The purpose of Pontiac toward the end. (luxury, vehicle, truck)
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I saw this on another thread, and reintroduced question I often though when GM was going down the tubes last time; What exactly is the point of Pontiac?
The purpose was to be GM's Excitement/Enthusiast division. However, that mission statement got muddled because BPG dealers wanted cheap cars to sell to help keep revenues up so you got rebadged garbage like the G3 and G5, the Torrent, and the much maligned Aztec.
Hardcore enthusiasts missed the brand and view it through rose colored glasses but for every cool car like the GTO and G8, you had three or four phoned in hack jobs like the ones mentioned above.
So it is history because the government said something had to go so they could receive the bailout.
Back in the day it was a little bit more than that... the Firebird Firehawk was more powerful than any Camaro you could buy, the SLP packages were only sold for Pontiacs in the beginning. Chevy always got the performance stuff last, probably because their halo car is the Corvette, not the Camaro.
I think GM made a big mistake by killing Pontiac, they really should have killed off Buick instead since they already had Cadillac as their luxury division. But as Tourian said, Pontiac had too many models that were just rebadges at the end, they'd lost their niche.
Back in the day it was a little bit more than that... the Firebird Firehawk was more powerful than any Camaro you could buy, the SLP packages were only sold for Pontiacs in the beginning. Chevy always got the performance stuff last, probably because their halo car is the Corvette, not the Camaro.
I think GM made a big mistake by killing Pontiac, they really should have killed off Buick instead since they already had Cadillac as their luxury division. But as Tourian said, Pontiac had too many models that were just rebadges at the end, they'd lost their niche.
GM knows what there doing they are a billion dollar company. They have been in business a Long time.
GM knows what there doing they are a billion dollar company. They have been in business a Long time.
Thats why they were told by the government what to axe as they went bankrupt and marched towards the brink of insolvency?
Ok.
Truth be told, Pontiac was a redundant division with a couple nice performers. Nothing spectacular, and nothing that could not be sold under the Chevy brand.
Buick is a global brand which makes the company a lot of cash over in China, and was heading for a design language which would easily allow transition of future Saturn products based on European Opels into Buicks instead.
It was part of the GM marketing scheme for decades:
Chevy when you're young.
Olds when you had a bit more money.
Buick when you had even more money (that's why they were called "doctor's cars").
Cadillac when you'd really made it.
Pontiac to recapture your youth.
As a note, I knew older lawyers who would drive Olds or Buicks instead of Caddies. They said that a Caddie would remind that guy over there how much money the lawyer got for the guy's ex-wife. Not so much with an Olds or Buick.
Unfortunately Pontiacs claim to fame in the end was the Firebird ( later the GTO G6/8) but they really didn't have anything great that stood out. And by the time they did have something they were already on the chopping block. And pretty much all the Pontiacs had scoops, intakes, diverters, body cladding convoluted bubble dashes. In the later years they seemed to dump a lot of that stuff and cleaned up the designs. The only vehicle that remotely was even on the radar for me was the Trans Am. and that was only because I thought it looked better than the camaro. The GTO looked too much like a Grand Prix to me. Fast car with absolutely nothing setting it apart on the road. Pontiacs were just a basic GM chassi that was more "sporty" but IMO had a cartoonish Speed Racer look to the whole line up.
A long time ago I thought the last rendition of the Fiero had a cool look. Too bad they killed it. Now THAT could of been a contender. Mid engine RWD fiberglass. If they let that car evolve it would of made it
Quote:
Originally Posted by Vannort54
GM knows what there doing they are a billion dollar company. They have been in business a Long time.
Lol. GM was so bloated and top heavy they were failing anyway. UAW was eating them alive in bennies. Just because they are a big boy on the block doesn't mean they can't fail. They were dying a few years back. I think it was 008 where they discounted everything with employee pricing. My BIL bought a chevy crew cab diesel for 32k. That truck stickered at 44 something. They also took a huge bail out. And they dumped a lot of other car companies they held interest in.
Unfortunately Pontiacs claim to fame in the end was the Firebird ( later the GTO G6/8) but they really didn't have anything great that stood out. And by the time they did have something they were already on the chopping block. And pretty much all the Pontiacs had scoops, intakes, diverters, body cladding convoluted bubble dashes. In the later years they seemed to dump a lot of that stuff and cleaned up the designs. The only vehicle that remotely was even on the radar for me was the Trans Am. and that was only because I thought it looked better than the camaro. The GTO looked too much like a Grand Prix to me. Fast car with absolutely nothing setting it apart on the road. Pontiacs were just a basic GM chassi that was more "sporty" but IMO had a cartoonish Speed Racer look to the whole line up.
A long time ago I thought the last rendition of the Fiero had a cool look. Too bad they killed it. Now THAT could of been a contender. Mid engine RWD fiberglass. If they let that car evolve it would of made it
Lol. GM was so bloated and top heavy they were failing anyway. UAW was eating them alive in bennies. Just because they are a big boy on the block doesn't mean they can't fail. They were dying a few years back. I think it was 008 where they discounted everything with employee pricing. My BIL bought a chevy crew cab diesel for 32k. That truck stickered at 44 something. They also took a huge bail out. And they dumped a lot of other car companies they held interest in.
That's why I bought one. A car that doesn't scream look at me and has an LS2 under the hood.
GM knows what there doing they are a billion dollar company. They have been in business a Long time.
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