Branden Farthing

A lot of people who preordered GTO’s have been voicing complaints about how slow GM has been to deliver their cars. This is understandable, as everyone wants to be the first in their area to own a GTO, and it is hard to wait when you order a car anyway. This week I took these complaints to Pontiac’s reps at GM Headquarters and got to the bottom of the situation.

Importing cars is common in today’s auto industry; so common few realize how complex the logistics involved are. That being said, there are several factors slowing the process that leads finished GTO’s to their awaiting owners. First off, though GM is a huge company, this is the first time that GM has really ever imported a car to the west coast (San Diego). Though the logistics and procedures were in place, they were not tested on a full scale until the first batch of GTO’s hit the harbor. The boat part of shipping the cars here has actually been one of the smoother aspects of the operation. Once the GTO’s are off the boat is where the trouble has occurred. The cars go from the boat to a railroad depot where they are put on trains and sent to their respective regions. The errors that have slowed delivery involve GTOs arriving at their destinations and sitting on rail cars for periods of time with no trucks to move them. This is due to a logistics error between GM and the trucking companies, which in the end leaves GM in a position where all they can say is “We’re sorry”. This issue has been resolved as of this writing, and Pontiac asked that I extend its apologies to enthusiasts. Also, one last issue that has delayed the cars has been the snow, which has slowed rail travel in some areas of the country. This is something that is noticeable in a small production car like the GTO, but not as much in a high volume car like say the Chevrolet Impala. This issue, unfortunately, GM has no control over. There have been snags (as with any operation of this size), but GM has assured us that it has corrected problems, and newer shipments will reach dealers quicker.

On thing to remember is that GM designed the shipping process to be not only quick, but cost effective. GM saves costs in the shipping process several ways, but namely by combining GTO shipments with the new Chevrolet Aveo which is made in South Korea. At first this may seem like bad thing, but in reality it gets GTO’s here quicker and cheaper. The GTO at 18,000 units annually is roughly 12% of the Holden Elizabeth plant’s 150,000 unit annual production. If you do the math, that means that the Holden plant is only making 1500 GTO’s a month. At that pace it would take weeks of production to fill a ship with just GTO’s. By shipping the GTO with the higher volume Aveo, it spreads out cost, and gets the cars on their way quicker. Also it spreads the shipping cost among two programs lowering overall costs. Such cash consciousness is why the GTO stickers for less than some versions of the late WS6 Trans Am and still makes GM a nice profit. Also keep in mind that the GTO’s production run of 18,000 units is the lowest production of a Pontiac model in a long time. That figure is actually a little more than half the Firebird’s average yearly production in the late 1990’s. With 30% of the GTO’s already ordered when production started, it is simply going to take a while to get everyone’s car made. Pontiac did jokingly advise us however, that if anyone wants their GTO airlifted to the US it can be done through a carrier for $23,000 (I am guessing they did this during the pilot phase). What does all this mean is you are waiting for your GTO? Basically if it should have been here by now, sit tight it will be very soon. For those that have ordered one, but have a later production date, you can only expect the time for production to delivery to get smaller with each shipment. As always, keep checking www.NewAgeGTO.com for all the latest GTO news.