Yep. Who wants to buy a new car when your job may disappear?

The G8 was snakebit. As soon as it came out, the gasoline price shot up over $4/gallon. Then gas came down just in time for the economy to implode.

It does have some money on the hood now, but so does everything else. The Charger has more incentives than the G8.

 

The price of gas shouldn't be the biggest factor here. The G8 is supposed to
compete in the premium car segment and was meant to compete with BMWs, Acura TLs and Maximas all of which cost far more with similar fuel consumption numbers.

I'm sad to see the G8 go. GM's been struggling to get good money on their vehicles and change people's perception of sub-par products. The G8 was supposed to help change that. GM will never be profitable unless they can get premium money for a premium product. GM won't survive if they insist on only making small fuel efficient cars.

I think pulling the plug on this car is a huge mistake. This is a car that could have been a game changer had the economy been better and GM spent money to properly market it.

Of course the Charger has better incentives. It's an older model and not as good as the G8 imo.

 

Except Charger is Chrysler Corp's mainstream sedan, much like Impala or Malibu is for GM. They have a huge factory ready to build as many Chargers as possible. On the other hand the G8 was nothing but an interesting imported experiment for a brand that apparently was already being phased out.

Fritz Henderson made it clear that the G8 rebates were to "clear out inventory". That's not something that would be emphasized if there was any chance of making a profit on this vehicle. And everyone is squeezing his *****, and if they ask him why he's selling a money-loser, he can't say "branding" because the brand is going nowhere.

I think putting the car in Chevrolet is a no-brainer. But GM management is worrying about big problems like "How to save Opel?" Arguing with the bankers to open up a slot for a niche enthusiast performance model will have to wait.

 

Well I suppose that's one explanation. Though other than maximum capacity and distance from factory, I don't think there's that much difference between the G8 and the Charger. I'll grant that the distance is important. We really don't know the costs between the two. On the surface, they should be similar in manufacturing cost. The G8 may even be cheaper, given the current value of the $$ AU. How much per-car does it cost to ship?


When or where did Fritz say this? I'd be interesting in reading/seeing the interview/speech.
Yeah. Lot's of waiting these days ... mostly for the other shoe to drop....

 

Surely Holden could make the production change overnight to transform the G8 into a Chevrolet. Holden already have the necessary Chev badges for their ME exports...

 

That's what I'm saying..... apparently, and I saw this over at GMI in at least two threads, but it seems rumours even now, are beginning to circulate that Chevy will skip this version and possibly bring in the refreshed Commodore circa 2011-2013 timeframe. It may all indeed be baseless, wishful thinking and speculation. There's still a whole lot o' crisis to go before we get there. At this point we can't even speculate on GM's future next week, let alone 3-4 years out.

By then maybe Alpha will be up and running and a Zeta sedan may be irrelevant.

 

Talking to several friends of mine over the years that are in law enforcement, many are really yearning for another GM cruiser.

I've been saying for a while now that rebadging a Commodore as a Police Cruiser "Caprice" in the US would move vehicles. Holden could do a test run, find the "profitable" line in the sand and negotiate contracts around it. Also by using a dedicated nameplate you wont hurt retails sales of a model available in showrooms.

ORLY?

http://jalopnik.com/5230928/lapd-to-...re-police-cars

Not a guarantee here by any stretch. It sounds like just a rumor and nothing more, but its hope that vehicles will be sold and Holden's assembly line will continue to make some of these amazing cars.

 

Somewhere in the slew of articles that came out yesterday, sorry. Check gminsidenews.com. Apparently the last G8 rolled off the line a couple months ago and there will be no more imports.

 

Fritz never said such a thing.

If people are going to say "so and so said...." then I wish they'd back it up and not say it was read 'somewhere.' Where's somewhere?

 

The G8 was a day late and a dollar short.


see ya G8! and more importantly GOODBYE FAKE FIREHAWK

 

Thank you Josh. You beat me to it.

Isn't that comment like calling an Armini suit "fake hip hop wear"?

Firehawk was an overpriced, cartoonish, tuner version of a 2 door Firebird whose structure was first developed when Jimmy Carter was President, the Soviet Union still has their arsenal pointed at us, and Demi Moore was still jailbait in many states.

The G8 is a 4 door performance sedan straight from the factory for adults, has a chassis that was developed this decade, is the performance sedan steal of this century (or even last), and has handling that everyone compares to a BMW.

Although Firehawk was good for what it was, if anything, I suspect the G8 would likely take severe insult at being linked in the same sentence to the Firehawk.

 

Ummm, wrong on so many counts...

But, most importantly, SLP is building G8 Firehawks as I type this.

Sorry Guy, 'tis truth.

 

I wouldn't call the Firehawk cartoonish. It's scooped hood & optional IROC spoiler were more subtle than the T/A's standard batwing spoiler & bulging WS6 scoops.

 

And the G8 is selling hot of the lots? People in the marketing for a BMW are suddenly taking a look a pontiac G8s??

all of the people here that love the G8 actually plan on buying one?

none of the above.


like i said a day late and a dollar short just like the GTO... how long have these cars been on sale in other markets? Many years. SHould have been selling these cars here 5 years ago instead of the junk pontiac has been pushing.

Same with saturn - they just now get a decent line up (from GM europe) and now they are getting axed.... its just too late. How long have we all been saying the rest of the world gets the cool GM cars and we get the crap. Long enough I guess.

 

I agree the T/A was much more silly looking then the firehawk - they toned down the porky pig snout and as you said BATWING, they look alot more slick. LT1 T/As never looked over the top though


I also find it funny that he puts down the firehawk as an old POS... and look at what he drives.