Pontiac is coming back…

Eldorado2k

Eldorado2k

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Word is GM is bringing back Pontiac.
Full page ad in this months Car & Driver Magazine. Thoughts?
 
I like the Pontiac brand, I hope it does come back. My first close contact with an American car was a 68 Pontiac Parisienne, a friend of the family who lived with us for a while had a gold 4 door with a 327 and column shift 3 speed auto. I know Parisienne wasn't the name used in the US, but they thought it would sell better than Catalina over here. I loved the big bench seats and the V8 rumble as we cruised around.

I wonder what it will come back as, electric only, probably, but maybe electric 2 seat sports cars, electrified Firebird anyone.

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Big Dave said:
I like the Pontiac brand, I hope it does come back. My first close contact with an American car was a 68 Pontiac Parisienne, a friend of the family who lived with us for a while had a gold 4 door with a 327 and column shift 3 speed auto. I know Parisienne wasn't the name used in the US, but they thought it would sell better than Catalina over here. I loved the big bench seats and the V8 rumble as we cruised around.

I wonder what it will come back as, electric only, probably, but maybe electric 2 seat sports cars, electrified Firebird anyone.

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Yeah the Parisiene name was also used for the car in Canada and growing up in Detroit we ofcoarse would always see Canadian cars all the time.

I'm not sure about the Canadian-spec car but I see they put a s/b Chevy in the Aussie-spec car, strange that they did that as far back as the late 60's

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Eldorado2k said:
Word is GM is bringing back Pontiac.
Full page ad in this months Car & Driver Magazine. Thoughts?
Click to expand...

Even as a former Pontiac owner, that sounds like a dumb idea. A lot of the problems GM had, or at least a lot of the criticisms, were that they were making essentially the same car underneath, with different sheet metal, and selling it under different names. There was the famous picture on the cover of Forbes or Fortune or Businessweek (Fortune--here it is: https://www.hemmings.com/stories/20...e-course-of-auto-design-at-gm-in-the-eighties ) of the X-based A-Bodies. While it wasn't exactly true, it was close enough, and...there's too much to say about this, I'd be writing my own magazine article and no one wants to hear from me anyway.


Big Dave said:
I like the Pontiac brand, I hope it does come back. I wonder what it will come back as, electric only, probably, but maybe electric 2 seat sports cars, electrified Firebird anyone.
Click to expand...

That would certainly be faster (0-60) than any previous Firebird, interesting idea, but not sure that would fit with Firebird enthusiasts...just like the I5N isn't probably the cup of tea for other N owners who might be quoted in this post.


Big Dave said:
I know Parisienne wasn't the name used in the US
Click to expand...

Klasse Act said:
Yeah the Parisiene name was also used for the car in Canada and growing up in Detroit we of course would always see Canadian cars all the time.
Click to expand...

We did have a Parisienne here in the US, I'm not going to cheat by looking it up, because I always like to go head-to-head with Klasse on our obscure automotive knowledge (and I always lose), but it was either what they called the G-body, which was the old A-special, after they dumped the A's for the W(?)-bodies in the late 80's early 90's, or it was a B-body (or maybe both at different times?). I just remember Pontiac was selling a Parisienne, and it was a RWD, after they had switched that segment to FWD, so it was either a Grand Prix or a Bonneville under another name. (Ok, I looked it up, it was a B-body in the early-to-mid 80's)
 
The G-bodies were Malibus, Monte Carlos, Grand Prixs, Regals and Cutlass'. The series ran from 1978 thru early 1988, although the last G-bodies were made till mid-1987 until the plant closed in December of 1987.

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Did they call them G-body from the beginning? Prior to '78 the 2-door versions of the Regal and Cutlass, and the GP's and Monte's were called A-special to differentiate them from their sedan brothers. The wheelbase may have been different.
 
Setec Astronomy said:
Did they call them G-body from the beginning? Prior to '78 the 2-door versions of the Regal and Cutlass, and the GP's and Monte's were called A-special to differentiate them from their sedan brothers. The wheelbase may have been different.
Click to expand...
G-bodies are from 1978-88

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GM can bring back the Pontiac series but will the quality be the same as it was??
I doubt it. You can see alot of Bonneville's still around. Looking good.
 
MI Mike said:
GM can bring back the Pontiac series but will the quality be the same as it was??
I doubt it. You can see alot of Bonneville's still around. Looking good.
Click to expand...

What vintage are you talking about? Didn't they stop making Bonnevilles like 20 years ago...heck Pontiac has been closed for 16 years already. I thought they stopped making Bonny's about 2003 when they started bringing the Holden sedans in, what was that, the G8?
 
I'm no spring chicken (age). I had a Cutlass, my daughter just sold her Pontiac GT for parts.
It was her daily driver in college. I saw one yesterday with the rear bumper taped and
there was no northern rust present. That was when sheet metal wasn't paper thin. Quality #1.
 
I have always been a huge Pontiac fan, so much history with that iconic division. Definetly an arguement for Pontiac and John Delorean creating the musclecar, the spark that started it.
 
Setec Astronomy said:
What vintage are you talking about? Didn't they stop making Bonnevilles like 20 years ago...heck Pontiac has been closed for 16 years already. I thought they stopped making Bonny's about 2003 when they started bringing the Holden sedans in, what was that, the G8?
Click to expand...
They made them right up till the end, even had a GXP version with a V8

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They're probably backtracking some on electrification so I'd be curious if they mean Pontiac to be an electric brand or maybe bring it back as an internal combustion brand while they continue electrifying the rest.
 
MisterSnoop said:
They're probably backtracking some on electrification so I'd be curious if they mean Pontiac to be an electric brand or maybe bring it back as an internal combustion brand while they continue electrifying the rest.
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The ad made a joke about hybrids, so I don't think that's the way they are going. As far as the general electrification "backtracking" I think that's just a chicken-egg thing, as the charging infrastructure builds out and more houses have chargers, there will be more acceptance, but it's going to take a long time. As someone said over on Autopia many years ago, electric cars aren't going to be accepted until you can charge up 275 miles of range in 5 minutes, like getting your tank filled up with gas. But right now a hybrid or a PHEV is pretty seamless and I'd bet you could put 95% of drivers in a hybrid without telling them and they'd never even notice.
 
I just pulled out my copy and took a look. Not sure who paid for that add or if it was just an attempt at humor by the C&D staff, but there is nothing real about it. The wording itself can't be taken seriously, and when you read the disclaimer at the bottom, it admits it's totally fake.

As a child of the Malise Era of GM cars, Pontiac was never anything that stirred my interest. By that point they were just badge-engineered generic GM cars long past their glory years. The Firebird/Trans-Am was interesting, but that was about it. Nothing else really distinguished itself from the Chevy/Olds/Buick versions of the same vehicle with a different grill and taillights and a little less body cladding. My parents owned a 1988 Bonneville which was a starship compared to the 1973 Impala wagon they traded in for it, but there was nothing special about it. I owned a '93 Grand Am right out of college and it was a real penalty box on wheels. Worst build quality of any car I've ever owned.

Since GM has killed the Camaro and now the Malibu, I think Pontiac is better off remaining in the history books. Except for the Corvette and the two Caddy sedans (which are probably not long for this world), they seem to have no appetite for cars, performance, or building anything unique. Pontiac deserves better.

EDIT: I also liked the GTO's and G8's. They were pretty cool and probably the swan-song of the brand. Even then they were not unique to the brand and plucked from the factories of our friends on that big continent in the South Pacific.
 
What if they came back with a 2nd Gen full electric Aztek with built in 2 story overland tent as standard equipment along with full size windshield LED touchscreen w/earthwide gps off road self driving capability.

Imagine sleeping in the 2nd story of your Aztek while it’s driving you across Yosemite National Park.
 
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