As GM Authority reported way back in October 2022, the last Pontiac ever manufactured – a 2010 G6 – was crashed and totaled on September 1st, 2015. At least, that’s what we thought. Now, a video posted online has shed new light on the fate of the final Pontiac ever, which turns out to be a different vehicle than the one originally reported on.
As covered by Autopian, a different white 2010 Pontiac G6 might actually be the final Pontiac, and it’s still in excellent shape. Boasting VIN 1G2ZA5EB5A4166963, which thus far is the latest-known example G6 produced, this sedan features the signatures of the workers who assembled it in the trunk. Located at the Pontiac Transportation Museum in Michigan, this G6 represents a much better ending to the iconic Pontiac brand as compared to the crashed example.
This is how the story goes. Tim Dye, the Executive Director at the Pontiac Transportation Museum, wanted to know if the last-ever Pontiac model really had been crashed. He reached out to a friend that used to run a Pontiac dealer, who happened to have pieces of data regarding the bits of information on the last Pontiac, including a VIN that ended in 963. Up to that point, the latest VIN ended in 962, meaning that there was another G6 out there somewhere.
After running a Carfax on the VIN, Dye found that the vehicle had been used as a rental for a little less than a year, when it was then listed for sale. An elderly woman eventually decided to purchase the G6 as a daily driver, and made sure its maintenance was kept up, not knowing of the significance of the vehicle. After tracking down the G6 and a few months of begging the owner, Dye was then able to secure the vehicle for the museum.
Speaking of the sunsetting of the Pontiac nameplate, here’s the rundown on the GM brand’s history. Slotting between Chevy and Oldsmobile, Pontiac was actually the one that kickstarted the muscle car era with its 1964 GTO, and made a conceited effort to keep the pony car segment alive during the malaise with the Firebird Trans Am models.
As time went on, Pontiac begun struggling and posting poor sales figures as General Motors’ continued to dilute the brand’s portfolio with dull, badge-engineered into the turn of the 20th century. Then, starting around the mid-2000s, models like the 2004 GTO and 2009 G8 GXP began to change the public’s perception of the Pontiac name. In fact, it was later revealed after the brand’s discontinuation that General Motors’ was planning to make Pontiac its performance brand.
Unfortunately, GM’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2009 and subsequent government bailout forced the Detroit-based automaker to axe the brand entirely. The feds wanted GM to remove brands from its lineup and only keep the necessary ones. To this end, Cadillac was kept as the luxury division, Chevy was kept as the volume division, Buick was kept for interests in international markets (China), and GMC was kept because it was profitable. This left Pontiac, along with Hummer, Saab and Saturn, as the unfortunate brands to receive a subpar discontinuation.
With all this in mind, it does one well to know that the last-ever vehicle produced by the iconic Pontiac brand is alive and well, and will likely continue to be so for the foreseeable future.
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Comments
If this was the absolute LAST Pontiac (a G6) assembled/built, then what were the VINs of some other last models built? For example, what was the last G8 GXP, WS6 T/A, etc?
I know this may take a while on research, but I’ve been a H-U-G-E Pontiac fan since I started turning wrenches at 9y/o (YES, age 9!) & have never looked back 50+ years l8r!
Please, please, pls, email me ([email protected]) w/ subject line “The LAST Pontiac [G8 GXP, WS6 T/A, etc] was VIN L#L#L#L#L#L######” w/ ALL the glory details.
Do not leave any detail out: whatever comes to mind will be gr8ly appreciated!
TIA!
-HoftHome
where is the last Saturn, Hummer and what was the last Holden? was the last Holden a Trax, Equinox, Acadia, Trailblazer, Colorado, Astra, Commodore?
The last Holden was a Commodore built on October 20, 2017.
Bring Pontiac back!
Figures, The “FEDS” told GM what to dump! The Feds, can’t figure out how to flush a toilet. And GM listened to them about what lines to get rid of? Now Mary, wants GM to go all EV! Not gonna happen in the next 20 years. The US is no where near ready to do so. The electric grid can’t handle things now. Besides, most electric is generated by fossil fuels. Wind, solar etc, are nowhere near where they need to be to generate power on any consistant basis. Lets restart drilling for more crude and become an energy independent nation again!!!!!!!!
Cool, I still have my 2009 Pontiac G-6 that I bought new. It was the best new car deal I ever got. GM employee discount, plus factory rebate, and GM card points got me over $9k off of MSRP. When I wrote the check for it the finance manager said it was the most discount he had seen on a new car. Today the car has 99k miles on it and is backup for our other two newer Chevys. I really miss Pontiacs, I had 4 new ones beginning with an 84 Fiero. This G-6 will likely continue its life with my granddaughter who will be 15 in two weeks and has her eyes on it.
We also still have a 2007 Solstice in the family, it belongs to my youngest daughter and lives at my house.
Points on your card isn’t a discount, you paid for it…
Not if you pay your card balance each month when due…
I pay the card off each month so there’s no interest or cost to me for the points. It’s free money.
Not entirely true. The business that accepts your card for payment pays transaction fees to the card industry. Rewards cards have higher fees then regular cards. This expense is buried in the price you pay for products or services since it adds to the cost of doing business.
Ever since my dad bought our first Pontiac, a1959 black Star Chief flat top, the first WIDE TRACK, I was forever hooked. These cars had the most beautiful paint finishes! Pontiac was the best balance through the years of style,
power and prestige. For me it was egocentric based. I owned SEVERAL Firebirds and GTOs in the early
years of driving. I saw GM slowly dull the design knife on Pontiac, allowing it to purposely die on the vine. “Nothing lasts forever” except the GREAT memory of THE GREAT ONE….
Just think if John DeLorean was still around. Think GM would have dropped Pontiac? Doubt it! Miss my ’66 “Goat”. Those were the days. Too bad, there are gone 4 ever. Mary is taking GM down the wrong path. They may never recover. One cannot put all your egss in one basket, like she is. Gonna hurt GM very badly. EV’s ar not the answer now. The GRID can’t handle it. I agree, start drilling again, bring down prices and lets get back to being the world leader in energy.
If John DeLorian was still around, gm would still have 40% market share.
Exactly, let’s go back to the “good ol’ days” of choking smog and head in the sand thinking.
Change is usually uncomfortable/unpleasant. It is an essential part of readjusting
our behavior/thinking so that we might sustain a planet that “thanks us back”.
The oil industry, through one of the largest coverups of our modern times knew well into
the 60s that we were in affect, through fossil fuels, causing irreparable damage to
this place we call home. While I realize that most of the posters here want to glorify
the ICE cars, some of us, thankfully realize the existential threat they pose to all of
us. A “shift” in our thinking, regardless of how disagreeable it might be, the research
shows, not only a health risk to human lives but the health of our closed system,
better known as planet earth.
I love the design of the cars of yesteryear, just not what’s under the hood…..
Do you think Big Electric, and battery handling/disposal, will be any better, Jammy?
There is NO battery disposal…they will be recycled, imagine that.
EV battery recycling is mostly a myth. Less than half the materials are removed, the remainder ends up in the landfill. Battery replacement in the cars costs a fortune. Cheap junk Chinese batteries are not a solution. Unfortunately, EV cars are not a solution. Carbon dioxide is .0004 of our atmosphere. CO2 is not the problem.
IF this is actually the last Pontiac ever made, complete with worker signatures, why would Pontiac not take that directly to their histological museum?
I’m sure money was tight, but the last ever Pontiac built deserved more than being farmed out to a rental company.
Looking forward to the last Cadillac being built – with their current and future styling, it can’t be euthanized soon enough.
It’s not the last Cadillac product you should be looking forward to, it’s Mary that needs to be “sunset” and bring in some leadership that would never have allowed a hideous “CELESTIQ” to have been created!
EMBARRASSING for the brand!
I have to admit, the name Celestiq is too Beyonce for me.
Lots of GM and Mary Barra bashing. IDK but any company that brings out a hot mid-engine sports car (C8) for $60-65k, + a muscle car to beat all muscle cars (ZL1 Camaro), + the Z06 with its hi-revving engine and a list of deposits longer than can ever be fulfilled, + a lux supercharged sedan with 668 HP and a manual trans (Blackwing), + a hybrid mid-engine with AWD and 655 HP (Eray), has to be doing something right, if you are a car person. I think that you should give GM and Mary a break.
That’s all Mark Reuss, not the HR lady.
A few winners in a sea of losers doesn’t make Mary amazing.
Pontiac……😴😴💤💤🥱🥱
We just recently sold our 2002 WS6 TransAm to a friend to downsize the vehicles in my garage & shop. No way should Pontiac have ever been shut down. Olds or Buick, maybe, but have always preferred the Pontiac f-bodies to Chevy. Now I will hold the Aztec against them as it was one of the ugliest motor vehicles every made. Yes, as mentioned earlier, there are several nice performance vehicles but the Camaro is history, & slapping that badge on an EV is not going to make someone want one.
Hard to comprehend such a great division of GM thrown on the automotive scrap heap.
for Jammy…..
Recent research has shown that by 2050 recycled materials could supply 45–52% of cobalt, 22–27% of lithium, and 40–46% of nickel used in the United States light- and heavy-duty vehicle fleet. Efforts across the United States to increase the sales of EVs are underway – places like California expect to have 100% of all car sales be electric by 2035…..
Hmm… currently the recycle rate is 5-6%. So battery’s will be piled up and buried just like huge non-recyclable wind turbine generator blades for years and years.. Go green energy! BTW the earth will be so dug up with 5 mile wide lithium and metals mines there will be no choice to ‘recycle’ by 2050. Notice the words ‘could supply’……..
Should Kept Pontiac Not a Buick!
Our car had G6 GT Sedan White 2008