One of the few flickers of hope is the fact that Pontiac actually put forth the effort to have a Firebird hertiage page on their website... that doesn't really mean much, but at least they are keeping the name out there...

 

Good info but I've seen it someplace else.... hmmm...

As for the Firebird... R.I.P. From everything that I've heard so far its gone. The GTO is here and when the Solstice arrives Pontiac will have two seperate models not to mention the G6 coupe/sedan/and convert will completly fill the gap left by the Firebird. For the simple sake of model overlap in GM's lineup and the new direction the GTO will take Pontiac the Firebird must be sacraficed.

 

yeah forgot about the soltice and the G6. I am pretty sure the bird is done....

 

Dang... I like the chrome bar.

 

The new GTO is going to have the LS1 so how is this different than the Trans Am just being a dressed up Camaro?

 

My first car was a brand new 1973 Firebird Formula 400 (Navaho Orange and white vinal interior) and although my 2000 Z28 is in virtually every way a "better" car, my '73 'bird will always be my favorite.

The thrid and fourth cars I ever owned were a brand new 1976 and 1979 Trans Ams (both "black and gold editions").

Until the fourth generation Camaro/Firebird came out, I always perfered the look of the Firebird...always thought they were just a little better looking than their Camaro counterparts; it was that perception along with the fact that most of my friends bought Camaros that convinced me to buy Firebirds (well, Ok...my family had also always been "Pontiac" people but that was in an era when there was more than a nickle's worth of difference between GM divisions).

All that to say, I'm not surprised if there is no more "Firebird" but what a shame.

Here's to hoping the fifth generation F body will be a truly kick-*** car that retains all the good and deals with all the problems of it's earlier versions!

Bob Armentrout
Nashville, TN

 

"In importing the GTO, GM realized that Holden had expertise and efficiency in designing affordable rear wheel drive cars that they could only wish to have. "

I only just stumbled in here and read that piece. That quote from the article chaps my @ss!!

Fire everyone in Detroit and move GM headquarters to Australia with Holden. No excuse for this crap.

 

I think the gto killed any chance of a firebird.

 

Why? Aside from the GM North America hasn't designed an all new affordable RWD car chassis in literally decades and Sigma in it's current state is too expensive. It would have cost GM NA near $2 billion to design this all new affordable RWD chassis from scratch. Holden on the other hand has never stopped building affordable RWD cars, does it cheaply and efficiantlywith one of the most flexible manufacturing systems in the world, and was already halfway done with the Sigma-Lite platform when GM NA even came to the game. If you were GM and trying to run a profitable business, what would you do. Making cars is afterall a business.

 

Pontiac has actually been more upfront than Chevy about saying the Firebird could be back. Every time I talk to Pontiac's media rep he stresses how the Firebird is on hiatus and could be back if they found the right car.

Of course this is the same rep who told me they would not call the Grand Am replacement G6 because it sounded to much like C6, which is the next Corvette. I always double check what he tells me, hahaha.

For some reason I have this feeling they are toying with naming the Solstice the Firebird once it goes into production....weird hunch...I am probaly wrong.

Wasn't the Firebird originally going to be a two seat roadster until GM axed it and put it on the F-car platform?

 

The '58 Firebird III concept was a two-seater.

Original Firebird concepts info

Firebird I
Firebird II
Firebird III
Group

(I know this isn't answering your question )

 

Yeah, i can see them calling the solstice a firebird. What i meant by the gto killing the firebird was that why build two rwd coupes with v8 engines in the same brand. The gto and firebird would be basically the same car.

 

Are Camaro Z28 and Corvette the same car?

 

Many Bothan spies died to bring us this information



Well 2007 ladies and gents.....lets see what the car market looks like as by 2005 there will be a sub 30K porche and 1 series RWD BMW

It will be an interesting time for sure......Maybe Nissan will think about finally bringing the Silvia over and compete in the 300+hp RWD market.....$37,000 for the high model This new 5th gen seems to be a tad pricey for a Camaro

 

(True Story) GM/NA looked at the Statesman as a potential Buick, actually deploying a few people to GM/Holden in Australia to look into it. GM/NA also looked at the Monaro as a replacement for the Camaro. In both cases, it was rejected. In Buick's case, the decision was to continue with FWD because it was cheaper & easier, and in the Camaro's case, it wasn't viewed as a Camaro by the people behind Camaro. After actually spending time with a couple of Monaros last year, I grudgingly agree.

What's happened since those days, in addion to a regime change at GM, is that one of the people sent to Holden to look into importing the Statesman later made a reccomendation directly to Bob Lutz shortly after his arrival to GM that the Monaro would make a good mid-size muscle car, especially a new GTO.

Also what's happened since then is that GM took a proverbial chainsaw through their midsize & large car plans outside of Cadillac, and completely revised it, incorperating Holden's large RWD revised carline into North America's production plans. Examples:

Impala's 2003 rebody was postponed till 2006, Monte Carlo's rebody for the same year was cancelled with no alternate plan, a full size RWD car is being added to Chevy's lineup, Regal's redesign was sent back to day one, Buick is getting a full sized RWD car, Bonneville was 1st set to be killed after 2004, now 2005 is it's last year set to be replaced by a RWD model, a RWD performance coupe was added to the program, and the return of the Chevy El Camino (likely to be exported from Australia once they are removed from the 25% Tarriffs on imported trucks).

I wouldn't advise firing everyone and moving HQ to Australia (though those of you with a long memory recall I once suggested that exact idea ). Like any business, you have to give the bosses what they want. The old GM regime wasn't intrested in going the extra mile for RWD cars engineered in Australia when we had in their view perfectly good locally done FWD cars to do the job.

Those guys are gone to other things, so the group responsible today (they've been on the job for about 2 years) are changing things for the better. Since it takes 3-5 years for new cars to completely work their way through the system, you won't start seeing their work for at least another year.

You don't want to ship out the guys who are actually fixing the shop, do you?

I was thinking the same thing.