LexBob2

Acura has sold over 24,500 vehicles thru March so I doubt if they're going away.

I did notice that the new RL has only 555 sales for those 3 months. Something like 160 in the month of March. Yikes! That's not many.

O. L. T.

iTrader: (17)

it was news 4 weeks ago https://www.clublexus.com/forums/car...wn-2011-a.html

It just appeared they released the info pre-maturely and no link was ever found. They only said it once on the news and somebody seems to have told them to shut up until now. They literally said "we are shutting down" then...... nothing was ever said again.

mmarshall

I can agree with you, at least to an extent, on GMC, but why should Pontiac get the ax? What, in your opinion, makes them a "rental-car-division"? Granted, the G6 sedan and Sunbird are unimpressive, but there are some interesting vehicles in their line-up that are not shared by anybody else at GM, including the G8, G6 hard-top convertible, Solstice roadster (The Saturn Sky's styling, though on a common platform, is far different), and the G8-based, El Camino-like sport-truck concept that would be on the horizon if the division stays afloat.

IS-SV

Do they still make Sunbirds, unbelievable which is a polite way of stating it.

Solstice/Sky, hardly top tier cars but certainly decent cars in their class. A G-8 El Camino will generate insufficient volume to make a difference.

I'm not interested in having the taxpayer funds keep afloat any marginal auto divisions. But that's just my opinion. Years of bad management and product portfolios containing both good cars and many crap cars put them in this predicament. GM management is quickly working themselves out of the decision process, and based on their track record I'm not surprised.

mmarshall

Well, yes....but on a technicality. It's not known as the Sunbird any more, but the G5....a rebadged Chevy Cobalt. (Sorry, I should have made that clear in my post)



Pontiac now is also doing a rebadged Chevy Aveo econobox....the G3.




I'm not sure the G8 El Camino is that much of a potential dud. The original El Camino sold well ehough to keep it in prodiction from the late 1950s to almost 1980. And the project won't generate ANY volume if Pontiac dies, unless (maybe) they transfer the project to Chevy and the Malibu. But most of the development work, of course, has already been done on the RWD, G8-based Holden platform. Moving it to the FWD Malibu would probably require starting all over.

The Solstice and Sky are also important as Miata competitors, especially now that the slightly more expensive Honda S2000 is being dropped.


Yes, it is my opinion, too, although I think we just differ a little on what we consider "marginal". I see GMC, like you do, as a waste of money, but I'm just not so sure about Pontiac. Yes, Pontiac does needless rebadged Chevys (like the ones I posted above), but they also do some nice unique stuff as well.

I'd say dump the G3, G5, and (maybe) the coupe G6, and keep the rest of the Pontiac line, with the G6 hard-top convertible.

I8ABMR

I wont lose a second of sleep when/if these 2 go under. I cant believe they even lasted this long. IMO both Pontiac and GM produce crap ( I am being nice ) and they have been outdated for far more than 2 years. Its been well known that they build ****ty products for decades

I cant even imagine actually buying a GM or Pontiac. Trash... just trash.

I8ABMR

doesnt pontiac have toyota building the new vibe. actually its a matrix with a rebadge job. I have a staff member at work who is looking for a car and I mentioned that the Pontiac Vibe is actually a rebadged toyota matrix and that it would be reliable. Her response was that she would pay the extra 15 dollars a month not to have a pontiac emblem on her car. Can you blame her ???

IS350jet

I thought of the Nova too but then I remembered the last iteration of the FWD Corolla and didn't think it would do the name any justice. How many people, when they hear the name Nova, would think of the last Toyota version? A new retro Chevelle, now that's classic. They can call it anything they want, really, it would just be very sad to see that wonderful Holden go away after only a couple of short years.

rdgdawg

Forgot that post OLT... thx!! But kinda weird on how this is going down and being reported, you know?

tex2670

How on earth can this be?? GMC sells only Chevy trucks...

tex2670

They did too much damage to the Nova name since it was a hot car in the 60s.

mmarshall

Yes, I CAN blame her. That reasoning, IMO, is complete nonsense. Why pay more money a month to get the exact same car?

(Don't get me wong. I'm not saying this to sound arrogant or to point fingers at her, but to illustrate a point)

Now, if there are other factors involved, fine.....things like quality of dealer service, closeness of the dealership to her house for convienence, fine. If that is the case, then she has a point. But to base the decision on badge alone is absurd.

mmarshall

The Corolla-based Nova of the late 1980s actually led to a whole line of Chevy/Geo-badged small cars and SUVs based on vehicles from Suzuki, Isuzu, Daewoo, and Toyota.



The current Malibu, though not RWD, is a pretty nice vehicle in itself. I could see myself driving one...and it wouldn't be hard to do a two-door version of it.

IS350jet

Yes, the Malibu is a very nice car, but, not what I had in mind. I really think GM could use the Holden as part of their strategy to survive. A high performance, RWD, Chevy sedan would be a great addition to their lineup.

I8ABMR

She was concerned with service quality as you mentioned, warranty issue, and to be honest does not want to have a Pontiac ( even if its the same car). This girl is 21 years old. She is not from the older generation that still remembers when American cars were in their hay day. She only knows the last 10 years of poor reliability ratings.

The extra 15 dollars a month is well worth it in my eyes for the image increase that the toyota emblem gives over the Pontiac, better service, and more dealership locations in the metro Phoenix area