GM made the smart move w/ the Solstice because it's a brand specific product. Pontiac is all about energy and excitement, the Solstice is about driving excitement and a tension you feel when you look at it's seductive curves. Not to sound like a marketing man(though I am), this is what's crucial for sucess. It's ok to badge engineer for the sake of cost cutting, but make sure that the product fits the bill as far as what it contributes to the definition of the brand. This, IMO, is what GM's brands are missing w/ the majority of their cars. Consumers are looking for individualized performance and style, and they're not stupid to just fall for anything, people know that when they're buying a Yukon, they're buying a Tahoe. Why does the Escalade sell? It lives up to a standard in the self concious social climber mentality(not necessarily a bad thing, it's a fact). While the new Escalades styling is a bit pretentious and contrived, it's still very on point for what Cadillac is about, modern, classic American luxury. You've got sumptous large leather covered seats, wood grain throughout, big Cadillac badges all over. It's an in your face car that pushes the philosiphy of the Cadillac brand in the consumers face. You guys get my point I'm sure, so it's a hit and miss for a lot of GM's products. If they do what they did w/ the Camaro they will score everytime, they shyed away from marketing clinics and went off of emotion in the heritage of the car, and used that to define what the new car will be about. Passion is what's needed for GM's brands. Hope this all made sense guys.

 

Yes the Solstice was a nice brand specific product right up until they got lame and made a Saturn version of it.

 

Kind of like when they got lame and made a Pontiac version of the Camaro!

 

No, since the Camaro was so ugly, they always had to fix it.

 

Well if Pontiac had its way, the Firebird would have originally been a 2 seater roadster. But nope, Chevy had to get all pissy and thwart that because they were afraid it would trounce on the Vette.

I think Pontiac did an amazing job with the 1st gen Firebirds to differentiate it from Camaro.

 

nope. wouldn't really work. the t-bird came back to great critical and public acclaim, and where is it now? everyone loved that car, despite/because of its retro styling, but the pricing just killed it. $40k to start for a car with 275hp that cost $30 all decked out just a generation before? naganahapen.