No problem. Be careful with what you read on the web and save your heart.

Unfortunately, I know that's easier said than done.

 

Little ****boxes here we come....

Sad this oil spike is all investor/speculation driven. Untill someone, somewhere is waiting for gas I will not buy any other explaination.

 

Thats just great. GM was just making Pontiac different. Something that turned heads.

Now what do they do..they pull cars that are already sold or going to be sold here in the U.S. and just slap Pntiac's twin grill and some arrowheads on the car. Tadaa a new car????

This is where GM is going to fail. This is where people will think of GM as cheap. This is where Toyota will sweep up. Ohh god I could go on.

But the bottom line is. Selling cookie cutter rebadged curreproducts AND paying for advertising to compete with your current lineup. Heck might as well throw an arrowhead on the Camaro and call it Firebird.

 

Pontiac = Holden

that's what it should be... turn Chevy.. or Saturn into the FWD Small car choice for people.

There will always be people that want high perormance cars... why can't Pontiac be successful as a small operation with products from Holden?

 

The U.S. market demonstrates that small FWD cars are bland appliances. Outside of the dedicated sport compact choices (Cobalt SS/TC, Civic Si, etc.), small FWD cars aren't what most people would call "exciting".

 

The Mini Cooper, Mazda 3, Jeep Patriot, and Dodge Caliber aren't what I would call bland appliances. Would you?

 

These 2 are quite exciting, true. None of them are from the big 3, though.


These 2, whoa... Chrysler dropped the ball with the Patriot, it looks ugly. Caliber is the most exciting of what Chrysler makes (Patriot, Compass, Caliber). And they're criticized frequently for choice of materials and driving feel.

It seems that the big 3 only make a half-baked attempt.

 

Ford owns Mazda. Does that kind of count?

 

It seems that pontiac is always in jeopordy of being killed off when GM changes their focus every 6-8 months.

I mean how many of us would be successful if every 6 months if our boss told us: 'okay- I know you have developed some great ideas according to our plan in January- but that doesn't matter now; that is all wasted money that is putting your division on the chopping block. What we need now are small eco-friendly cars.... here are a couple of existing models to work with and make your own. Don't change anything but the fascia and tail lights and it needs to be a hit. '

What the hell? I am a huge poncho fan but I would rather them kill it off or just offer the Solstice at BPG dealers than to let Pontiac suffer a slow death full of re-badged Aveo's w/red dash lights.

 

Saturn is already Opel. Opel and Holden are related. Pontiac has Holdens.

Some people will always want high performance cars. Many people want cars to be appliances. It would be tough to focus on high performance cars and have nothing else to offer.

Basically you are saying Pontiac should downsize and the BPG sales channel needs to find something else to be their volume so Pontiac can go after a niche market. This is why car enthusiast aren't always the best business men when it comes to cars.

 

Why can't GM just stick with a brand refocus for longer than 6 months? It seems like every other week GM changes plans and directions for most of the brands.

I understand money is tight at GM, but why can't GM build a light, small RWD architecture? Get Alpha out pronto, or give Pontiac the Torana if and when Holden gets it out?

 

There will be an Alpha Cadillac in a couple of years. Whether Pontiac gets a version or not....

 

Only when the North American Focus has the same driving dynamics as the Mazda 3.

Mazda does its own work.

 

That wasn't what we were discussing now was it?


Styling is subjective I for one LOVE the Patriot and think the Compass is a complete waste and is a terrible Jeep. We also weren't talking about interior quality or materials now were we? We were talking about exciting FWD cars vs bland FWD cars. I gave examples of ones sold in the US that I felt were exciting and then you changed the direction of conversation. So can we stick to that subject?

 

Either that or we'd rather see the R&D dollars go to making the Cruze better rather than having to slap a Pontiac nose on the car.