In an update posted on line after the release of G.M.'s plan, the Times now notes that the plan says Pontiac "will have a much smaller role, if any, in G.M.'s future... ." The actual text of the Plan, to which the Times gives a link, says (on page 15) that Pontiac "will be a highly focused niche brand." It will be interesting to see what "niche" G.M. sees Pontiac as filling: the Solstice niche; the Torrent niche?
Alas, Saturn looks like a goner, unless someone buys it.
2.20 update: Today's Times has a front page piece on Pontiac's decline, noting that G.M.'s past efforts to cut costs by standardizing vehicle types across divisions made Pontiac products less appealing to the performance buffs who were the marque's ardent loyalists.
The Times article also mentions the source of the initials "GTO": the Ferrari Gran Turismo Omologato.
2.23 update: Gotta love Catnapping's comment on having owned a 1966 Pontiac LeMans with a '65 GTO engine:
God, I loved that car. I liked the lines of the later models better, but there was nothing like punching the accelerator, and jumping from 25 to 70 in the blink of an eye. Better 'an sex - hell, it WAS sex.
For 3 years, I had a 66 LeMans with a 65 goat dropped in...had to use a cherry picker to lift it up some, just to change the oil filter.
ReplyDeleteGod, I loved that car. I liked the lines of the later models better, but there was nothing like punching the accelerator, and jumping from 25 to 70 in the blink of an eye. Better 'an sex - hell, it WAS sex.
I love this song!
ReplyDelete