Pontiac to Drop the Gto Again

GM needs to have once again their own engines. If GM would have never left racing back in 1963 and continued to let pontiac go like they did and win race after race, there would have been nothing touch them. GM has made too many mistakes that now has come to light and very costly.
I know that expense is the problem but GM was better off when each division had their own motor division, and more competition. That is what consumers liked about GM. You could get a chevrolet or a pontiac or a oldmobile or a buick or a cadillac or a gmc etc. Now they are too much like ford or chrysler.
Again I know cost is the problem but too may cars look too much alike, and each division should have their own specialty car. Pontiac should have the only Solstice. Saturn needs to stay an import fighter like they were intended for. Not to squeeze in between pontiac and buick. That is a wrong move.
I don't know what you intend to do GM but get the GTO back and the firebird and lets move ahead like a company your size should do.
You need folks like me to guide you and if that don't work then I guess close up shop.
signed A true to GM and Pontiac Motor Division. Hank

henry t webb wrote:

GM needs to have once again their own engines. If GM would have never left racing back in 1963 and continued to let pontiac go like they did and win race after race, there would have been nothing touch them. GM has made too many mistakes that now has come to light and very costly.
I know that expense is the problem but GM was better off when each division had their own motor division, and more competition. That is what consumers liked about GM. You could get a chevrolet or a pontiac or a oldmobile or a buick or a cadillac or a gmc etc. Now they are too much like ford or chrysler.
Again I know cost is the problem but too may cars look too much alike, and each division should have their own specialty car. Pontiac should have the only Solstice. Saturn needs to stay an import fighter like they were intended for. Not to squeeze in between pontiac and buick. That is a wrong move.
I don't know what you intend to do GM but get the GTO back and the firebird and lets move ahead like a company your size should do.
You need folks like me to guide you and if that don't work then I guess close up shop.
signed A true to GM and Pontiac Motor Division. Hank

Squeeze between Pontiac and Buick? Wasn't that called an Oldsmobile?

The Goat will be back, better than ever. GM has so many awesome classic cars to choose from. The Toy Box is full, the competition doesn't have much to offer. Mustang's about it, Charger and Magnum are a joke. Yeah, they have a Hemi, but they don,t even resemble what they were. Daisey Duke never wanted a Challenger, why would you? It died after 5 years of hohum sales. Once GM gets the GTO right, it will blow past the DCX wantabe. What will the japanese retro a Celica? Not a 240Z, that was a Datsun. HaHa! GM rules in that Department, people will stand in line for a blast to the past.

Too much overlap. Sure, the GTO was a really cool car back in the day. But the G5/G6 overlaps the GTO market, and the Camero will too. They've gotten burned before basically competing against themselves, and are trying to get away from it. They were only selling like 10k a year GTOs, imported from Australia...

John wrote:

Too much overlap. Sure, the GTO was a really cool car back in the day. But the G5/G6 overlaps the GTO market, and the Camero will too. They've gotten burned before basically competing against themselves, and are trying to get away from it. They were only selling like 10k a year GTOs, imported from Australia...

You cant even spell camaro!

The idled GM/OKC,OK factory would be an excellent choice for the assembly of the next GTO and maybe the rumored Firebird. These musclecars should be built in the U.S.A., fan clubs and owners could assemble in OKC annually to celebrate the rebirth of these great cars. At the crossroads of the U.S., good highways like I40 and I35 would make access to the OKC plant easy. Plus historic Route 66 runs through OKC. Move over Bowling Green, KY, the Corvette factory doesn't have anything on us. Spring car meets and plant tours will create an excitement Pontiac hasn't seen in two decades. Long live the musclecar, we could easily transform the SUV factory into a musclecar showcase. The heartland is a perfect location.

Looks like you guys will be getting the latest version of The Holden Commodore badged as a G8 sometime in 08.

ommodore to become a Pontiac

Paul Gover

January 09, 2007 12:00am
Article from: Herald-Sun

THE Holden Commodore is cocked, locked and loaded for the US.
Australia's favourite car will be exported across the Pacific from 2008 to join the Pontiac line-up with General Motors in a $1.5 billion deal.

As many as 50,000 cars a year will be shipped.

The SS Commodore will be called the Pontiac G8, and will be priced in the mid-$25,000 range.

It will get some minor cosmetic and safety changes for US motorists.

GM's vice-chairman of production development Bob Lutz said the move was logical.

"We're seriously looking to import a lot of Commodore SSs in the guise of the Pontiac G8. Let's see how that goes," he said at the Detroit Motor Show yesterday.

"It's such a logical thing to do. The volume range is 30,000 to 50,000. It depends a little bit on how we price it."

Mr Lutz, who helped put the Holden Monaro into the Pontiac family as the GTO coupe, stopped just short of full confirmation of the significant export deal.

But he said full details would be revealed next month at the Chicago Auto Show.

"We haven't fully announced it. We have yet to make an official announcement," Mr Lutz said. "Much more will be revealed at the Chicago show."

Mr Lutz and GM Holden's chairman, Denny Mooney, outlined a plan that has been brewing since the early days of development of the VE Commodore.

It was designed with left-hand drive and export potential in the Middle East and China.

But the big objective was always to get the car into the US and to learn from the lessons of the Monaro deal, which never worked as well as hoped.

"While the GTO program might not have fulfilled all our hopes and dreams in terms of profitability, it did break the ice on global programs," Mr Lutz said.

"With the GTO we made a bit of a mistake.

"The deterioration in profitability through the appreciation of the Australian dollar, we passed on to the customer.

"It gets to be an oxygen-deprived environment. This time we're going to try very hard to keep the vehicle in the mid-$20,000s."

The VE Commodore will be the third major Australian export program to the US, following the Monaro and the Ford Capri convertible in the early 1990s.

The Capri failed partly because of quality problems and partly because of its price, but mostly because it ran head-on into the very successful Mazda MX-5.

It will allow GM Holden to challenge Toyota for export leadership in Australia, as its rival ships about 70,000 Camrys each year, mostly to the Middle East. Mitsubishi has much smaller export deals with the 380, and Ford also sends a limited number of Falcons and Territories overseas.

But Ford Australia has high hopes for the next all-new Falcon, timed for 2008, and will be engineering it with left-hand drive for the first time.

http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,2198...

Some more info and images:

http://www.holden.com.au/www-holden/action/mo...

http://www.holden.com.au/www-holden/action/mo...

You might even get the tricked up R8 that is done by Holden Special Vehicles (the perormance arm of Holden)

http://www.hsv.com.au/index_eseries.asp

GM lost all respect in the late 80's with the front drive junk cars. Lets be real and get back to V-8 and V-6 quality rear drive cars with substance. Doors that close with a sound of quality not disposability. A 3 year old GM product is worthless unless it was built prior to 85, why is that? Quality, finish, and workmanship. Corvette is the only GM product in America with any sense of pride and quality, it is embarassing for a country with our abilities.

Lawyer wrote:

GM lost all respect in the late 80's with the front drive junk cars. Lets be real and get back to V-8 and V-6 quality rear drive cars with substance. Doors that close with a sound of quality not disposability. A 3 year old GM product is worthless unless it was built prior to 85, why is that? Quality, finish, and workmanship. Corvette is the only GM product in America with any sense of pride and quality, it is embarassing for a country with our abilities.

The GTO was rear drive, Cadillac has rear drive models, but I guess you were too busy chasing an ambulance to notice.

Allthough i wasnt really happy with the new GTO design, I hate to see it go!
We had a good staring point. I think if they were going to bring it back it should of had more of a retro feel to it, It looked more like a grand am to me which isnt a knock on grand ams its just NOT GTO to me.

henry t webb wrote:

GM needs to have once again their own engines. If GM would have never left racing back in 1963 and continued to let pontiac go like they did and win race after race, there would have been nothing touch them. GM has made too many mistakes that now has come to light and very costly.
I know that expense is the problem but GM was better off when each division had their own motor division, and more competition. That is what consumers liked about GM. You could get a chevrolet or a pontiac or a oldmobile or a buick or a cadillac or a gmc etc. Now they are too much like ford or chrysler.
Again I know cost is the problem but too may cars look too much alike, and each division should have their own specialty car. Pontiac should have the only Solstice. Saturn needs to stay an import fighter like they were intended for. Not to squeeze in between pontiac and buick. That is a wrong move.
I don't know what you intend to do GM but get the GTO back and the firebird and lets move ahead like a company your size should do.
You need folks like me to guide you and if that don't work then I guess close up shop.
signed A true to GM and Pontiac Motor Division. Hank

You're right, Henry...the pontiac motor was far superior of an engine than the Chevy design and was winning everything in the 60's till GM's no racing policy for divisions killed that...what a big mistake...today the evolution and innovation of the basic chevy small block is one thing, but I cringe when I think what would have been if it was the pontiac design instead...it took innovative leaders in the pontiac division, guys like John Z DeLorean to fight the corporate leaders for a while, but then their lack of vision was too much to overcome...enjoy you camry...

anyone hot here lol
i am <3

john monroe wrote:

Allthough i wasnt really happy with the new GTO design, I hate to see it go!
We had a good staring point. I think if they were going to bring it back it should of had more of a retro feel to it, It looked more like a grand am to me which isnt a knock on grand ams its just NOT GTO to me.

IS THAT U!?!?!?!?!? LMAO!!!!!!!!!! hey

WHY??

Got My GTO.

Wasn't that a Beach Boys song???