R377

Pontiac is not meant to be a head-to-head BMW competitor. The idea is to be like BMW, with a stronger focus on performance but at a cheaper price. Not a direct competitor because really, even GM realizes no one would believe that one.

Buick's role is to be an American Lexus, and in that regard it is going more directly for their market. There's definitely a credibility gap there too, though maybe not as much as if Pontiac was aiming for BMW's customers.

cndctrdj

why not let the car speak for itself....
it will always be compared to the new mustangs and if it has the options and the ride quality and build quality then the companies that compare the cars will put them in that catagory

i wont be able to tell what they need to do or how they need to do it until i have driven and seen the car up close and personal

guionM

1. Buick has one of the most loyal customer bases of any auto manufacturer.

2. Buick fills a place in the automotive market. GS stage 1 and the GNX are not what Buick is about.

3. Cadillac being "Half-Ghetto" is a pretty ignorant statement. Feel free to visit some of the wealthier parts of your town, and see which US brand you see more often.

4. Cadillac's focus is on being a World standard. That means performance and luxury. Buick's focus is on being an American luxury/road car.

5. Trans Am is dead. It isn't coming back. End of story.

6. Firebird consumed a disproportionate amount of F-body resources considering it's sales figures. If Pontiac does bring out a car based on Camaro, it WON'T be another badge engineered car like the previous 'Bird, and like the Saturn Sky, will likely be shared with a overseas GM brand.

7. I wouldn't bet the farm on another screaming chicken appearing on the hood of anything.... especially at Pontiac.


Food for thought.

The Camaro concept had a pretty elaborate rear seat. i don't see that seat making it to production in a budget minded Camaro. However, it does look like a good evolution of the GTO's rear seat.

gt5000

Heres some interesting news i found...http://www.leftlanenews.com/2006/02/...ude-a-new-gto/

MasterEvilAce

Hey man, I didn't say Cadillac WAS half ghetto. That's the stigma that's associated with it. If i hear Cadillac i think escalade.. Upper class. Luxury.

However, you can't deny that "old caddys" are a steretypical icon for black males.. I hate to be racist in a way.. but that's the ****ing way it is. Big ****ty rusted out old caddys with huge wheels. It happens. Deal with it. You can't deny the term "caddy"


Secondly, Trans Am is not dead. I wouldn't even say that. They are free to resurrect any name, icon, or brand they feel like. Hell, that's what's been happening. At some point Pontiac could say, hey we need an icon. The trans-am was an icon.

Hey, after all... The camaro was dead. Look how many times GM said NO, and how many magazines reported "never again!"
Granted.. it was being kept under-wraps. But they still said NO! If there's any chance for a new Trans-Am (retro or very modern) it relies on the success of the Camaro. If the Camaro dominates the Mustang.. how long do you think until Pontiac says, "We need a Camaro"?

But of course even if they had plans, they couldn't say ANYTHING.. it would just hurt them until it's ready.

oh, and I live in the wealthiest part of town. And I can assure you, GM isn't a common manufacturer of the wealthy around here.

CamaroFan1718

You do not understand or you missed his long post about it. The Trans AM is DEAD GM had gone though hell with the Trans Am name and lawsuits etc...Long story maybe you should read on it sometime? As for a firebird that is possible but I wouldnt count on it anytime soon. As for an ICON the Firebird was the seller for Pontiac not Trans Am.

MasterEvilAce

Oh okay, the NAME trans-am. I understand now.

Although Trans-Am strikes fear into my heart unlike Firebird.. Ah well.

jg95z28

Agreed. And when I hear Firehawk, I think of Firestone tires.

However I honestly don't see a Pontiac sister-car to the Camaro. Sure Pontiac's V8 RWD coupe and sedan may share the same platform, however on the surface they'll need to be entirely modern and follow Pontiac's current styling theme.

As much as the Camaro name gets stigmatized because of its past, the Firebird/TransAm's image is much worse in terms of being the polar opposite of the image Pontiac is trying to portray in the 21st century. Pontiac is moving in another direction, which may not be a bad thing. (Especially for those of you that long for GM to build a V8 AWD sports coupe.)

twocamaros

bring out the TTA.. an show all the imports up

blue 79 Z/28

if thats the case, then gm is gonna get tooled. cadillac hardly cuts the mustard when comparing to a bmw and they are upper class from a pontiac.

NikiVee

Pontiac does not need to fight BMW. That would be a fool hardy move. They need to focus against Mazda and Nissan. That is their competitors.

Last of a Breed

What Pontiac needs to do, as well as most of GM's divisions, is lead instead of trying to model themselves after other companies. Don't try and be a BMW, outclass them in every aspect. ( Just using BMW as an example, I understand Pontiac's for the most part aren't as expensive so to completely out do them is probably impossible.)

It just gets tiring to hear Pontiac needs to be the American BWM, Buick is the American Lexus etc...

VTsullyman

I say no to any Pontiacs knock off of the new Camaro. GM has always made one huge mistake with their cars. If something sells well youd think GM would be happy to have a winner and spend on time on keeping it that way. Instead GM has always taken a good seller and messed with it, redone it, or knocked it off somewhere else in its empire. They basically beat the horse to death. Perfect exmaple si the Hummer. Instead on keeping up with the H2 they doing a million verisons of the same thing. Raising costs and letting the orginal slide thru the cracks. I say let the Camaro come back and kick ***. If in 5 years they want to consider a Pontiac rebirth of either F body names and built on the zeta then cross that bridge when they coem it it. I think its better to concertrate on just one and car let it do whatever it needs to do to become a huge seller. If they wanna change something they dont have to worry about stepping on toes of another car or anything like that. Just my 2 cents

OutsiderIROC-Z

I like that Bandit Photoshop.

JB'z 94

The more I read the more I think there will be a G8 running the same chassis as Camaro, sedan version, and there will be a coupe G8 called GTO... Or something like that... Of course I am probably way off.