Report: Pontiac Dies on Monday
Pontiac is a General Motors division which, from the 1960s through the '90s, knew exactly what it was: "We build excitement" was their tagline, and most Americans believed that, and many of them bought Pontiacs.
Inside Line reports that, according to a source at General Motors, the company will announce next Monday its new "faster, deeper" reorganization plan, which will likely include a death sentence for the Pontiac brand.
Tom Wilkinson, news relations PR man for General Motors (and who has posted comments on this HuffPost blog), told Inside Line when contacted: "There's nothing I can share with you at this time. Keep your eyes on our media site. Officially, nothing has changed with Pontiac's niche-brand status, until you hear differently."
The one-time "Excitement" division and creator of legends such as the first musclecar, the GTO, and Firebird was relegated to "niche" or "specialty" brand status by General Motors in its first viability plan in December of last year.
The GTO musclecar reached its most outrageous iteration with the 1969 Judge, Pontiac's answer to the admittedly cartoonish-and-proud-of-it Plymouth Road Runner; Jim Wangers, Pontiac's marketing chief at the division's ad agency in the '60s, who is called by some the "Godfather of the GTO" and was responsible for marketing the Judge, told me, "We built about 20,000 Judge models, and today there are well over 50,000 of them left - just go to any auction to find them!"
The company toyed with competing proposals to either turn the brand into GM's version of Scion or to make Pontiac a very focused purveyor of performance cars based around the critically well-received G8 planned to possibly to be sold in other, formerly competing, GM division showrooms. For the past year, the survival of Pontiac as a stand-alone GM division was not expected to continue.
Ultimately, Pontiac was chosen as the "easiest" to kill since it was cut from GM's self-defined herd of four "core brands," Chevrolet, Cadillac, GMC and Buick. Most Pontiac franchises have already been combined with Buick and GMC.
Pontiac's last high-performance Hurrah - the 2009 G8, imported from GM's Holden division in Australia with its Corvette drivetrain and aimed at upper-middle-class male musclecar freaks. Great car, wrong time, no mpg. Pontiac had the same problem with their "new" GTO in 2004; it, too, was another Holden import, but high-fuel prices and too little visual and DNA family attachment to the original GTO doomed it from the beginning. Both cars were part of former GM Exec VP Bob Lutz's (failed) plan to revitalize Pontiac
If true, then on Monday Pontiac will join Saab, Saturn and Hummer as brands that will not survive GM's current troubles -- at least not as a component of General Motors.
The Pontiac brand was introduced by General Motors in 1926 as the 'companion' marque to GM's Oakland Motor Car line.
The Pontiac name was first used in 1906 by the Pontiac Spring & Wagon Works and linked to Chief Pontiac who led an unsuccessful uprising against the British shortly after the French and Indian War. The Oakland Motor Company and Pontiac Spring & Wagon Works Company merged in November 1908 under the name of the Oakland Motor Car Company. The operations of both companies were joined together in Pontiac, Michigan (in Oakland County) to build the Cartercar.
Oakland was purchased by General Motors in 1909. The first General Motors Pontiac was conceived as an affordable six cylinder that was intended to compete with more inexpensive four cylinder models. Within months of its introduction, Pontiac outsold Oakland. As Pontiac's sales rose and Oakland's sales began to decline, Pontiac became the only 'companion' marque to survive its 'parent', when Oakland ceased production in 1932.
Before Pontiac, there was the Oakland ...
Pontiac's staid design won its models the dubious nickname of "grandma's car" by the early 1950s. But beginning with a new division General Manager Semon E. "Bunkie" Knudsen (whose father had been a GM CEO) in the mid-'50s, Pontiac entered NASCAR with their "Super Duty" performance packages and thrived in that sport and NHRA drag racing in the late '50s (Jim Wangers won Pontiac its first NHRA national event victory in 1960 at Detroit Dragway driving in the stock class).
The arrival of maverick engineer and marketer John Z. DeLorean as the division's chief engineer and eventual general manager blew away any preconceived notions about the Pontiac name among the general public. The 1964 GTO, with its Hurst Shifter and massive Tri-Power V8 powerplant, changed the course of the US auto industry for the next ten years, and between '64 and '74 Pontiac sold almost one million GTOs alone.
Other successful DeLorean/Wangers-driven Pontiac campaigns included using the Firebird Trans-Am in the Burt Reynolds' "Smokey and the Bandit" feature films; sales of Firebirds went up nationally every time one of the movies played on TV, even years after its introduction, and using the GTO as the basis for the "Monkeemobile" custom car on the hit NBC-TV show The Monkees.
The original 1964 Pontiac GTO, which went on-sale in late 1963, introduced the word "musclecar" to the world's vernacular and is one of the most sought-after and valuable collectible cars (Photo courtesy http://UltimateGTO.com)
High fuel costs, new emissions, safety and mpg regulations, pricier insurance and a host of other challenges (and challengers) were too much for Pontiac (and other musclecar makers) to overcome, though, and the best examples of the original GTOs can now be found at Pontiac club meetings across the country and around the world.
Several years ago, Jim Wangers and I spent a day in Los Angeles helping John F. Kennedy Jr,. pick his own classic GTO from several cars we had access to. JFK Jr., had heard GTOs were all the rage, and thought owning one might be fun; but in Manhattan? In the end (and after visiting the Petersen Automotive Museum that same afternoon and meeting HOT ROD, MOTOR TREND and GUNS AND AMMO magazines creator and museum founder Robert E. Petersen, publisher-to-publisher), Kennedy (and his then-fiancee') said no to a GTO -- and Wangers still thinks it was because the car's sheer unbridled horsepower scared him.
But the car -- and that Pontiac name -- will always carry a powerful appeal.
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youtube "blackbetty" by ram jam. it was about a black firebird.
I'm sure when Ford came out with the affordable car, stables & horse& carriage dealers were in the same boat as the auto industry today.
They didn't change with the times.
GM Chrysler, and Ford will all fall to foreign competition because all the Administrations (Bush,Clinton,Bush,Obama)refuse to enforce the laws against unfair trade. Geithner said last week that China is not under valuing their currency for the sake of gaining a competitive advantage. As long as Wall Street is allowed to buy all the politicians with $5.1 billion dollars, it will not change. Wall Street also spends money buying professional bloggers who spew lies designed to help Wall Street. Wall Street also spends money to influence other news media outlets. That is why we never hear the truth on TV about why GM is in trouble (credit crunch caused by Banksters, oil speculators on Wall Street forcing gas to $5 a gallon, causes of sales dropping to 50%).
After Pontiac is gone, many of their loyal customers who are betrayed by Obama's Car Czar from Wall Street will buy foreign imports.
Obama: How is that begging for a trillion dollar loan from foreign manufacturers coming along?
i am amazed by how many comments i am seeing regarding "love to drag race", and "blah blah engine and blah blah racing stripes".
ITS A CAR !! its meant to take you from one place to other. Should last 200K miles and have good resale value along the way.
oh btw, did i mention high resale value !! thats all a car is about for MOST of people. that automatically makes the rest of the consumer's preference useless because you cant sustain a product line based on "very select number of people"
Cars resale value ? those old performance cars are worth a lot of money,so that makes your statement useless.
When I was in high school, back in the seventies, the fastest car aroung was a 68 LeMans with a 389 tri-power. Nobody could touch that car in a drag race, no matter what they tried. I'm not really much of a gm fan, but this is very unfortunate for those who lose their jobs.
It is sad the industrial America is all but gone. I got a job in a union machine shop in Seattle less than a year after high school graduation. Needless to say, that hasn't been possible for a long time. The company I work for now used to actually make things, but now is just an assembly facility. All the subassembly production has been out-sourced, much of it to China. All in the name of short-term profit, but the long-term damage to this country from this type of policy will be difficult to recover from.
Unfortunately, I cannot say I share the same romanticl feelings about GM's products.
I have owned 2 Chevrolet's, one Pontiac, and my best friend has had a Buick and a Cadillac. The 2 Chevy's left me on the side of the road numerous times, not to mention quality issues. The only Chevy I still own is a 1957 Bel-Air...back when American-made cars *meant* something in terms of style, engineering, and quality. The Pontiac had mechanical issue after mechanical issue. My friend, his Buick was OK, but BORING as hell...and the poor Caddy, he couldn't keep the body parts and cheap plastic fittings attached to it.
I switched to German and Japanese cars, and my most recent purchase, Korean.
And I tell ya...they got us beat at this game...better reliabilty, style, quality, and WARRANTY.
The BMW is a *pleasure* to drive, the Nissan has just chugged right along never offering a complaint, and the Hyundai is like having a 40K car for 25K with no worries for 100K miles *bumper-to-bumper* (this was the optional extended warranty for $1000 at time of purchase).
It truly makes me sad, because I LOVE OLD AMERICAN CARS. The style, the pride in design, mechanics, and product quality has dwindled. Perhaps this is the time for them to really get shook up, to make some changes, and get a reality check up in the board rooms of these companies....before we lose ALL American made cars... :-(
Over the last 30 years, Pontaics were nothing more than somewhat overdressed Chevys. Adding on extra glued on plastic 'go fast looking' trim, ugly front bumpers, and so on, they were doomed for a long time. At least GM is facing reality that Pontaic isn't worth keeping anymore. Problem is all the 1000's of dealers that will be hurt.
dont even speak about dealers. their goodwill is right up there with used car sales men and ambulance chasing lawyers !!
The nostalgic memories of muscle cars like the GTO are just that... memories.
In the last 30 years, i cannot recall a Pontiac automobile worth buying over competitors. Even their "performance" cars are a joke and only "perform" 0-60. Forget about cornering, it wont happen.
See Steve Parker's Profile
And if you drove one of these old GTOs today, you couldn't wait to get out of it. They're terrible cars compared to anything "modern."
Steve
Just bought a Pontiac, a Vibe. Of course the only reason I did is because it's a Toyota Matrix.
The carmakers brought this on themselves and the rest of us, doing everything they could to
avoid high mpg and efficiency.
I feel so sorry for the line workers who were just trying to make a living.
I just bought a VIBE too late last month fully aware that Pontiac was possibly not going to make it. Cheaper than a Matrix and cant beat zero percent financing. Affordable and I need an AWD. I like it a lot so far.
It's a smart move, but its kind of like losing the drive-in-theater and the local burger-joint and the corner drugstore and Elvis all rolled in together.
In highschool, in the 1970's, our extended family's cars included;
1949 Mercury (flathead V8, 3 on the tree)
1964 Corvair (toggle switch auto)
1968 4 dr Buick Skylark ( 350, 2 bbl)
1957 Skyblue Caddy (with the wings and bullet cones)
1968 Olds 442
1956 Chevy (327)
1964 Chevy ll ( later became the Nova, 396)
1964 Impala (327)
those cars were all solid, good basic transport, that in a pinch, could get you a ticket in a heartbeat.
What's missing from cars today is that factor.
See Kim Stagliano's Profile
Oh how I remember the Firebird with the decal on the hood!
My Dad had a Bonneville that exploded in our driveway - "Black Beauty." We sobbed over that car. Then we had a Catalina named BayBerry. (We named our cars.) Onto a Buick Electra 225, BlueBoy, a 76 Caddy Coupe De Ville (black with red leather interior) named "Tony" (natch) and a 79 Caddy too - ugly brown with orange pinstripes! Too ugly to name. I learned to drive on Tony - and still have my red leather keychain with his keys on them in the glovebox of my Grand Caravan. We loved our GM cars. I find this all very sad.
See Steve Parker's Profile
Welcome, fellow blogger - That decal is known as the "Screaming Chicken" in the biz ... And a lady named Stagliano should DEFINITELY have had a Firebird! Those whoops of joy in the air after Monday's killing of Pontiac were 25,000 guys named Tony in New Jersey cheering the rise in the value of their T/As.
Steve
I am not going to say this is that disturbing. But it does hit home with me as such that I have owned at least one Pontiac since I was 18. Today is my 44 b/day. And I still have two Pontiacs. I have had GTO's, Tempests,,, and I don't have Burt Reynold's looks. But I did own one of the Smokey and the Bandit cars. Wish I had it back.
A part of me dies with the demise of Pontiac.
I almost had my wife ready to get a G8/GTP.
See Steve Parker's Profile
You can still buy a G8 - cheap, too.Get it! even if you only use it for weekends, it'll still be fun.
Steve
The age of "sloanism" is long-since dead. GM most certainly doesn't need a line of cars that only differ from each other by a fake hood scoop here, or triple portholes there. What they should be doing is mimicking the Fiat 500, and quick!
The story of GM __INTENTIONALLY__ SABOTAGING their own products is an important one, so I'll add another comment.
As Thom Hartmann said on radio yesterday, US car makers have whined, cried, pouted & shouted that "NEW REGULATIONS will DRIVE US IN TO BANKRUPTCY!" time after time:
- Mandatory Seatbelts;
- . mandatory catalytic converters;
- mandatory airbags; & most recently,
- better MPG requirements.
Each time, auto-makers & their Congress-corrupting lobbyists (of which GM's were biggest & most influential) WERE WRONG!
Not only were GM execs WRONG about "high mpg requirements will bankrupt us" - but now GM is ADVERTISING the HIGH mpg of their fleet, Duh !!
Then there was GM _SABOTAGING_ the ELECTRIC CAR... TWICE!
Both the "Who Killed The Electric Car" GM produced EV-1s which GM demanded back from leasees and CRUSHED, to GM -
____SELLING their Lithium-metal-hydride BATTERY PATENT to TEXACO___ back in 1980s, as a sneaky way to say "WE DON'T HAVE the BATTERY TECHNOLOGY to BUILD ELECTRIC CARS now, boo hoo"!
A friend of mine has a __2002__ Toyota ALL ELECTRIC RAV4-ev - STILL RUNNING 50 miles per day, on its ORIGINAL, GM-patented battery pack!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toyota_RAV4_EV
But Chevron (which took over Texaco in that big lawsuit) - SUED Toyota to STOP making the batteries -
- a PERFECT example of GM's COLLUSION with BIG OIL to SABOTAGE good products!!
Yeah that makes sense. They want to go bankrupt. It's not a conspiracy.
If you could make electric cars you would. Sorry the technology did not exist. Not with the EV-1 or any all electric Toyota. It certainly didn't exist in the 1980's.
I keep telling people this but they keep chanting the electric car mantra like a religion.
Sure you can put a battery and an electric engine in a car and make the wheels turn around.
But create one with anything like the cost performance ratio of a ICE car? Fugedaboudit.
The EV-1 was a sad joke. It sold for 40k and cost 890k to make. It was the equivalent of an ICE car with a 3 gallon gas tank that takes 8 hours to fill up. Nobody in their right minds would have bought on for a price that would have made it profitable to make. The fact is any electric car using present tech to provide the same performance capability would cost at least $60k not including finance charges.
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