It's Official: Pontiac Will Be Phased Out by 2010

I wish it looked MORE like the Holden version.

^^ They sell it as a chevy and it looks pretty much the same.I'd never buy my car as a chevy

For some reason, I have always loved Poncho's. We all knew it was comming, but it sucks to hear it anyways.

Assuming they survive, I'm going to have to start looking at hemi's next time I'm in the market.

Maybe they Hummer is easier to separate off and sell. Pontiac is rebadging of other brands (even the G8 and Solstice). Hummer isn't.

"I'd never buy my car as a chevy"

Why in the world not?

"Pontiac is rebadging of other brands. Hummer isn't."

Actually, the H3 is the same as the Colorado/Canyon. Both have the same frame and engine. So to say Hummer isn't part of GM rebadging isn't necessarily true.

I do hope the G8 lives on as an Impala SS of the future. I doubt it, though - GM has had a lot of success with the Impy as a front wheel drive vehicle. Cadillac will probably get all the RWD sedans.

Wonder what will happen with the Solstice/Sky? Perhaps it could live on as a Chevrolet or Buick?

I hope the G8 becomes a Chevy when the new Holden Commodore comes out. I've been thinking of buying one.

In my lifetime, Pontiac has generally produced ugly, cheap feeling cars. Its only recently with the G8 that there was a Pontiac that piqued my interest.

The rest of my experience with Pontiac involves Sunfires, Vibes and Montana's - enough said I guess.

I hope the G8 becomes one badass Buick!

Anyone wanna take a guess to where the Solstice/Sky are gonna go now that both Saturn and Pontiac are dead?

Equip it with a better interior, make the Sky even more edgy, and refine it a bit, and you've got a nice luxury roadster for Cadillac perhaps?

they announced that the platform for the solstice and sky will be discontinued after the current model cycle quite some time ago, when all this started to hit the fan.

I wonder if you can get a good deal on G8 GTs these days... Warranty? What's going to happen there?

I have owned many pontiacs an were always more exciting.. Pretty soon everyone will be driving boring, plain vanilla honda/toyotas...
Lets all by honda fits and pray to god you dont get hit..

"Lets all by honda fits and pray to god you dont get hit.."

You remember the Aveo, right? Yeah... the Aveo...

"I wonder if you can get a good deal on G8 GTs these days... Warranty? What's going to happen there?"
I'm sure you can get a good deal on G8 GT's now. There has been a $3000 rebate on them all month, and I sure don't see that going down anytime soon. Since it hasn't been a particularly good seller, there's a really good supply on dealer lots and I can't imagine why they wouldn't want to move them - even more now that it's official.
Warranty should be no problem. When Oldsmobile was discontinued, other GM dealers simply picked up their warranty. And, since most Pontiac dealers also sell Buicks and GMC's, many of them will stay in business. (It's a little concerning that GM will have cut their dealer numbers almost in half in 2 years. If you live in a market that has several GM dealers or a very small market with only 1, I'm guessing you'll see some changes.)
Resale value will be the killer. Once Olds was gone, the word was that a 2-year-old Olds was worth about the same as a 5-year-old Buick. If you buy a Pontiac and plan to keep it forever, I suspect you will be able to do very, very well with a purchase. If you usually trade every 2-4 years, however, you should be very careful.

You can already get Pontiac warranty service done at a Chevy dealer. Unless GM sells Pontiac, they're still obligated to warranty the vehicle and will likely do so at all GM franchises.

Why is closing dealerships such a good thing for GM? I've been wondering this for some time. You don't see Wal-Mart closing stores to be more profitable; it seems like more dealers would be a boon- more places for people to see cars and want to buy them! And that's a shame about Pontiac. I think they could have made a good business case selling both lower cost (vibes & such) and high performance (G8 & Solstice) in the BPG group, but apparently more knowledgeable folks found evidence to the contrary.

Pontiac volume is very decent in the Midwest.
This is going to hurt GM.
Will GM be able to hold onto even 30% of their Pontiac customers?

Personally, I thought it would've been easier to dissolve GMC since it has always appeared to be little more than slightly fancier Chevys with a better option list, and considering trucks aren't exactly popular right now, I just "knew" GMC would be getting the axe. And I've been waiting for Buick to be knocked off right behind Oldsmobile. They have what 3 cars in their lineup, and none of them particularly great. Buick hasnt had a memorable performance car since the Grand National and as far it benig a luxury brand, it doesnt have anything to make it stand out. Lucerne? LaCrosse? Enclave? Nice cars, but in a world of Lexus, Infiniti, Audi, Mercedes, BMW, etc, nothing memorable. GM has Cadillac and that division appears to be getting noticed with the CTS.I guess as long as older people are buying them they see a potential profit in Buick--I saw the Pontiac Soltice and G8 as signs of life in GM and was looking forward to a serious performance branch, but I guess we have to see what happens with next.

Buick = big sales in China. They're not exactly the same cars, but the brand is very valuable there. It might have gotten the axe in addition to Pontiac if it hadn't been for that.

Curious, though, why GM didn't just sell Buicks in China and discontinue the nameplate in the USA.

If they didn't have to worry about so many dealer lawsuits, I wonder if GM would have discontinued the entire Buick-Pontiac-GMC group?

sandcountry,

The difference between Walmart stores and car dealerships is that, generally, Walmart doesn't over-saturate areas with too many stores. Whereas, most car dealerships were founded on business models that are decades old and over-populate areas. Look in your city and see how many dealerships sell the same products. They're competing directly with each other to sell that same product. The manufacturer's have been trying to get a handle on this problem for awhile now, but it seems to be too big of a beast to tackle that easily.

IMHO, the dealer franchise system is one of the weak links in the entire auto industry.

I honestly don't understand people like G8GTnorth and those moparbad mentioned, who wouldn't buy the exact same car just because it had a different (though equal market level) badge. Really? I honestly can't comprehend that.

I'd love to see the G8 be the next Impala, but who knows if GM even is going to replace it? It is ancient, yet there aren't even rumors out there of what could be next. The FWD version did well, but since the Malibu is almost the same size, does Chevy really need a larger FWD sedan? RWD would at least differentiate it. Personally, I think the best place would be as the top of the line Buick, with nicer trim. Sadly, I doubt Government Motors CEO Obama would allow for any new model to not be a slow, ugly, overpriced green machine for the liberal elite.

As for the Sky and Solstice, that platform has already been confirmed dead, due to the fact that even though the Sky and Solstice sticker for much more than a Miata, GM still loses money on them. Maybe we'll get a replacement on a shortened Alpha platform, with a high end model for Buick or Caddy and a low end model for Chevy. Then again, Obama will probably kill that too.

Didn't GM have over 300K employees 2 years ago? It's astonishing what they've accomplished already.

I really don't understand why GM decided to discontinue Pontiac. It was the 3rd most selling brand for them internationally (behind Chevrolet and GMC).

They should have discontinued Buick since I really don't perceive much of a difference between a GMC and Buick vehicle. Most Buick models share the same chassis, engine, transmission and suspension as a relative GMC vehicle. Therefore the handling, ride and reliability of the vehicles rarely differ. Then again the same can be said for Chevrolet.

If they had to focus on 4 key brands it should have been:

Chevrolet (the brand with the most diverse model line-up)

GMC (A brand that represents higher quality fit and finishes when compared to a comprable Chevy...IE Tahoe vs Yukon Denali)

Cadillac (The apex brand that represents the best blend in luxury and performance)

Pontiac (Restructured to offer high performance vehicles that are designed to compete head on with more expensive brands like BMW, but at a lower cost)

Since it's too late to save Pontiac I hope they make a new Impala with the same engine and chassis as the G8.

@stovt001,

Why? Because from my earliest days, I've loved the red dart. I don't know why but I have.

Yes I know my car is really just a warmed over Holden, but it fits the Pontiac image that I have in my head, it works for me. When I think Poncho I think this:

See: Jalopnik http://jalopnik.com/5229443/the-ten-greatest-pontiacs

Pontiac was never supposed to entertain the same market level as Chevy. It was fast, affordable "luxury", sometimes rough around the edges, exciting, and where applicable, bad-ass. Just above Chevy, below Buick. Plus it's always had a niche-ish quality to it.

I can't stereotype Chevy's and point to that as to why I dislike them, but they've never spoken to me the same way. I just don't love them the way I do Pontiac's.

Considering this was my first car, I can't think of another current offering, price no object, that puts a bigger sh*it-eating grin on my face and half of that is that it's my very own bad-ass Poncho.

g8gtnorth,

I'm sure people said the same thing when brands like Studebaker, Willys, AMC, and DeSoto went away. I'm also sure that those people continued to buy GM, Chrysler, and Ford products after that as well.

I'm sorry for your loss, but don't let that effect your decision to buy another GM product. They DID make all those cars you loved. You can at least show your support of what they gave you in the past.

If all else fails, put the red dart badge on the new Impala SS.

flicmod,

Fair point. I may just have to, after all I did buy the G8 instead of the Hemi.

I'd hope to never abandon the General, but he's not making any large 2-4 door, 5 seater, rear-wheel, "large" displacement V8, Buicks and Cadillacs on the cheapish.

Before you all get started, yes the CTS-V and STS-V are "almost" all of those, but budget is always an issue, and to be honest, the CTS is a little small for my tastes.

I think it'd be silly for GM NOT to slide the G8 over under the Chevy brand. People dig it. It's fairly inexpensive considering the content. And it's more practical than a Camaro, which would mean it'd garner the attention of more common buyers.

If I were you (and GM made this move) I'd definitely buy the Chevelle (that's what I'm calling it right now, as I like the idea of a Chevelle throwback). The Charger wouldn't even be in the running for me. Chevelle is where my money would go.

@g8gtnorth

I was debating whether to go with the G8 or the Hemi myself, but since Pontiac's now gone and Chrysler's future is unknown I've held back on my purchase.

What made you choose the G8 over the Charger or Challenger? Just curious. Their all great cars.

DCuerpoJr, Buick makes cars too. Those customers won't move to Chevy (or Pontiac). Pontiac customers are more likely to move to Chevy.

They're better off merging Buick and GMC into a single brand. They're under the same roof already, just remove the duplicates.

@ brn

"They're better off merging Buick and GMC into a single brand. They're under the same roof already, just remove the duplicates."

I was just thinking that too. And...you may be right about Pontiac customers moving over to Chevy products.

So in the end is it best to have only 3 GM brands?

Chevrolet, GMC, & Cadillac?

I'm still going to miss the G8...maybe it'll be the basis for the next Impala.

@DCuerpoJr

Couple of things. The G8 feels more athletic than an R/T. I liked the interior better, as well as the seats. I didn't want to pay extra for an LSD on the hemi's.

I live in a heavily urbanized area and sit in traffic alot, much as I'd like a manual, it didn't make sense. G8 has an extra gear.

And well, to be honest, pound for pound, the G8 GT is faster than the R/T, as well as 90% of the German machinery around here. ;) I love the whole "I just got dusted by a Pontiac?!?!?" thing.

That and my unrequited Pontiac love.

I think the G8 would enjoy much more sale success with Chevy anyway. It was critically well liked, and seeing how many Chargers are on the road, the market has a fairly healthy demand for large 4 door RWD sedans. The problem is no one knew about the G8. It wasn't marketed, because GM couldn't afford to market 8 brands. Hopefully now with 4 (still too many) they can afford to market their nice new products properly.

Its just sad to think that Pontiac, one of the most ground-breaking and founding American car companies is out of business I mean how long till chevy, gmc, dodge, geez even ford go out hopefully not but with how things are going soon everybody will drive things that look the same. I think rebadging is what GM does and it hurts them tremendously. I think GM needs to re think how they design cars and make them different (I.e Sierra and silverado)

Its just sad to think that Pontiac, one of the most ground-breaking and founding American car companies is out of business I mean how long till chevy, gmc, dodge, geez even ford go out hopefully not but with how things are going soon everybody will drive things that look the same. I think rebadging is what GM does and it hurts them tremendously. I think GM needs to re think how they design cars and make them different (I.e Sierra and silverado)