Bob Lutz: "Pontiac Will Be Nourished With Products"
After Rick Wagoner's announcements this morning, GM Car Czar Bob Lutz was bubbling over with product news. Of course, Maximum Bob overlooked the fact that someone else's year-old warmed-over Pontiac leftovers may be nourishing, if they're seldom appetizing or appealing. Anyway, MB revealed that the Chevrolet Cobalt will be around for a lot longer than we'd been led to believe. It's "no where near the end of its life-cycle" and it's "finally coming into its own" (whatever that is). So what about the Cruze? It'll be sold eventually but not as the Cobalt's replacement. And then there's the news that's upsetting Autoblog' s readers: the Beat won't go on, at least not in the U.S. Apparently, the small car that GM needs right now wasn't designed with federal crash and safety standards in mind (doh!). It would cost too much and take two years to [s]fix that short-sighted screwup[/s] prepare the car for compact-loving 'Mericans. So when CEO Rick Wagoner said earlier today that GM has "a global operating framework that allows us to respond to changes in the U.S. market, a commitment to technology leadership, and an ever stronger and competitive product line-up," he wasn't talking about small cars. Except the Aveo and Cobalt. And the Pontiac-nourishing G3 and G5.
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Basically, instead of GM competing against itself by having multiple brands selling the same product or different product in the same market segment, now GM is competing against itself in the same showroom by selling two different products at the same dealer. Brilliant!
The funny thing is that the "Old"smobile division was starting to produce some refreshingly different designs (albeit, still badge-engineered to some extent), and that's the division they axed. Dumb. And the Cobalt is still "meh" IMHO.
"Nourish with products" does NOT mean having Aveos or Cobalts with nose jobs sold as Pontiacs, or having the long-in-the-tooth G6 languish on for another few years. Lets see here: 1) G6 - In bad need of either a refreshing or a complete redesign. When it first debuted, it was a game changing car for Pontiac and its amazing the car still looks good (IMHO) to this day. GM shouldn't let a good product like the G6 go to waste. 2) G5 - OK, if they're going to market this Cobalt clone, at least give it more than plastic surgery. Alter the suspension points, give it more power, PLEASE give it the turbo 2.0 four pot so it can at least live up to the divisions "Excitement" tag line 3) G3 - You've got to be kidding. Needs to be axed ASAP. A Pontiac version of the Chevy Beat would've done wonders for Pontiac, especially if it could be equipped with the new 1.4l turbo engine. 4) G8 - Keep it coming.