Color Me Gone

Edward Niedermeyer
by Edward Niedermeyer

But as one door closes, another opens. With Pontiac dead, Automotive News [sub] reports that GM will use its NUMMI capacity for some other Corolla-based GM product. Because, as one Pontiac spokesman puts it, “there’s really nothing wrong with the Vibe. Its only problem right now is that it is a Pontiac.”

G8 Gt slow motion burn out


Edward Niedermeyer
Edward Niedermeyer

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  • Psarhjinian Psarhjinian on Apr 28, 2009
    Right now the 55 - 65 year old bracket is the fastest growing in the US. Yes and no. People entering that demographic en masse (Boomers) are, generally speaking, pathologically afraid of being labelled as "old". They will not buy "old man" cars, and will shun Buicks and Lincolns for something that may not be holistically more exciting but doesn't remind them of their own mortality. Chrysler had a shot at this with the 300C because their image wasn't in the tank and the 300C was a brilliant design. Toyota (or Honda, or Nissan, or even Hyundai) can sell cars to anyone regardless of sofa-ishness because Toyota's brand "stink" it reliability (or what have you), not fogeyness. A " damn right you dad drank it" campaign would be Buick's only hope, and in my opinion they're too far gone for even that. True, many will buy an Avalon, but compared to one of those a Buick is actually more exciting Oh, come now. None of these cars is "exciting", except in the sense that Chapman's vanilla ice cream is different, and thusly exciting (for a very lame definition of "exciting"), versus Breyer's vanilla ice cream. The Avalon, in Touring spec, has marginally more exciting suspension, while the V8 Buicks have marginally more exciting power, but the difference is so minute that any enthusiast wouldn't care or notice. It's like people complaining that the Camry and Accord are boring. Outside of the 6 and Fusion (and even then...) no midsize mass-market sedan is exciting. Exciting is for niche cars.
  • Hal Hal on Apr 28, 2009

    “there’s really nothing wrong with the Vibe. Its only problem right now is that it is a Pontiac.” this quote is dead on - the Vibe is a decent car but Pontiac was never on the radar for most of the Vibe's natural market. They should build a Chevy Vibe to compete with the Mazda3 and take the Chevy badge off the Aveo and all the other Korean stuff.

  • Davey49 Davey49 on Apr 28, 2009

    "If I were Toyota, having GM sell rebadged Tacos is pure win/win." Not a bad idea. It lets GM close a plant. The midsize and larger cars are not exciting, but probably less than 5% of people want "exciting" cars anyway. The midsize and larger cars are roomy and comfortable, which a lot of people want. I'm 42 and I want my next car to be an "old man" car. Driving an "exciting" car is rough on my back. Pontiac is leaving instead of GMC because this way every GM dealer now sells trucks. Trucks help dealers make money during lean times because they always sell.

  • Pmd1966 (of GM) Pmd1966 (of GM) on May 12, 2009

    folkdancer At the old Pontiac Motor Division we always said that NUMMI stood for: Never Underestimate Management's Misguided Ideas.

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