1969 GTO
Feds Told GM To Drop Pontiac Or No Bailout, Ex-GM Exec Says
When General Motors shut down Pontiac, it left a lot of enthusiasts wondering why. It was primed with a lineup of powerful, rear-wheel drive models, and seemed like it had a bright future ahead of it. It turns out that GM killed it on government orders, according to former GM Vice Chairman Bob Lutz.
Friend of Jalopnik and west coast editor for Autoweek Blake Rong had an interview with Lutz today, and from what Rong is putting out on his Twitter feed, it’s full of plenty of bombshells. None bigger, though, than this one:
2012 GTO
If true, it’s a big revelation of the scope of power that the government held over GM during the worst days of the recession. Power and threats like that are often spoken of, though rarely in such explicit terms. Even still, there’s not much of an explanation yet as to the specific objections the Feds had about Pontiac. The division seemed to be heading in the right direction after years of wayward stumbling. The Pontiac G8 was receiving rave reviews, and a new GTO was in the pipeline. Related
Lutz went on to tell Rong that Pontiac was intended to have an all rear-wheel-drive lineup, and that the new Pontiac G6 was supposed to share a platform with the fairly excellent Cadillac ATS.
It’s amazing what could have been, and we may never know the exact internal discussions the government had when it decided to shutdown the storied brand. Something tells me Lutz knows more of the story.
https://jalopnik.com/the-feds-killed-pontiac-bob-lutz-says-1452735716
Today GM is a better company.
They kept buick alive vs pontiac? Who buys buicks? If i see a an old buick i get out of the way since its usually some old bag who cant drive.
#2 strongly suggest that you look around there are a lot of people driving new buicks of all ages.
#3 read the post. It says ‘driving OLD buicks’. If you see one coming at you, strongly suggest you get out of their way.
The average age of a Buick buyer in 2012 was 66, well above the average for other car manufacturers. This is younger than it has been in the past for Buick. In recent years, their styling and marketing has targeted a “younger” demographic.
“They kept buick alive vs pontiac? Who buys buicks?”
Buick owns China.
GM has about 15% of the China market and growing every year.
Buick sales are increasing year-over-year at a double-digit rate.
Buick is a coveted luxury car in China.
China is where the market growth in automobiles will be for the next decade (and probably longer)
Oh and most importantly… China is now GM’s BIGGEST MARKET worldwide – outpacing the USA.
As if that was not enough, have you seen the new buicks?
World class suspension. Luxury/Near luxury interiors. attactive sheet metal. (engines are not quite there yet). All at a bargain price.
Besides, Pontiac was the boy-racer “performance brand”.
Blue colar performance enthusiasts can jump in a hot Chevy.
White colar enthusiasts can slide behind the wheel of a Cadillac “Vsport”
Feds didn’t have to work hard to make the business case for dropping Pontiac.
Prior to the ‘feds’ taking over GM, and incinerating shareholder value to zero (then giving an equity portion to the unions) Buick was scheduled to be shut down. GM a/k/a government motors couldnt sell a domestic car if their life depended upon it. Ford kicks ass, and never took a dime of taxpayer money. I wouldnt ever buy a GM car after what happenned to equity investors and bondholders, contrary to the law, in favor of the unions, a/k/a obummer supporters.
Show me how many Ridgewood homes have a new buick in the driveway? (even the maids don’t drive them)
You should take another look at Buick.
Based on objective looks, performance, handling and luxury, they are very competitive – even class leading in many cases.
Some people cannot get past brand snobbery.
If you can, take another look… you might be surprised.
I was a gm employee, during the late 70’s early 80’s thru 92, and Pontiac was on the block back then, there was a corporate objective to have all dealers on the highways, and get rid of olds, and Pontiac, first then buick and keep chevy, caddy and then add hummer,