GM plans to kill Pontiac brand after 83 years

A GM Pontiac vehicle sits on the lot of a General Motors Corporation dealership November 3, 2008 in Troy, Michigan.

[Native]

Good riddance. My first new car was a Pontiac and it made such a great impression on me that I have never bought an American car since. It's a shame that my tax money is now going to support a failing industry. I doubt that there are many in the US who feel this is a good thing. We voted for "change" (well you did, I voted for McCain). Change can be for the worse as well. Lesson learned for all of you young voters.

[kma]

5 years ago GM shut down Oldsmobile; now it shuts down Pontiac; that leaves GM with only the low grade Chevrolet and the high grade Buick and Cadillac. Or does that mean that Buick will now become mid-grade?

Then again, all the GM cars are low grade so it doesn't really matter - just a whole bunh of union plants closed ;<)

[Mike]

It's about time. I hated those Grand Am cars whenever I got one as a rental car.

[Illegals are ILLEGAL]

Why stop there? GM is unproductive, let our tax money go elsewhere.

[No cool aid for me]

Another polluting, global warming, energy guzzling, big industry product leaving the scene. This should make the enviro-pagans and liberals very happy. Who needs a job anyhow? Prez B.O. is bringing hope and change to us all and the leftists in Sacramento can now focus on new ways to raise taxes.

[bjv]

I wanted to buy GM vehicles, so several years ago I bought a nice little Grand Am. Soon the directional signal broke off, one of the door handles broke, the glove compartment malfunctioned. I'm now happy with my Honda.

[Ray]

I am glad I canned most of my Trans Ams. GM is done stick a fork in them.

[Fred PV]

Glad to see the American spirit of supporting American brands is still such a high priority! Pontiac does suck, but I for one hate to see more American jobs being lost.

[BchGirl]

Fred PV wrote:

Glad to see the American spirit of supporting American brands is still such a high priority! Pontiac does suck, but I for one hate to see more American jobs being lost.

Oh please! American companies have been shipping US jobs oversees for years. Don't play the patriotic guilt trip on us because we want to spend our money wisely. Supporting an American BRAND does not mean we're supporting American JOBS. Buying a Pontiac supports other countries and big fat corporate bonuses. Honda, VW and Nissan on the other hand make their cars HERE! The Accord has not lost quality and it's made in the USA, for at least a couple decades I believe. GM should learn a thing or two from them.

From CNN:

Unfortunately, the 2004 model year reintroduction of the Pontiac GTO name on a performance coupe imported from Australia didn't result in big sales. So far, the Pontiac G8, a rear-wheel-drive four-door sedan also imported from GM's Australian Holden division, hasn't been a sales success either despite good reviews.

GM quietly introduced the Pontiac G3, which had been sold in Canada only. Once again, Pontiac was selling a rebadged Chevrolet product, this time the Korean-built Aveo subcompact car.

[25 year fiero owner]

GM screwed up the Pontiac Fiero 25 years ago too. They had no faith in the project and forced Pontiac to put out an incomplete car with engineering compromises such as manual steering instead of power steering.

The Fiero should have had power assist steering from the very beginning. In order to parallel park the car or to maneuver it when it is sitting still in a tight parking spot, a person can't turn the steering wheel with one hand/arm easily without having to use both hands/arms and have to really force the wheel since it was so heavy and stiff. It was a real work out for sure. I tried to parallel park it once and never did that again.

Pontiac never listened to the customers who complained about the car's hard steering at low speed and they should have been ashamed for putting out a car with a major fault like that.

Car and drivers critics called the Fiero's heavy steering "its worst fault" in a 4/88 issue. They called the steering "numb", "Novacained until stuporous" in an 11/84 article.

Over 52 percents of the Fiero's sales were to women and they were very sensitive to the heavy steering and Pontiac never made any effort to improve the car's steering effort and it helped contributed to the demise of the car. The other factors that helped killed the car was engine fire recall, high insurance rates and numerous quality problems.

Twenty five years ago, GM didn't care about quality and it lost customers in droves and if you look at its past history, it is not hard to understand now why it might go bankrupt.

I still own the Fiero with all of its faults but not as a daily driver because the car is now a classic.

[Slimey]

bjv wrote:

I wanted to buy GM vehicles, so several years ago I bought a nice little Grand Am. Soon the directional signal broke off, one of the door handles broke, the glove compartment malfunctioned. I'm now happy with my Honda.

Everything you listed are directly related to the human interface - are you sure you weren't just too rough on your car? I've had a Honda and currently drive a Grand Am, wife drives Grand Prix. Both brands have been reliable.

[gm fan]

I have owned 2 pontiacs and both were great cars. I torn as to wheather I should keep my grand prix or trade it now> thoughts?

[Native]

gm fan wrote:

I have owned 2 pontiacs and both were great cars. I torn as to wheather I should keep my grand prix or trade it now> thoughts?

Your Grand Prix is worthless. I suggess that you run it into the ground since you'll never recover anything close to what you paid for it. Buy a Toyota! Most of them are manufactured in the US.

[gm fan]

too plain. Looked at both Toyota adn Honda and found nothing. Leaning towards ford or nissan

Native wrote:

<quoted text>

Your Grand Prix is worthless. I suggess that you run it into the ground since you'll never recover anything close to what you paid for it. Buy a Toyota! Most of them are manufactured in the US.

[2000 Firebird]

I have a firebird. Its the best thing that ever happened to me. My mom owns a new grand prix and it AWESOME. Suck on it. Pontiac FOREVER!!

[Illegals are ILLEGAL]

gm fan wrote:

too plain. Looked at both Toyota adn Honda and found nothing. Leaning towards ford or nissan
<quoted text>

Have you checked out any Kias? Thats what we got after a couple a months of looking around, I really wanted a Dodge caravan but at $33,000 I couldnt swing one, comparable kia Sedona,$ 19,000 and one of the best safety records of any cars.

just a thought. they have some real pretty looking curvy little cars too.

[Tom]

OK, it's time for all the UAW people to go to bed.You need to get your sleep for the long day ahead. Remember be sure and thank your lawyers for costing your jobs. Do you really feel that your union leaders care? Give me a break. They take all the money and save their jobs while you do all the work. Nighty Night.