Car Throttle

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

Hurst and Pontiac have a long history over the years together, producing high-performance Pontiacs for the consumption of performance enthusiasts. The company was particularly big in the 1960's, heyday of the muscle car, modifying vehicles for AMC, Chrysler (Plymouth), Ford, Oldsmobile and Pontiac. It's fitting then that they would be producing two new models for Pontiac now. The models getting the Hurst treatment are the G8 and G6. The G6 seems like an odd one but the G8 is perfect for it, with it's excellent RWD performance. Limited edition? You bet.  Called the 2010 Hurst/Pontiac H.O and referred to as the "Executive Hot Rod", there is to be only 52 of the cars produced. A lot of the details are set to be released on August 1st, but we do know a

Pontiac is a dying brand and everyone knows it. It has a year left and GM has made clear (especially before the last few weeks) that it was on the chopping block and there was nothing that would keep the brand from being cut. In the midst of all that negative press (not to mention a lack of advertising), sales of at least one Pontiac vehicle are up by huge percentages. That vehicle is the G8. Compared with May 2008, sales of the RWD sports-sedan are up 68.3 percent to 3,071 units. That's a big number, the biggest ever for the G8. What could explain it? People finally checking out Pontiac and seeing a great product, or people who were planning to buy one and now are in a

With the the Impala SS and Cobalt SS Sedan being cut, it was only inevitable that more performance models would be cut as GM undergoes it's deep restructuring.  Unlike last time though (Cobalt SS Sedan) these cancellations make sense.   As Pontiac shuts down at the end of 2010, the G6 GXP is being cut entirely for the 2010 model year entirely. Makes sense, I don't imagine sales of Pontiac cars are going to be too hot in the coming months as the brand winds down. Cadillac has no such problem but sales of the STS and it's performance counterpart the STS-V have never been roaring. I think the cancellation of the STS-V  is a precursor to Cadillac cutting the model entirely. There has been persistent rumors that Cadillac will be combining the DTS/STS model lines into one model.

The cutting of Pontiac and Saturn has a lot of implications for various models and plants that produced those models. Nowhere is that more apparent then in Wilmington, Delaware. The plant produces two models; the Pontiac Solstice and Saturn Sky. Both are being cut and GM doesn't seem to have any plans for the plant in the future. If all goes to plan, this plant along with the jobs (and sales) that go with it will dissappear. GM CEO Fritz Henderson revealed on Monday something that - for once - is common sense! He said the company would be "very open" to a proposal on the plant and the tooling to produce the two roadsters. The Solstice and Sky have proved in their short lifetime to be successful

With the ink on the Pontiac death announcement barely dry, many are wondering about all the lost opportunities for GM's performance brand. Chevrolet has just launched the hot-selling and highly-anticipated Camaro without a Pontiac counterpart. ASC Creative Services is happy to oblige with their modifed-Camaro-turned Firebird Trans Am.  The car takes classic Pontiac cues and interprets them in an modern way. I particularly like the modern looking stainless-steel surrounds that frame the front end details. Helps make the design look more modern too. It didn't take much in the way of actual changes, but the look of the Camaro is transformed anyhow, clearly offering a throwback to Firebird Trans Am models of yore. This design has been created by company ASC Creative Services. ASC has been heavily involved in the auto industry, working heavily with General Motors in particular

Status updates on GM's brands continue rolling on in. Saab, Hummer and Saturn along with European brands Opel and Vauxhall are all up for sale. What isn't being offered up for sale is GM's North American Pontiac brand. The brand is scheduled to be phased out, not sold. Could someone change GM's mind about that? Apparently not. General Motors says it has received at least one offer for the brand. By who? You guessed it, the brand's dealers. This latest offer continues a recent trend of brand dealers attempting to buy their brands. It's a good idea in my opinion! The people that sell the cars own the brand. Makes sense! An ABC affiliate in Michigan reports that Jim Waldron, owner of Waldron Pontiac Buick GMC has proposed, along with six other investors, an offer to purchase

Edmunds' Inside Line wasn't kidding; Pontiac has indeed been cut as originally reported. The official announcement came today, along with a host of other more drastic restructuring measures that have been taken. It's not pretty, not pretty at all. Like I've said before, I thought this painful realigning was what government intervention was supposed to stave off? Guess not. Looks like General Motors is heading right toward Chapter 11. GM has included the cuts and changes as part of a update on the "Viability Plan" produced for the U.S Treasury on February 17th. A lot has changed since then, as evidenced by these new cuts. GM says it's an "accelerated timeline deeper cuts in several key areas  of GM's operations". That includes cutting Pontiac for good; it

This piece of news won't take long to figure out if it's true or not; Monday is only a few days away. The report by Edmunds' Inside Line doesn't come as a total surprise either. Pontiac was left out of GM's viability plan has a "core brand" and GM repeatedly has said all options were available for the other brands not included in those 4. Looks like Pontiac will be heading for the same fate as the others. The shocking thing is that Pontiac is GM's third largest division by volume. The brand sold 267,348 cars in 2008, behind only GMC's 376,996 and Chevrolet's 1,801,131. What was Pontiac's place though that couldn't be taken up by other brands? A dedicated performance brand; Chevrolet's SS models can take care of that. Niche brand;