i like the coupe but the interior needs to go.

 

When the G6 was designed, the interior wasn't all that bad. It desperately needs an interior update now though.

 

IMO the problem with the G6 is that the execution was disappointing when compared to the concept which was a cool looking wide, low-slung vehicle that really grabbed attention. The reality was a noticeably taller, narrower car with a frumpier interior than the concept and so it has aged faster and never really caught on the way concept implied that it could have. I had a GAGT at the time the G6 was coming out and the concept captured my imagination - the reality left me a little cold.

I've driven one; I was not inspired to rush out and buy one and in hindsight, I think I liked my GAGT more - despite really hating the dash in the GA. Yes I think the interior was a step forward (how much I'm not sure) from the GA and I do like the chrome rings around the guages and the vents in the dash, but beyond that, nope, no sale.

 

While I don't agree that the G6's interior is a steaming pile of crap (it's really bad... not quite that bad), you nailed a perfect example of GM's problem today.

The G6 WAS supposed to be a gamechanger for GM. Everything you said is true.

The G6 WAS supposed to gain a turbocharged engine. It [b]WAS[b] supposed to gain AWD. It WAS supposed to reap the benefits and hardware from some of GM's other global Espilon cars.

What the fork happened???

Again, it's General Motors' decision making process. To be polite, it's disfunctional. (I'll leave the more accurate term to someone else).

GM has plenty of talent generating alot of good ideas. Yet the way GM is set up, its system is literally designed to kill ideas, not promote them. That's why we get products that either take too long to get to market, things designed for the US ending up elsewhere, or things getting killed out of the blue after seemingly alot of work was done.

Unfortunately, Pontiac has borne the brunt of GM's tortured decision making, self destructing product development system.

The Bonneville was killed. No replacement.

The Grand Prix Coupe was killed, but replaced with a narrow market GTO.

The Firebird was killed. No replacement.

The Grand Prix was killed. No Replacement.

The Grand Am was killed (best selling car at GM). GM brought out only a 4 door G6 as a replacement and waited over a year before the coupe was available. The improvements GM promised never made it, turning the "Blank Canvass" into birdcage liner.

To this day, I don't know how, why, or what logic GM's upper management used when they killed off so many Pontiac products with no (or in 2 instances, extremely limited) replacements, then wonder why Pontiac isn't doing better.


Chrysler (of all companies) is now even seeming likely to survive this downturn.

Seems GM is still playing on the merry-go-round, spinning into the ground.

What's painful is that they not only know what needs to be done and are fully capable of doing it, they are just too bureaucratically paralyzed to actually do anything.

IMHO, if GM survives, it's simply because it's too big to completely die, not because it's management got it's act together.