http://www.edmunds.com/insideline/do...ticleId=104687

GM Planning Family of New RWD Performance Models
Date Posted 02-11-2005

Summary: General Motors will build a variety of cars for Pontiac, Chevy, even Buick on its new Zeta platform.

CHICAGO — The 2008 successor to the Pontiac GTO will be joined by performance-oriented siblings at Chevrolet and luxury editions at Buick late in the decade, according to supplier sources who spoke with Inside Line here at the Chicago auto show.

The next-generation GTO will be built on a new General Motors architecture known internally as the Zeta platform. It is basically an evolution of the current chassis that underpins the 2005 GTO, which is assembled in Australia by GM's Holden subsidiary.

The new GTO, however, will be built in Michigan, Inside Line has learned. It will be joined by a new sporty coupe and companion convertible model at Chevrolet. The bow-tie division reportedly will not resurrect the Camaro name on the car, but is said to be considering using the Monte Carlo badge on this new midsize rear-drive model.

Unlike the GTO, which will continue to be powered by a high-output Corvette V8, the Chevy two-doors, which are due around 2009, reportedly will offer buyers a choice of V6 and V8 engines.

Pontiac also will get a new rear-drive sedan, which internally is being referred to as the G8. Offered with V6 and V8 engines, it will debut around 2009, and will take the place of the front-wheel-drive Bonneville, which is being phased out later this year. It may also supplant the front-drive Grand Prix.

The production version of Buick's stunning Velite convertible concept is also expected to share the Zeta chassis, but the car will focus more on luxury than performance. Although the Velite is expected to be built in Michigan at the same factory as the Pontiac and Chevy models, a rear-drive Buick luxury sedan is expected to be imported from Holden in Australia.

What this means to you: GM is gambling hundreds of millions of dollars that Americans will embrace a new generation of midsize rear-drive performance and luxury models later in this decade.

 

A montecarlo huh? I won't buy it.

 

Only time will tell what'll happen. And if the worse happens (Zeta Monte Carlo),I'll B the first in raising some serious hell.

 

Hmm, if so, I guess the camaro is gone for a while longer, and may will come on another platform? Beta?

 

I see two possibilites here. One is that this information is old and inaccurate,the second is that Camaro will not be on Zeta. I'm betting on option#2 with an '07 debut. I'm also hoping that when Chevy does get a Zeta,it won't be named Monte Carlo.

 

See what I mean..........

 

I thought this was old news, packaged as "new" and "inside" info from the great powerful automotive sourse, Edmunds.
IMO...sounds like crap we have known for some time, only without the recent Zeta shake up.

 

That's my "option#1". Other things make me think "option#2"

 

the fact that the earliest model year mentioned for any of those cars is 2008 and some in 2009, what's the point?? I'm not holding my breath for 3-4 years!

 

Well, there's going to be a 2007 GTO-so what does that tell us?

4 possibilities:

Carryover on old platform for an extra year? -not likely, Holden can't wait.

Debuts GMNA Zeta by itself in 07?

Debuts with other Zetas in 07? ( Aussie-built?)

Skips a model year? -not likely as the 06 production run will be short.

 

It verifies what I've been telling you guys for months.


I just hope I'm wrong and they're wrong. What happens during the current shake up may be our last hope for a modern car.

 

NEW!!!!??????????

Sounds like an early '90's Opel rehash to me.

 

if you think about it, that names a LOT of cars in GM's portfolio. SAAB, Holden, Caddy, Saturn, and more recently Chevy (not to mention Opel itself) ALL have cars built on one of the German platforms from the early 90s. Buick to be soon included. like it or not, Opel has supplied GM with platforms, engineering and misc resources for more than half of the more recent cars. what's to be alarmed about? how is it a shock GM-NA can't be bothered to engineer a decent car platform on its own?

 

Could this mean it will be-OMG, I don't want to say it......."RETRO!"

Man I can't wait for the crying to start here if it does!.

 

I am so amazed how many people are bashing a car (cars) that haven't even seen the light of day yet.