Bob Lutz: G8 Is Dead, Stop Asking

by Edward Niedermeyer

Published: July 17th, 2009

Or, as the Man Of Maximum puts it at Fastlane, “It Seemed Like A Good Idea At The Time.” “It” being the idea of rebadging the Pontiac G8 as a Chevy Caprice.

“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.”

Edward Niedermeyer

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4 of 52 comments

PeteMoran on Jul 18, 2009

There's a more obvious question for me; why the HELL are there TWO capable RWD platforms? Zeta (G8) and Sigma II (CTS). WTF is that all about?????

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George B on Jul 18, 2009
# Lokkii : July 17th, 2009 at 3:23 pm ...I’ve been watching the Genesis with interest. To be honest, I’ve only recognized ONE on the street since they came out. I thought it was very handsome and expensive looking… but it was wearing dealer plates. I expected to see a lot more of them, but haven’t. I’m in a fairly reasonable part of Dallas, and I usually see a good assortment of middle class level cars. Anybody else? Bueller? Anybody? # toxicroach : July 17th, 2009 at 5:48 pm jybt— I don’t think the purpose of the Genesis is to be a big profit center. It is to work its way into the public consciousness as a car brand you don’t need to be embarrassed to drive. They are halo cars, except that they are meant to be driven. Lokkii, I've seen a Genesis coupe and a sedan in the Telecom Corridor area of Richardson, TX. However, Hyundai seems to be selling a good number of Sonatas so the halo car theory may have merit. Could simply be a horrible time to attempt to introduce a car with a relatively high price for the brand given the good deals on used luxury cars. I saw a G8 at Walmart and a few on the streets. Chrysler 300 and Dodge Charger have done much better on sales volume. Maybe most drivers who wanted a large RWD sedan with a V8 and torsional rigidity already bought a 300C or a Charger R/T and don't have a reason to spend money on a G8.

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Adub on Jul 18, 2009

Sell the G8 as the Impala. They haven't updated that thing since 1999, except for the "Blob" restyle they gave it a few years ago. The mechanicals are still old and crappy. And never trust the marketing guys. When you hear "things are going great" and then people leave for other companies, the sh*t is going to hit the fan. They are like HR people- they stay one step ahead of their screw-ups. And I'll bet they clamored for the G-3...

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Andrew van der Stock on Jul 19, 2009

There are many variants of the Commodore here: * Omega - slapper model for fleets and rental markets. * Berlina - the model most sold to retail / families, etc. This spec level would make a good Impala replacement. * Calais - "Luxury" interior. This is the 3/5 series killer if GM decided not to bring in the lower spec models. Otherwise, you can blow away any comparisons to the Beemers as quality is really not that high. * SV6 / SS - The G8. These are basically what you're getting as the G8. * Caprice / Statesman - LWB with sports or comfort suspension tunes, different interior packages. Make a good town car replacement. * HSV cooking models - usually with > 300 kW (400 bhp) V8 engines. Overpriced and look crap. There's also the Sportswagon model, which looks much like the Dodge Magnum. Not good for families - the rear window opening would create a great deal of vomit and claustrophobia in smaller children. I bet the designers never considered the idea of smaller folks being in the back seats. Looks good though if you're a gay couple or a dinkie. GM will never bring any of these models to the USA unless they can get the dies and make them in the USA. That is simply uneconomical - even more uneconomical than bringing them in to the USA from Australia. UAW will not allow imports, and now they have board seats, they'll nix any such idea. That's why the G8 is dead - not because of Fritz (although he has zero spine), not because of Lutz (who had a lot to do with bringing this generation of Commodore to fruition).

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