This has been on my mind alot lately. The Fiero has a cult following up there with the best GM has ever offered. I think tehy would have a lot of success with a limited production run of the car again...much liek Toyota with the MR2 Spyder. I can't help but think they couldn't butcher a Delta car and make it mid engine and use off the shelf parts.

Also I know about the Solstice...but IMO the Soltice needs ALOT of exterior design work. The front is hideous and I have yet to meet someone who thinks it isn't. Also it isn't mid-engine which gave the Fiero alot of its flair. A Fiera should look agressive and have a powerful stance. Remember how the pictures of the Fiero GT were mistaken for the next Corvette? Thats what I am talking about. When someone mentions the Solstice...I think ohhhh Miata on steriods

 

No. Theyve already got their VIBE sport compact and the GTO. Thats 2 sports cars. Combine that with the corvette and thats 3 GM cars that appeal to 3 different segments of sports car buyers. If they bring back the f-body, itll probably just be made by Chevrolet and that will be 4. Adding a 5th just crowds their sports car model line. One car's sales will be hurt by the others. Thats too many selections, especially from one manufacturer.
I really dont think that any car manufacturer needs more than 2 sports cars. Oen for the high rollers and one for the poor people like me. (i know the vibe isnt a real sports car, but to many kids it is)

Besides, how many mr2 spyders do you see on the road? Its a cheap roadster with a small market segment. Pontiac is supposed to be upscaling their image. Building a cheap roadster is not the way to go. If they want to entertain this idea of a roadster any, they should build the Solstice. Better yet, I would let Caddilac build a roadster. A cheaper (30k) Caddy roadster would compare much better to other cars like the S2k, M roadster and CLKs than a Pontiac would image wise.


As for Fiero image, its not that great. Many kids my age (18) dont even know about this car. Its public aura not as glamorous as you make it seem. Itd have a following that was older, much like the Camaro supposedly did. I just dont think its a good idea.

 

yea.. build a slightly smaller mid engine car, with the C5 transaxle in the rear, get rid of the torque tube and mount a 5.xL V8 directly, pipe the radiator and various coolers up front. put in a good set of brakes and rubber all around, put some sleek body panels on it and a few creases for form. try to make the body create downforce and make the bumper look/ and if possible act like a those air diffuser thingies.

trouble is, how much can they make it for since it would relatively limited production, and who would buy it?

for fanciness they can Throw in HIDs up front LED's in the back, a clean business interior with the gauge cluster as a digital screen panel that you can customise the instrumentation layout to whatever "skin" you want, same with the flat touch screen center console with a matte finish- so when its off the dash is completely smooth and uniform. Put in quality amps, dsp's, speakers with a quality 10" sub.

 

I think you pretty much summed that up. I couldn’t have said it better myself.

BTW I think if Pontiac does some restyling on the Vibe GT it could be a real hit as an entry level car. I really liked the interior on them (stock DVD player! ) and I guess it was fast as a 4 cylinder can be when I test drove it for my friend. Hey it had a 6 speed, that was cool. Its not my type of car but I think for a lot of kids my age it would be a good first "new" car. My friend is probably ganna buy it. All a Fiero would do is waste money. I say put this kind of cash on up grading the Vibe and other models in Pontiacs line up. I rather see some of these GXP models hit the showroom floors.


What’s that all about!
The solstice looks badass! If i wasn’t 6'5" and could fit in one it would defiantly be on my buy list when produced. I don’t know who you talk to but everyone who I've talked to loves the look of this car. Whatever dude...

 

I think the Solstice is beautiful, and just about every automotive magazine has said the same. Its one of the best looking cars to come from GM in years, with a few exceptions. GM has plenty of products that need attention right now, and by no means needs to put the revival of the Fiero on the agenda. Fun car, and it would be nice to see it come back sometime, but not within the next 8-10 years. Bigger fish to fry right now.

 

If they build Solstice, then no...

If Solstice never gets off the ground.... maybe.

 

The MR2 Spyder has a base MSRP of $26,000 ..hardly cheap actually as much as a new SS. It is built of a VERY modified Corrolla/Cellica/Vibe platform, so the tooling a production costs aren't nearly as high. They build the MR2 Spyder in very limited numbers and ship very few to the US. The car is simply an easy way to add a little bit of image to the toyaota brand. As for upscale it is hardly any less upscale than a Soltice or even the Vibe.

Opel builds a mid engined car called the Speedster that could have production uped and would easily fit the bill of an upscale roadster if they added some bells and whistles. IMO it looks much better than the Solstice too!

In closing many companies are looking at building niche image cars. If the Camaro goes into production it will be high production. I am starting to think the Solstice won't get made because they can't offer the price, weight, and power that the initially offered.

 

I didn't really like the Solstice front end but I did like the rest of it. Pontiac should only get one 2-seater, and seeing as how Lutz loves the Solstice I have to think they're gonna find some way to do it. That leaves out Fiero. Besides as someone said, Fiero doesn't have the greatest reputation even to this day. I doubt we'd ever see that name on a Pontiac again.

 

Another thing abuot the Fiero name.... It's not retro enough in this 'everything retro' world right now


The 80's just isn't far enough in the past to make the name seem 'glamorous' or whatever the whole retro flair jollies it is that some people get...

 

Very true...many people forget how Car and Driver once refused to test a C2 or C3 (can't remember) Corvette because it's quality was so low they felt it unsafe.

 

Fiero was a relatively cheap car for GM to engineer, and although it raided GM's parts bin unlike anything else before it, it was still a very innovative car.

As far as it not having any reputation with youth, that should be a non-issue. Fiero had a just 6 year run at a time when most of the "youth" we are refering to were still in dipers, so their only exposure to Fiero were examples 10 years old. Not exactly representive of the excitement it created in the 80s, and why there are still rabid Fiero fans......even on this site. Monzas were the race car craze of the late 70s, and perhaps even more popular than Camaros at one time. However, it would be pretty nieve to expect today's youth to embrace a history that took place before their time.

The MR2 has blantantly abandoned it's market, so it shouldn't even be used as an example. Fiero was a low cost 2 passenger coupe, that was very cheap to insure & maintain. Being that it was roughly the price of a modestly equipted Cavalier, or about $15-18,000 today, I think that not only does it prove how far MR2 has moved away from this market, but I also suspect there will be no issue whatsoever in selling youth a 2 passenger, mid-engine, fairly well equipted, sporty car, especially with GM performance turning their attention to Ecotech engine performance parts & low insurence rates the original enjoyed. Again, worring about youth flocking to this car would be a non issue.

But... Pontiac shouldn't have both a Fiero and a Solstice. Both are aimed at exactly the same group of buyers. I think the Solstice looks great, and feel if Pontiac (or more likely when Pontiac) makes this car, there should be a coupe version made as well. Not only would it be structurally stiffer (just the thing for hot handling upgrades) but it would be cheaper to buy and insure, making it every bit as popular as Fiero was in it's day.

I even think it should be called Fiero!

 

True story. It was the C3.

 

No, the name fiero will not be brought back. The general public has to bad of an association with the name. However I could see a 2 seater, MR car coming out from pontiac. I think the car could do very well. I even have a name for it...Firebird. Comon guys think about it this IS what the original firebird concept was. This could be pontiac's halo car.

 

I am willing to bet that there is more Fiero sites and clubs out there than there are for the GTO, so in limited numbers I think it would sell well. Also I am from this youth group you mention (I am 21) and I remember the first time I saw a Fiero Fastback. It took me five minutes to pick my jaw up off the ground..it is IMO one of the most breathtaking designs GM has ever pumped out. I can't imagine anyone my age who like sports cars not knowing of the Fiero. I mean hell I had friends in school who drove them. It would be like saying..well they made CRX's in the 80's so no one my age knows what they are. There are still plenty on the road.

Also the Fiero must not have had a bad rap when it was in production...it sold profitably up untill 1988 and was only cancelled because it badly needed to be redesigned and GM questioned it's profitability in the next 10 years. It turned out to be a good decision because the 90's saw the death of the 300ZX, RX7, MR2, Supra, 3000GT and others I am forgetting.

Now I think would be a key time to bring back a similar car. Start of limited production..if it takes off expand production

 

Neat car, but I am not sure the time is right...