Car Throttle

Bob Lutz, bearer of good news! He is fresh off his “unretirement” and back, better than ever. The reshuffling retains his position as Vice-Chairman of GM and actually adds responsibilities: he’s in charge of “creative elements of products and customer relationships.”

Bob Lutz is known famously in the auto industry for his propensity to speak his mind, and that hasn’t changed.

Pontiac’s G8 has seen new life in it’s sales numbers since the announcement about the Pontiac brand cancellation. Clearly the product has potential; it was critically acclaimed in the press. Not only that, there is multiple other reasons for keeping the car, like Australian production revenue that is vital to GM’s Holden subsidiary.

The logical reasons are there, which is why the response of GM’s CEO Fritz Henderson was curious. When asked about moving the Pontiac G8 to another brand he responded by saying he wasn’t “(isn’t) a fan of rebadging”. As I’ve said before, if it’s no longer being produced by Pontiac it’s not a rebadge. That’s like saying it’s a rebadge because it’s sold as a Holden in Australia. Even if it was though, I think we can let a rebadge slide for for just this one instance. What do you guys think? *Wink*

Here’s the quote, directly from “Maximum Bob” himself:

“The last time we looked at [the G8], we decided that we would continue to import it as a Chevrolet,” Lutz said. “It is kind of too good to waste.”

Indeed! Given that the Holden Commodore is sold as the Chevrolet Caprice in international markets, it would make sense to do the same with the car here as well. Long live the Pontiac G8!