We are Excitement Grade" to go along with GMC's Chevy clonedom.

A rebadge from 3 different GM brands (or Holden, GMDAT, - or alliance partners Subaru, Suzuki etc), mixed up a bit with different engine options, etc. is acceptable.

Didn't Jim Bunnell just say this:

"We are not interested in badge engineering. There is nothing planned in the foreseeable future, in the next 18 to 24 months (for a Sunfire replacement) It will be some time after that if we were to figure out something that would make sense for us." -- Jim Bunnell, GM Pontiac/GMC marketing - Sourced From: Automotive News, January 24, 2005


Lets hope that he wasn't clueless at the time, and GM hasn't made a hasty decision to pump out more Chevy rebadges based on a month of particularly bad sales for Pontiac.

 

Will they call it a Pursuit or a G4?

Pontiac....please forget the lame A$$ G4, G6, G8 emotionless, thoughtless, non-creative, etc etc etc, naming scheme (if you can even call it a name). This is just a "we can't come up with any names so let's just do this" plan. I want my next car in a few years to be a V8, RWD, 6-speed auto that I can haul not only my family in, but haul some a$$ too....and it should have the words "GRAND PRIX" on it somewhere... not G8 or some other worthless "name" :hyper:

 

GM seems to be making alot of dumb decisions with Pontiac: No replacement for Bonneville, rebadged nox, rebadged cobalt, a minivan, using G6 name instead of Grand Am. The only good decision GM has made is to produce the Solstice. Which by the looks of it wont be around long the way Pontiac is headed. (Which is sad)

 

Hmmmmmm.... Blind loyalist that I am, I have to admit this does not bode well for Pontiac. GM is having the ultimate fire sale and unlike the rest of the divisions Pontiac is still losing sales. The Solstice will be a grand slam hit, but will it be enough to keep the division afloat? I'll be keeping my fingers crossed.

As a small bit of good news to a Buick fan, this would take some of the pressure off Buick in the 'who's next for possible elimination' race.

 

Let Chevy compete in the sport compact market. Pontiac needs to get serious in the performance car business being the "performance" division. The GTO is a good start but it needs more like it rather than rebadge of Chevy Uplander (what does that mean anyway?) or Equinox.

 

So the author thinks it will be a quick spin off. I could see something much different coming through. Remember how different HHR, Cobalt, current ION are? Something like that.

 

This is a bad idea if the "spin-off" is going to be the Pursuit just as it is in Canada (it looks almost identical to the cobalt, just with some pontiac badges).

A mild redesign would be "O.K." though, to make it different from the Cobalt like the Ion is (same platform, different looks and parts).

Best case scenario would be to be the same platform with some significantly different ideas. How about making the pontiac "G4" the first small GM car to be offered with a 6 speed automatic (with manual shifting option, of course). How about MAKING SURE then entire product line is available at launch (Not just the sedan version, and only with the base engine). Maybe, MAYBE even consider a hatchback/sportback version since neither Chevy or Saturn offers one in the U.S. (they can look good and be practical, see the new Astra version on the same platform, or notice how a small, 4 cylinder hatch can be sporty looking like the Acura RSX, Toyota Celica, Previous gen versions of the Mitsu Eclipse, etc).

 

Why doesnt GM just redesign the G6 and Grand Prix (G8) to look like the solstice but in sedan form. Make G8 RWD with V8 or DOHC V6. Offer a crossover wagon and leave it at that. And keep the next generation GTO.

Source: The Car Connection daily eMail

Product-Juggling Strategy Takes Place at Pontiac

After the June sales jolt at GM, the beleaguered Pontiac Division is juggling models anew. The only GM brand to suffer a sales decline in the corporation’s June boom, Pontiac is losing three models this fall and replacing the dropouts with two – the long-awaited Solstice two-seat roadster and the Torrent sport wagon. Out the door go the Bonneville sedan, the Sunfire compact car and the ill-fated Aztek sport wagon.

Beyond the debut of 2006 models, even more realignments are slated for Pontiac. GM’s vice-president for North America sales, service and marketing, Mark LaNeve,
said last week that dealers have asked that Sunfire and Grand Am be replaced as soon as possible by an entry-level car, and GM has reportedly responded with a quickie spin-off of the Chevrolet Cobalt for the 2007 model year.

Pontiac has become GM’s biggest “loser” in sales so far this year, showing a 16-percent sales decline that June’s employee-pricing rollout was unable to reverse. It was a bitter pill in view of jumps of about 40 percent for Buick, Chevrolet and Saturn. Many Pontiac dealers blame a spotty image for the new mid-size G6 sedan as a factor in the first-half sales reverse.

Replacement of the well-entrenched Grand Am name by “G6” has failed to resonate among Pontiac shoppers, says Gordon Wangers, a marketing analyst based in Marina Del Rey, Calif.– Mac Gordon

 

...
I am definitely not loving the idea of Pontiac having three GM rebadges, and all of them Chevies.

...

Didn't Jim Bunnell just say this:

"We are not interested in badge engineering. There is nothing planned in the foreseeable future, in the next 18 to 24 months (for a Sunfire replacement) It will be some time after that if we were to figure out something that would make sense for us." -- Jim Bunnell, GM Pontiac/GMC marketing - Sourced From: Automotive News, January 24, 2005


Lets hope that he wasn't clueless at the time, and GM hasn't made a hasty decision to pump out more Chevy rebadges based on a month of particularly bad sales for Pontiac.

I agree, no 'quick' rebadges, that is short term thinking. Plus, let the Pontiac dealers level out the sales with G6 variants (coupe/convert), the Torrent, the Solstice... Product is coming, so I don't think Pontiac needs a rebadge entry model, only a HIGHLY DISTINGUISHED entry model!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Well, they do have a year, so maybe they can change the taillights at least.

Ugh.

See, not to sound too down on GM, but this is a classic example. GM has way too many models and brands, and it has to cow down to the humongous dealer network every other minute. Meanwhile, Toyota, for example, can use one platform, say the Camry's, and create multiple vehicles from it, and only have to appease its Toyota and Lexus dealers (assuming all Scion dealers are in Toyota dealerships; think that's the case). So, Toyota is about to run over GM.

Next thing, Hummer will demand a "sub-Theta". If and when Buick and Saab get one.

 

If they need a compact, they should stretch the Solstice into a 2+2. Now that would be a compact to get excited about.

My only concern would be that it would be too expensive. If a stripper Solstice is 19,995, then what would a stretched version cost? If course, it would save $ in non-convertible form. I'd guess they could do a sedan and coupe starting at $18K+/-.

 

Ugh, of Pontiac gets a rebadge, not a car just on the same platform as the Cobalt, it will be a sad time for Pontiac. Stupid dealers, stupid GM. Why didn't GM know when they were developing the Cobalt that Pontiac dealers would whine about not have a low-end car? Did GM think that the G6 would have enough sales that dealers wouldn't care? I don't have a problem w/ Pontiac having a small car, especially when the trend is to place Pontiac w/ GMC and Buick, neither of which have a small car, but it shouldn't be a rebadge like the Pursuit.

 

Well, they do have a year, so maybe they can change the taillights at least.

Ugh.

See, not to sound too down on GM, but this is a classic example. GM has way too many models and brands, and it has to cow down to the humongous dealer network every other minute. Meanwhile, Toyota, for example, can use one platform, say the Camry's, and create multiple vehicles from it, and only have to appease its Toyota and Lexus dealers (assuming all Scion dealers are in Toyota dealerships; think that's the case). So, Toyota is about to run over GM.

Next thing, Hummer will demand a "sub-Theta". If and when Buick and Saab get one.

I think the Cobalt sedan's lights fit Pontiac perfectly.