[~JC~]

GM announced to Pontiac dealers over the last week that there will be no Firebird...

GM to dealers: No Firebird for you. Smart call? | Car News Blog at Motor Trend

No New Pontiac Firebird Trans Am

Industry News: No New Pontiac Trans Am, GM To Scale Back "Performance" In "Performance Division"

[Kjohn21365]

Originally Posted by ~JC~

GM announced to Pontiac dealers over the last week that there will be no Firebird...

GM to dealers: No Firebird for you. Smart call? | Car News Blog at Motor Trend

No New Pontiac Firebird Trans Am

Industry News: No New Pontiac Trans Am, GM To Scale Back "Performance" In "Performance Division"

Doesn't GM have a history of "scaling back" Pontiac? Just makes me think that maybe there is a reason they are losing ground in the market - they are so out of tune with what America wants from them. Oh well, I'll just have to build my own.

[~JC~]

Originally Posted by Kjohn21365

Doesn't GM have a history of "scaling back" Pontiac? Just makes me think that maybe there is a reason they are losing ground in the market - they are so out of tune with what America wants from them. Oh well, I'll just have to build my own.

Well, if they can't spend 200 Mil on a new Firebird, it's a safe bet they can't afford a new GTO either... The Pontiac division is being strangled to death by Corporate General Motors. If they think I' settle for a Camaro they've got another thing coming... I'd rather have a 5, 10, 15 or 20 year old Pontiac than be given a brand new Camaro for free.

Yes, they are idiots but this ain't the Pontiac Divisions fault, It's Corporate General Motors. They for some strange reason have always had it out for Pontiac way back from the start in the 60's. Wangers, Delorean, and Knudsen were very luck to pull several ideas over the General Motors Management before they got wise. I believe that's where it stems from they fear Pontiac, because Pontiac can do everything better than them when allowed to do so...

I'm going to send Mr. Lutz a strongly worded letter on what I think of his approval of this decession. I hope others will do the same? Sure, I know they don't care but I'll feel better.

[gtovicki]

I told my frinds at the race this weekend that GM had killed the 'Bird . . . it is our general concensus that:
Gas prices are too high to support a true performance vehicle now
and
GM is already comitted to the Camaro &

All the recession talk has scared everyone to death, so that every corporate a-hole is so afraid of sticking his neck out that no one will even back a limited-run performance machine
Which I personally think would be successful because there is a rabid focused market that would support it.
It would probably drive demand even higher.

But what do we know??? I am not working for GM
I just support it my whole life.
I'm with you - leave me my Goat & shove your Camaro

[~JC~]

It ain't just the Firebird but the GTO is dead too...

Lutz said:

General Motors would like to offer a new Chevrolet Impala and Pontiac GTO based on its new Zeta rear-wheel-drive platform, but the much-rumored programs are "gone for now," GM Vice Chairman Bob Lutz has said. "We’ve got nothing in the product plan right now like that."


Lutz said building more midsize to large Zeta vehicles is not a good strategy with America's new CAFE fuel economy standards in mind. While the new Chevy Camaro and Pontiac G8 use the platform, don't expect to see other GMs with the same underpinnings in the near future.

Lutz told the publication he halted or killed off several Zeta programs as a direct result of the CAFE regulation being approved by the U.S. government.

Such vehicles are not at the end of the market where GM wants to "stimulate demand," Lutz told Australia's GoAuto. Rather, GM is hoping to boost sales of smaller, more efficient vehicles. Under the new CAFE law, automakers must have a fleet average of 35 mpg by 2020.

Even emphasizing V6 and hybrid powertrains over the V8 offerings won't be enough to hit the 35 mpg goal with more vehicles like the G8 and Camaro, he said.

Smaller "Alpha" cars still on the table

Zeta might be mostly dead, but GM is still moving ahead with development of vehicles built on its Alpha rear-drive architecture, Lutz said. The new Cadillac BLS and Pontiac G6.

Lutz cautioned development of the Alpha vehicles might be delayed while "we sort our way through this 35 mpg task." He said a small rear-wheel-drive car is about 1 mpg less efficient than a similar front-wheel-drive vehicle.