North American Auto Industry Crisis news **Pontiac's Last Day (page 28)**
#642
The sizzle in the Steak
Thread Starter
#644
won't happen.
I think UAW trying to be a badass and playing hardball.
Fiat flat out said they won't do anything unless they lower their labor cost with 7 days(april 30th) if they fail to "no deal"
pretty much it's at a "stall"
Fiat saying we want lower labor cost. UAW saying we aren't working for a lower rate. but in my opinion UAW stupid because "the ship sinking" with Chrysler. Fiat was the last stop before bankrucy. i don't see any more negiations between UAW/Chrysler and Fiat.
I think Fiat will go back home to Italy and Europe and stay there.
I think UAW trying to be a badass and playing hardball.
Fiat flat out said they won't do anything unless they lower their labor cost with 7 days(april 30th) if they fail to "no deal"
pretty much it's at a "stall"
Fiat saying we want lower labor cost. UAW saying we aren't working for a lower rate. but in my opinion UAW stupid because "the ship sinking" with Chrysler. Fiat was the last stop before bankrucy. i don't see any more negiations between UAW/Chrysler and Fiat.
I think Fiat will go back home to Italy and Europe and stay there.
#645
Go Giants
But my 89 Pontiac Lemans was such as quality automobile...
#646
Oderint dum metuant.
Join Date: Mar 2005
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It's ok, I needed a laugh ![Big Grin](https://acurazine.com/forums/images/smilies/biggrin.gif)
Reminds me of the Continental tire plant in the county just west of us. Continental said if the union didn't accept the new contract (which was better than the old one, just not as much better as what the union wanted), they'd close the plant. The union told the workers to vote against the contract. They did. Continental closed the plant. The workers were shocked, whining and crying on the news about not having jobs. I wonder what they thought would happen. This can easily be extended to the Big 3; the unions need to get over themselves or the companies will go under and everyone will be SOL.
![Big Grin](https://acurazine.com/forums/images/smilies/biggrin.gif)
Fiat saying we want lower labor cost. UAW saying we aren't working for a lower rate. but in my opinion UAW stupid because "the ship sinking" with Chrysler. Fiat was the last stop before bankrucy. i don't see any more negiations between UAW/Chrysler and Fiat.
#648
Old fart
Wow...the rumors are gonna be true... GM rebadges too many vehicles between all their brands IMO... They could get rid of GMC also since all their vehicles have an exact Chevy equivalent
![Shrug](https://acurazine.com/forums/images/smilies/shrug.gif)
#649
how handsome I am
As much as I hate to admit it, it makes more sense to keep Buick. There are a lot more Chinese people who want a Buick than Americans who want a Buick or a Pontiac...hell, Buick and Pontiac combined! One billion Chinese people can't be wrong.
If GM has any sense (it is debatable), they'll rebadge the G8 somwhere.
The one I don't get is GMC. Every truck there has a Chevy counterpart; there's no need for it.
My thinking:
Chevy - regular cars, trucks, and SUVs
Buick - mid-range cars and SUVs
Cadillac - luxury cars and SUVs
Pontiac - performance cars; Solstice, G4, G6, G8, and Firebird
If GM has any sense (it is debatable), they'll rebadge the G8 somwhere.
The one I don't get is GMC. Every truck there has a Chevy counterpart; there's no need for it.
My thinking:
Chevy - regular cars, trucks, and SUVs
Buick - mid-range cars and SUVs
Cadillac - luxury cars and SUVs
Pontiac - performance cars; Solstice, G4, G6, G8, and Firebird
I really saw alot of potential in Pontiac after the solstice and G8 came out...
imagine, all RWD budget performance...
#650
Reminds me of the Continental tire plant in the county just west of us. Continental said if the union didn't accept the new contract (which was better than the old one, just not as much better as what the union wanted), they'd close the plant. The union told the workers to vote against the contract. They did. Continental closed the plant. The workers were shocked, whining and crying on the news about not having jobs. I wonder what they thought would happen. This can easily be extended to the Big 3; the unions need to get over themselves or the companies will go under and everyone will be SOL.
they are UAW but make the main lower bearings for Honda and some for General Motors. anyhow they were at about 22-25 bucks an hour. well the company came in said we're only gonna offer you 15-17 bucks an hour. they got all pissed off striked for 2 years. refused all offers. so now for over 2 years all our lower bearings have came from Japan. it cost more as far as shipping. but i think the company got tired of the UAW's bull stuff. and i talked with one guy that worked there he went to the last round of neigations. He flat out said he voted for the last offer. cause the company said "THIS IS OUR FINAL OFFER TAKE IT OR START APPLYING SOMEWHERE ELSE." everyone thought the company was bull shitting and they come back with a higher offer. well you see what happened.
#652
Administrator Alumnus
Welp... You can bet that if Chrysler goes down the UAW will have ZERO incentive to work with GM and even Ford. So you can bet that if this comes through, the shit will really hit the fan.
#653
Chloe @ 17mo
#654
I disagree with unanimity
iTrader: (2)
Apparently other publications weren't reading Jalopnik in February when we broke the news Pontiac would either die, or become some sorta zombie. Whichever it is, we've decided to run our eulogy, in its entirety, again. Welcome, friends. We're here today to bid farewell to GM's Pontiac. Once a re-badged middle ground between Chevy and Buick, it attempted to build excitement. Now, it is gone in a blaze of platform prostitution.
The Beginning
Pontiac started life as part of the General's mid-20s "companion" program, which the once-massive automaker implemented to create a sensible cost difference between their cars. Pontiac models were to be produced by then Oakland Motor Car Company, a quality six-cylinder line of cars, and designed to be placed between Chevrolet and Buick. Pontiac cars sold well but, when the market crashed, the companion program was discontinued, Oakland was folded and GM severely cut back on their offerings.
What helped Pontiac survive, beyond its popularity, was the cheap production cost attained by combining components with Chevrolet. When GM was forced to reduce itself to three divisions, Pontiac was rolled into Buick and Oldsmobile with dealers forced to sell all three if they were going to sell one. This would save the brands but set a precedent partially to blame for their inevitable downfalls.
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As a brand, Pontiac followed the movement of the market in design and offerings, eventually moving up to eight-cylinder engines including the 249 cubic-inch straight-eight, which served in Pontiacs until the mid 1950s. During this whole time what Pontiac always managed to keep was its sporty design, including the classic "speed streaks" along the fenders and other sharp metallic trim. Still, until the 1960s Pontiac remained an also-ran company.
The DeLorean Era
Pontiac's fortunes quickly changed under the management of Bunkie Knudsen and car enthusiasts-turned executives Pete Estes and John DeLorean. Knudsen had the vision to see Pontiac as something other than merely slightly nicer Chevrolets and the idea to bring young blood like Estes and DeLorean into the fold.
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This plan started out rather simply, with the introduction of a convertible based on the Pontiac Star Chief in 1957. The most expensive Pontiac to date, the car had a bored-out and powerful V8 and sharp looks. Though heavy and somewhat slow, the few cars produced were placed in dealerships and raised awareness of the brand's sporting nature. What would really turn on buyers came seven years later with the introduction of the Pontiac GTO.
The story, as repeated numerous times, goes like this: when GM put a ban on divisions participating in auto racing, Pontiac felt its newly cultivated image as a performance brand would be ruined. In order to win fans among gearheads DeLorean, along with a few others, decided to offer a Pontiac Tempest with a 389 cubic-inch V8 as an "option" package hoping there would be a market for a racer's engine in a teacher's car. The name came from DeLorean's appreaciate of the Ferrari acronym for a homolgated race car. It was a gutsy move but one that paid off huge.
<object class="left gawkerVideo embeddedVideo" height="311" width="506">
<embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/6QmYgpqLlsk&hl=en&fs=1&fmt=22" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" class="left gawkerVideo" height="311" width="506"></object>
The rest of the 60s included a consolidation of the brand's concept, though they continued to sell vehicles with less power and less performance. In 1968, the Pontiac Firebird would give the brand a Camaro-based pony car and in 1971 the Pontiac Firebird Trans Am would set the name for a long history of performance cars. And then the 1970s happened.
High on success, Pontiac attempted to show up Chevy in the 1970s by doing more, which meant more production and more competitive pricing. Unfortunately, this movement of Pontiac models all around confused buyers and the company's sales sagged. The rapid increase in gas prices and the Malaise Era didn't help either. Pontiac didn't have a small car and had to readapt the Chevy Nova into a Ventura. The performance brand would soon become more and more the other Chevy, though not especially luxurious or perceptibly sportier. With the exception of the Firebird Trans Am, there wasn't much to be excited about.
Driving Excitement
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The 1980s would prove equally uninteresting with two exceptions: the continued production of the Firebird and the Pontiac Fiero. The Fiero was innovative — as far as 'merican cars were concerned. It had been decades since an American automaker built a two-seater, mass production car other than Corvette. It was also the first mid-engine production car to come out of Detroit. But innovation can't be rushed, and what was actually produced was cool to look at but miserable and uncomfortable to drive. By 1988 the car was sorted out, but it wouldn't matter. It was already dead.
The exciting promise of the Fiero, though never fully fulfilled, did inspire Pontiac in the 1990s to at least mimic what they once were. The new Firebird, though funky, had its appeal among American muscle car fans. The redesigned Pontiac Grand Am added athletic flair to boring GM platforms, helping the brand to become a sales success again. Even the Bonneville, which had sunk to unsexy lows, got a new rounder treatment with cat's-eye headlights and almost a Hoffmeister Kink at the rear. The addition of the SSEi supercharged model almost created a true competitor to foreign makes.
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Unfortunately, by the late 1990s any sense of a performance-orineted brand faded away. The new lines of the early 90s were bloated into the ugly body-cladding we all learned to hate. Rather than offering sportier Chevys, the brand started offering uglier Chevys.
By the mid-2000s this turned into perhaps the ugliest Pontiac of the modern era: the fifth-generation Pontiac GT, which was a misshaped, FWD, underpowered, ugly coupe with as much cladding as you could possibly imagine and had one of the worst car interiors ever.
2000s: A Decade Of Promise And Peril
The one bright spot for Pontiac in the first half of the 2000s was the Holden Monaro-based Pontiac GTO, which was a good idea poorly executed — seeing a pattern here? America wanted a RWD, V8-powered sporty monster as proven by the recent move towards vehicles like the new Camaro, Mustang and Challenger. Sadly, rather than remaking a new car here in America to satiate this desire they merely imported Australian-built cars and slapped a new grille on them. They were a flop, but once again hinted at what would come.
If we're generous, the GTO was a place holder for what GM hoped to rebuild the brand into — the definition of performance. The Pontiac Solstice, though not an amazing performer and a shared-platform ride, was consistent with the brand's image. Even better was the introduction of the Pontiac G8, which brought the promise of an impressively performing RWD American sedan. In G8 GT and G8 GXP trims it's a world-class car. Then, last year, they announced the Pontiac G8 ST sport truck and we were on cloud nine.
<object class="left gawkerVideo embeddedVideo" height="311" width="506">
<embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/W29zZXiBsPw&hl=en&fs=1&fmt=22" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" class="left gawkerVideo" height="311" width="506"></object>
Pontiac seemed ready to move away from the boring, Chevy-derived products like the G5 and G6. We could sense a new future. We really were going to be driving excitement. And then the Carpocalypse happened.
Pontiac announced it would be killing the Pontiac G8 ST and bringing a rebadged Aveo to the market as a Pontiac G3. Also, word came down GM was killing the Pontiac G8 altogether. Unlike the transition from the 1960s to the 1970s, Pontiac's death spiral appears it will occur almost immediately after its first steps in the right direction.
We're hearing the Pontiac nameplate will live on but not as a separate brand and on what products and in what form we we don't yet know. Is the General right to kill the brand now? Would Americans truly embrace great, RWD American cars once again? Are we better off getting less? There's no way to be for sure, but in our minds GM is killing the brand as soon as it was starting to again build a reputation and a following.
Here's to Pontiac. It wasn't always the sporty, high-performing brand it set out to be but, at least, it set out to be something more. To properly serenade the brand we've included the lyrics from Lyle Lovett's song "Pontiac" from the album of the same name:
The Beginning
Pontiac started life as part of the General's mid-20s "companion" program, which the once-massive automaker implemented to create a sensible cost difference between their cars. Pontiac models were to be produced by then Oakland Motor Car Company, a quality six-cylinder line of cars, and designed to be placed between Chevrolet and Buick. Pontiac cars sold well but, when the market crashed, the companion program was discontinued, Oakland was folded and GM severely cut back on their offerings.
What helped Pontiac survive, beyond its popularity, was the cheap production cost attained by combining components with Chevrolet. When GM was forced to reduce itself to three divisions, Pontiac was rolled into Buick and Oldsmobile with dealers forced to sell all three if they were going to sell one. This would save the brands but set a precedent partially to blame for their inevitable downfalls.
<object class="left gawkerVideo embeddedVideo" height="311" width="506">
<embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/h98mzl3NVn8&hl=en&fs=1&fmt=22" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" class="left gawkerVideo" height="311" width="506"></object>
![](http://cache.gawker.com/assets/images/jalopnik/2009/04/h98mzl3NVn8.jpg)
The DeLorean Era
Pontiac's fortunes quickly changed under the management of Bunkie Knudsen and car enthusiasts-turned executives Pete Estes and John DeLorean. Knudsen had the vision to see Pontiac as something other than merely slightly nicer Chevrolets and the idea to bring young blood like Estes and DeLorean into the fold.
<object class="left gawkerVideo embeddedVideo" height="311" width="506">
<embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/_Vrc2b5qtLk&hl=en&fs=1&fmt=22" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" class="left gawkerVideo" height="311" width="506"></object>
![](http://cache.gawker.com/assets/images/jalopnik/2009/04/_Vrc2b5qtLk.jpg)
The story, as repeated numerous times, goes like this: when GM put a ban on divisions participating in auto racing, Pontiac felt its newly cultivated image as a performance brand would be ruined. In order to win fans among gearheads DeLorean, along with a few others, decided to offer a Pontiac Tempest with a 389 cubic-inch V8 as an "option" package hoping there would be a market for a racer's engine in a teacher's car. The name came from DeLorean's appreaciate of the Ferrari acronym for a homolgated race car. It was a gutsy move but one that paid off huge.
<object class="left gawkerVideo embeddedVideo" height="311" width="506">
<embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/6QmYgpqLlsk&hl=en&fs=1&fmt=22" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" class="left gawkerVideo" height="311" width="506"></object>
![](http://cache.gawker.com/assets/images/jalopnik/2009/04/6QmYgpqLlsk.jpg)
High on success, Pontiac attempted to show up Chevy in the 1970s by doing more, which meant more production and more competitive pricing. Unfortunately, this movement of Pontiac models all around confused buyers and the company's sales sagged. The rapid increase in gas prices and the Malaise Era didn't help either. Pontiac didn't have a small car and had to readapt the Chevy Nova into a Ventura. The performance brand would soon become more and more the other Chevy, though not especially luxurious or perceptibly sportier. With the exception of the Firebird Trans Am, there wasn't much to be excited about.
Driving Excitement
<object class="left gawkerVideo embeddedVideo" height="311" width="506">
<embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/sT0IIoYkJaM&hl=en&fs=1&fmt=22" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" class="left gawkerVideo" height="311" width="506"></object>
![](http://cache.gawker.com/assets/images/jalopnik/2009/04/sT0IIoYkJaM.jpg)
The exciting promise of the Fiero, though never fully fulfilled, did inspire Pontiac in the 1990s to at least mimic what they once were. The new Firebird, though funky, had its appeal among American muscle car fans. The redesigned Pontiac Grand Am added athletic flair to boring GM platforms, helping the brand to become a sales success again. Even the Bonneville, which had sunk to unsexy lows, got a new rounder treatment with cat's-eye headlights and almost a Hoffmeister Kink at the rear. The addition of the SSEi supercharged model almost created a true competitor to foreign makes.
<object class="left gawkerVideo embeddedVideo" height="311" width="506">
<embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/1wnn6Igw0q8&hl=en&fs=1&fmt=22" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" class="left gawkerVideo" height="311" width="506"></object>
![](http://cache.gawker.com/assets/images/jalopnik/2009/04/1wnn6Igw0q8.jpg)
By the mid-2000s this turned into perhaps the ugliest Pontiac of the modern era: the fifth-generation Pontiac GT, which was a misshaped, FWD, underpowered, ugly coupe with as much cladding as you could possibly imagine and had one of the worst car interiors ever.
2000s: A Decade Of Promise And Peril
The one bright spot for Pontiac in the first half of the 2000s was the Holden Monaro-based Pontiac GTO, which was a good idea poorly executed — seeing a pattern here? America wanted a RWD, V8-powered sporty monster as proven by the recent move towards vehicles like the new Camaro, Mustang and Challenger. Sadly, rather than remaking a new car here in America to satiate this desire they merely imported Australian-built cars and slapped a new grille on them. They were a flop, but once again hinted at what would come.
If we're generous, the GTO was a place holder for what GM hoped to rebuild the brand into — the definition of performance. The Pontiac Solstice, though not an amazing performer and a shared-platform ride, was consistent with the brand's image. Even better was the introduction of the Pontiac G8, which brought the promise of an impressively performing RWD American sedan. In G8 GT and G8 GXP trims it's a world-class car. Then, last year, they announced the Pontiac G8 ST sport truck and we were on cloud nine.
<object class="left gawkerVideo embeddedVideo" height="311" width="506">
<embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/W29zZXiBsPw&hl=en&fs=1&fmt=22" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" class="left gawkerVideo" height="311" width="506"></object>
![](http://cache.gawker.com/assets/images/jalopnik/2009/04/W29zZXiBsPw.jpg)
Pontiac announced it would be killing the Pontiac G8 ST and bringing a rebadged Aveo to the market as a Pontiac G3. Also, word came down GM was killing the Pontiac G8 altogether. Unlike the transition from the 1960s to the 1970s, Pontiac's death spiral appears it will occur almost immediately after its first steps in the right direction.
We're hearing the Pontiac nameplate will live on but not as a separate brand and on what products and in what form we we don't yet know. Is the General right to kill the brand now? Would Americans truly embrace great, RWD American cars once again? Are we better off getting less? There's no way to be for sure, but in our minds GM is killing the brand as soon as it was starting to again build a reputation and a following.
Here's to Pontiac. It wasn't always the sporty, high-performing brand it set out to be but, at least, it set out to be something more. To properly serenade the brand we've included the lyrics from Lyle Lovett's song "Pontiac" from the album of the same name:
I park my pontiac
Down the hill out in back
Late every afternoon
With a coke and a cigarette
And all of the neighbors there
They see a nice old man And the girl there across the street
She sits on her front porch swing
She never realized
What I told her with my eyes
How back in the second war
I killed twenty German boys
With my own bare hands
And the woman inside my house
She won't stop talking
She never says a thing
She just keeps talking
And I might just leave her still
After the sun goes down
And I smoke this cigarette
Down the hill out in back
Late every afternoon
With a coke and a cigarette
And all of the neighbors there
They see a nice old man And the girl there across the street
She sits on her front porch swing
She never realized
What I told her with my eyes
How back in the second war
I killed twenty German boys
With my own bare hands
And the woman inside my house
She won't stop talking
She never says a thing
She just keeps talking
And I might just leave her still
After the sun goes down
And I smoke this cigarette
From Jalopnik
#655
AZ Community Team
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So What?
Say you take the G8 and keep manufacturing it, but with Chevy badges, same car, different lable.
Pontiac was supposed to be Niche/Performance, but the niche and the brand were terribly diluted: mini-vans, SUV/CUV's, Chevy Camaro, Chevy Corvette, Saturn Sky, etc, etc.
IOW - GM never let it be what it was supposed to be and it got lost in the GM crowd. If Pontiac has/had hot-sellers that were making good money, they'll be back in re-badged form.
Say you take the G8 and keep manufacturing it, but with Chevy badges, same car, different lable.
Pontiac was supposed to be Niche/Performance, but the niche and the brand were terribly diluted: mini-vans, SUV/CUV's, Chevy Camaro, Chevy Corvette, Saturn Sky, etc, etc.
IOW - GM never let it be what it was supposed to be and it got lost in the GM crowd. If Pontiac has/had hot-sellers that were making good money, they'll be back in re-badged form.
#656
I drive a Subata.
iTrader: (1)
stright paint water-S and AsianRage.. I don't know what to say to you guys. whatever.
IMO, Buick is pretty well positioned in the market at this moment.
After they acquired Tiger Woods endorsement, its brand image has gotten pretty solid in a good way. Also, its foothold in China is EXTREMELY big. Last time I checked, Buick was one of the biggest LUXURY car brands in China. It's definitely making some good profits from oversea markets.
IMO, Buick is pretty well positioned in the market at this moment.
![2 Cents](https://acurazine.com/forums/images/smilies/2cents.gif)
#658
I disagree with unanimity
iTrader: (2)
I think so, too. G8 sales have tripled since this time last year. The numbers still aren't that good, but they have been steadily increasing since then.
OTOH, Chevy is starting to go the way of high MPG and Buick is semi-luxo, so there really isn't a place for a inexpensive performance car in their lineup.
#660
I drive a Subata.
iTrader: (1)
Can someone please convince me why GMC is still in GM's restructuring plan? What is GM trying to do with GMC? Where is GMC positioned in the current market?
#661
I drive a Subata.
iTrader: (1)
#662
Whats up with RDX owners?
iTrader: (9)
I bet Jeep gets sold off, thats really the only company that can survive on its own. The new Dodge Ram is pretty nice, but Chryslers on a whole just suck. And I hope they manage to sell off the Viper brand. That would be sweet.
But, why the fuck is the government even helping them when they are owned by Cerberus? Cerberus pumped MILLIONS (or was it billions?) of dollars into a Canadian bank back in January yet they are asking the gov't to help them? Chrysler denied the latest bailout from the gov't because they werent willing to cut the executives pay. Then they turn a minivan into an EV and paint USPS shit on the side of it in an attempt to sell it to the govt? Fuck them. Let them die. MB was smart to unload them when they did. It's just a shame a company with no knowledge of the automotive industry picked them up (Cerberus). Nardelli was horrible at the helm of Home Depot, now hes doing the same fucking thing to Chrysler.
But, why the fuck is the government even helping them when they are owned by Cerberus? Cerberus pumped MILLIONS (or was it billions?) of dollars into a Canadian bank back in January yet they are asking the gov't to help them? Chrysler denied the latest bailout from the gov't because they werent willing to cut the executives pay. Then they turn a minivan into an EV and paint USPS shit on the side of it in an attempt to sell it to the govt? Fuck them. Let them die. MB was smart to unload them when they did. It's just a shame a company with no knowledge of the automotive industry picked them up (Cerberus). Nardelli was horrible at the helm of Home Depot, now hes doing the same fucking thing to Chrysler.
#663
Whats up with RDX owners?
iTrader: (9)
#664
6G TLX-S
Who's next ??
#665
Chloe @ 17mo
stright paint water-S and AsianRage.. I don't know what to say to you guys. whatever.
IMO, Buick is pretty well positioned in the market at this moment.
After they acquired Tiger Woods endorsement, its brand image has gotten pretty solid in a good way. Also, its foothold in China is EXTREMELY big. Last time I checked, Buick was one of the biggest LUXURY car brands in China. It's definitely making some good profits from oversea markets.
IMO, Buick is pretty well positioned in the market at this moment.
![2 Cents](https://acurazine.com/forums/images/smilies/2cents.gif)
I like Pontiac more than Buick.
![Dunno](https://acurazine.com/forums/images/smilies/dunno.gif)
I'll state again, that I do hope that they'll be able to bring over the Insignia AWD as is, cause that would make for a very exciting sedan offering.
#666
Chloe @ 17mo
#669
Whats up with RDX owners?
iTrader: (9)
#671
Trolling Canuckistan
#673
an asshole from florida
^even then they dont even have a brand identity.
pontiac/caddy/buick/saab/saturn/every other GM brand has some type of styling to it that lets every know its that brand. GMC is identical to chevy
pontiac/caddy/buick/saab/saturn/every other GM brand has some type of styling to it that lets every know its that brand. GMC is identical to chevy
#674
an asshole from florida
if the G6 didnt have such a shit interior Id consider one, I actually really like how they look. Dont get me started on the G8 that car is
hands down the nicest car in its segment dollar for dollar
![Rock Star](https://acurazine.com/forums/images/smilies/rockstar.gif)
#675
teh Senior Instigator
Join Date: Sep 2000
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G8 is already branded different things around the world (like the GTO, it was a Holden, Vauxhaull, and Chevy (branded as Chevy in the Middle East)....they will probably do the same w/ the G8
#677
Safety Car
Join Date: Mar 2004
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It's already been reported that GM/Holden has begun development of the next cycle Zeta platform, so the architecture isn't going anywhere. I predict that the next gen Zeta will still be sold in the NA market, but as a Chevy Imapla, a V8 performance option (a true Impala SS!). Though it's not sold in the NA market, there's also a very nice LWB Zeta that's sold as a Holden in Australia, a Buick in China, and the Chevy Caprice in the Middle east. I would not be surprised if the next gen RWD LWD Zeta come here as a Buick flagshiop sedan, rivaling the LS460L in size but priced as a "value alternative" to it. The nice thing is that with two separate wheelbases and unique styling, they would fill to needed cars in both brands' lineups. Anyway, killing Pontiac is the right decision. And GMC should really go, too. China is the second largest automarket in world, and Buicks are in HIGH demand over there. Chevy and Cadillac are GM's only other true global brands. It's the best business move. It's also GM's oldest brand now. As I've said before, with the right product and marketing, and just a little time, Buick could be great here again. No one would have predicted Lexus' success at it's inception, and look at them now. More recently, the CTS has almost single handily saved Caddy.
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#678
Racer
Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: Portland OR
Age: 41
Posts: 270
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After reading all of this, it truly is sad the amount of greed our country has ranging from CEOs and unions. They still want it all even when the ship is sinking. No one thinks they have to make sacrifices, some one else will. Guess what Chrysler and UAW retards, you sunk you own boat.
#679
Suzuka Master
Charliemike should be happy![Big Grin](https://acurazine.com/forums/images/smilies/biggrin.gif)
I just really hope the G8 stays and rebadged. Great car for the money.
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I just really hope the G8 stays and rebadged. Great car for the money.
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#680
6G TLX-S
But late last year, Ford did mention that if GM and Chrysler were to go down, most of the major part suppliers would also follow them that way, and as a result, Ford would too be dragged into the shit-hole because all these major suppliers supply parts to GM and Chrysler, as well as to Ford. Ford can't build anything even only as little as one part missing.