Say farewell to Pontiac

Chuck Sivels of Springfield, Ohio, puts a final shine on his 1966 Pontiac GTO during a car show at Haydocy GMC on W. Broad Street.

[Tecumseh]

I reckon Pontiac got his last revenge. Thankfully, GM never exploited my name by naming a car brand after me.

[Lou]

This sums up the story of GM circling the drain:

"The vehicles weren't differentiated enough from Chevrolet," he said. "A lot of the Pontiac vehicles were versions of what were sold by Chevrolet and Buick, and people were unsure what Pontiac stood for. It was trying to be GM's sporty brand, but it was also selling minivans and SUVs."

GM simply badge engineered everything to the point where there only subtle differences between makes and models. A better plan might have been to streamline the Pontiac offerings and kill Buick instead.

[Mickey]

The G8 is made in Australia, the Torrent is made in Canada, the G3 is just a Chevrolet Aveo rebranded, and the Vibe is identical to the Toyota Matrix. I can understand how Pontiac had issues with brand loyalty. RIP

[Gordon]

The truth is Pontiac doesn't have to come to an end. Michigan dealer Jim Waldron has an investment group that wants to purchase the Pontiac brand. An independent, standalone Pontiac that would focus on the true image and heritage of Pontiac would be great. GM (owned in large part by the Federal Government) has refused to sell. They are stubborn and would rather scrap it than sell it.

[bigs]

sad

[Anonymous Clown]

Pontiac EV1's finally got Their REVENGE! They Are Laughing Tearfully. At Pontiac From Museums and junk yards! and A few in private collections. IT looks like one of their offspring The Chevrolet Volt will Really Have The FIRST last LAUGH!

[Don Leverton]

Let's see if I've got this straight...

They'e phasing out the Pontiac line, but KEEPING the Buick?

It's decisions like that that have led to the trouble GM is currently in!

[Jeff C]

Hurry up and catch this pontiac web explosion!!! Do not miss out on this opportunity to secure a future in a classic automotive company. Pontiac will be gone and people are going to want parts and old classic cars. Pontiac will be a super hot item on the market in the next few months. Act now!!!! http://www.dotpound.com/bid.html...

[Super Roo]

Always had a soft spot for Pontiac - the originators of the Muscle Car. Big fan of the GTO and first and second generation Firebirds. These cars captured hearts and minds not just in the US but around the world. They had charisma. A lot of what followed just looked plain sad to me. Thought the Monaro would have made a better Firebird than GTO. Also thought the G8 would prove to be a winner. Instead, it looks like you guys will soon all be driving front wheel drive "cars" made in India or the Phillipines. Hopefully we will hold out here a little bit longer as we still make our own five seater rear wheel drive sixes and eights. Ford tried to bring the Taurus out here a while back but it couldn't stake up to the local Falcon and the public ignored it. Our Turbo Falcons, by the way, will cane anything you guys have. Both in a straight line and around a track. They are that good. Best kept secret in the automotive world!

[Harry Tam III]

I am still absolutely aghast that GM killed Pontiac; almost half a year later, I still can't believe it. I've owned nothing but Pontiacs all my life. I've had a '66 Lemans, a '68 GTO, a '69 GTO, two '70 GTOs, a '73 Firebird Formula 400, and a '77 Trans Am. I now have an '84 Trans Am. I've owned only Pontiacs for over 30 years.

I understand that, back in April, GM had to kill either Buick or Pontiac. My question is: Why Pontiac? At the time, Pontiac was outselling Buick almost two-to-one. While Pontiac may have had a larger percentage of its production going to fleet sales than Buick did, at a two-to-one sales advantage, I'm very sure Pontiac still had more customers than Buick did. Did it ever occur to GM that killing Pontiac would anger more buyers than killing Buick would have? In other words, based on the numbers, I'm sure there were more loyal Pontiac owners than there were loyal Buick owners. I submit to you that with all the competition GM has, GM simply can't afford to be offending more buyers rather than less. I am strongly considering switching over to either Chrysler or Ford myself.

Some folks say well, Buick sells cars in China. Hey, that's not the only brand available there. Plus, I'm assuming Buick is getting lots of competition from Chinese brands like Chery. Also, Buick is surely much more expensive in China than the Chinese brands. To make matters worse, Buick is a more upscale make, making its cars more expensive still.

GM says Pontiac has been losing money for several years. You mean to tell me that Buick was MAKING money when it was selling about HALF the number of vehicles? I understand that with fleet sales, there's a lower profit per vehicle. But, not all of Pontiac's sales were fleet sales, obviously.

Some say that Pontiac had to go because it was too similar to Chevy. I say Buick had to go because it's too similar to Cadillac. In other words, while Pontiac may have cut into Chevy's sales, Buick surely is cutting into Cadillac's sales.

Pontiac had more models than Buick did. If I'm not mistaken, Buick had only three models when GM killed Pontiac. Also, if you watch NHRA drag racing on TV, Pontiacs are still racing, half a year after the brand's demise. There are ZERO Buicks racing. When the Pontiacs are racing, they're carrying the flag for GM. Often, both cars in a race are Pontiacs. Did GM consider the value of this?

I say GM made a monstrously bad decision to kill Pontiac rather than Buick. I'm unhappy enough about it to seriously consider Chrysler or Ford when I buy a new car. I can't bring myself to reward GM by buying one of its new cars.

[lfod]

Chalk up another success for bozo and goverment moters. Have you driven a Ford lately