Car Throttle

One of the casualties of the loss of the Pontiac brand was the Holden-sourced Pontiac G8. It was a critically acclaimed vehicle and sales began to pick up significantly once the brand's cut was announced. When asked about the possibility of a the G8 being sold as a Chevrolet, GM's CEO Fritz Henderson said that the reason was because he "doesn't like rebadges." Besides that comment not making sense for a variety of reasons, it was discouraging to hear that such a great product would not be sold here. Bob Lutz followed Fritz Henderson's comments by saying what everyone else thought - that it was "too good to waste." After getting everyone's hopes up with those comments, he responded soon after with “upon further review and careful

Well, that's that. It was nice while it lasted, eh? The Pontiac G8 is an excellent product, receiving critical acclaim for being a true performance vehicle for Pontiac. It could have opened a whole new chapter for the brand, but alas it was not to be. Blame the economy. If the business case ever worked for Pontiac (which I never thought it did), it certainly should work for Chevrolet as a new Caprice. Bob Lutz, seemed to agree when he said the G8 was just "too good to waste."  Today though, he walked back on those comments. Direct from GM's product guy - no. Not maybe, not we're considering it. He says it will not show up as a Caprice and now with his new "marketing hat" on that

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