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Bob Lutz: Pontiac G8 “a good idea at the time” : Car Advice | News Blog

Bob Lutz: Pontiac G8 “a good idea at the time”

July 17, 2009 by George Skentzos  




GM Vice Chairman, Bob Lutz, has undeniably confirmed that the G8 sedan will indeed die with the Pontiac brand – full stop.

pontiac.g8.f34.500 DEEEEEAAAD

While standing by his previous comment that the Australian-developed sedan was “too good to waste”, from a marketing perspective the task of reassigning the G8 to another brand is just impossible to achieve.

Mr Lutz made the official announcement on GM’s FastLane Blog earlier today, mentioning that as a fan of the G8 he could sympathise with its supporters although simply could not justify the cost of rebranding.

“I know that we’ll get a lot of complaints from G8 lovers, because I’m one of them. And the product guy in me is complaining as loudly as anyone. But the marketing guy says there’s no case. With budgets being what they are for the time being, the resources must be allocated elsewhere.”

The Australian engineering team behind the Pontiac G8 was also given special mention in the announcement, with Mr Lutz confirming that GM would again turn to Holden for its expertise in the future, “just not right now”.

Here is the full statement from GM Vice Chairman, Bob Lutz.

It Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time…

By Bob Lutz
GM Vice Chairman

OK, I have some late-breaking news for you from the world of GM, where things are indeed moving quickly, and what I’m about to say is proof.

In fact, we’re moving so fast, we’re going back in time to, oh, about four or five days ago, when the Pontiac G8 was going away and was not going to become a new Chevrolet Caprice.

And therein lies the news: The G8 will not be a Caprice after all. I’d mentioned it, and said we were studying it, giving it a serious look, because a car like the G8 was just too good to waste.

That’s all still true. But I have to say that, with my new “marketing” hat on, upon further review and careful study, we simply cannot make a business case for such a program. Not in today’s market, in this economy, and with fuel regulations what they are and will be.

I know that we’ll get a lot of complaints from G8 lovers, because I’m one of them. And the product guy in me is complaining as loudly as anyone. But the marketing guy says there’s no case. With budgets being what they are for the time being, the resources must be allocated elsewhere.

In no way, and this is very important, in no way does this mean we are backing away from performance, or backing away from rear-wheel drive. Look no further for proof than the Corvette, the Camaro, the CTS or many other present and future Cadillacs. We have a strong lineup of RWD vehicles already and we will continue to have it.

And we have a tremendous RWD team in Australia that gave us the beloved G8, a team that we will tap into at some point again in the future for its expertise and sheet metal. Just not right now.

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Comments

61 Responses to “Bob Lutz: Pontiac G8 “a good idea at the time””
  1. realcars says:

    Thomas69 u are a tossle.lol

  2. Tomas79 says:

    Spot on Max and Mark.

    Ross P, wipe away those tears, hold on to the fact the he never said “never” (Not like he contradict himself regularly :-)) and take a bit of your own advice, and contribute to the world a little!!

  3. Tomas79 says:

    Wheelnut®™ Says: “show me one real high performance sports car which is FWD and capable of handling more than 200Kw”

    Ford Focus RS (220kw FWD), Ouch!!!!

  4. The Realist says:

    The last time Holden made a profit Mark Latham was the saviour for the Labor party…

    When will Holden step off the ladder of opportunity provided by the tax payer?

  5. Forza M says:

    i have it on good authority that the VE platform will be the last real drive platform made by GM, this is it people.

  6. charles says:

    Finally there is some worthy posts to read instead of the biased, one eyed dribble that comes from the die hard supporters and ones that can`t handle anything said against their beloved.

  7. Wheelnut®™ says:

    No Charles – it appears that you Tomas79 and Leone [the naive dog] are still on this site making inciteful comments; taking things out of context etc; and trying to pass your opinions off as fact as always

  8. Ezz says:

    Max’s point about GM heavily discounting off the taxpayer’s back is concerning for those companies toughing it out themselves, like Ford. Govt assistance for innovation purposes is an investment in your people, but assistance of this kind may be just misdirected patriotism. Only time will tell, I guess.

    ****

  9. Titan says:

    After reading some of the comments in this blog I guess it is true what they say – Hope springs eternal.

    Can’t say this is much of a surprise at all…

  10. charles says:

    No Wheelnut just the facts and the truth. I can`t help if I don`t care for Aussie built cars, especially Commodores in that awful green color.

  11. Ross P says:

    Yeah Charles/Will lets bring in Fiats instead :P,much better than Ozzie stuff.

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