After debating Pontiac's viability this year, General Motors' leadership plans to revive the brand's heritage of performance with a product lineup of exclusively rear-wheel-drive cars.
There would be no trucks and - after the next generation of vehicles - no front-wheel-drive cars either.
GM will unveil a rwd sedan concept at January's Detroit auto show. This echoes the strategy that GM adopted with the 1999 Evoq concept, which revealed Cadillac's new brand "look."
The Pontiac plan is not final. GM executives continue to build a business case for it. This ambitious proposal is a plan to save the brand, which has suffered declining sales. GM sold 437,806 Pontiacs in the United States last year, compared with 599,123 in 1995.
Fwd cars will not go away soon, but rwd vehicles will become more prominent in the near term.
Pontiac say GM leaders are debating:
- The future of the Grand Prix sedan.
- A possible GTO replacement based on the Chevrolet Camaro.
-A Firebird muscle car.
In recent years, Pontiac has been wracked by debate over its future. During a controversial speech at the New York auto show last year, GM Vice Chairman Bob Lutz called Pontiac "a damaged brand."
But Lutz said he had never asserted that the brand was "irreparably" damaged. While Pontiac is still struggling, GM is repairing the damage, and the bleeding has stopped, Lutz says.
Nevertheless, many say top-level GM executives did debate a phaseout of the brand. In January, senior executives met to discuss Pontiac's future. GM decided to revive Pontiac as a pure performance brand.
GM will trim product lineups as it consolidates Buick, Pontiac and GMC into three-brand dealerships under its retail channel strategy. Lutz said that Pontiac and Buick will not carry trucks.
Lutz did not say whether the Pontiac Torrent crossover, a rebadged Chevrolet Equinox, would one day go to GMC.
The strategy will force Pontiac to sort out its product plans for the Grand Prix. While GM hasn't set a time frame, it's likely the automaker will discontinue the current incarnation of the fwd Grand Prix after the 2008 model year.
GM is considering a new mid-sized rwd sedan to replace it. GM says the vehicle will be "one notch up" from the present Grand Prix, which has a base price of $21,990, including shipping. Whether that vehicle keeps the Grand Prix name is uncertain.
But Pontiac's drive to become a pure performance division would sacrifice sales volume. For example, many G6 buyers in northern climates want a front-wheel-drive car for winter conditions.
GM is pressuring dealers to combine Buick, Pontiac and GMC franchises into single stores by cutting the brands' product lineups.
Pontiac brand executives hope that if GM builds the Camaro for Chevrolet, the architecture could provide a similar product for Pontiac. The previous generation of GM muscle cars included the rwd Pontiac Firebird, a sibling of the Camaro.
But Pontiac spokesman Jim Hopson is quick to add, "We want a truly differentiated product. We don't want a rebadged vehicle."
If GM decides to build the Camaro, GM will not revive a Firebird version. There will be no Firebird. Rear-wheel drive? Yes. Pony car? No.
Dealers also want a replacement for the GTO, one of only two current rwd Pontiac cars, the other being the Solstice two-seater. Pontiac will kill the Australia-produced coupe this fall after just three model years.
GM say there will be a replacement for the GTO, but the product gap will remain for a couple of years.
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