“If I were to fix Pontiac,”
Oh boy, here we go again.
Before we start, please don’t pick the “performance route” as it is unsellable nowadays. Pontiac was only profitable with volume cars that weren’t performance-centric and lost money when it tried to do the whole “we build excitement” nonsense business plan that last worked in the 1960’s.
Pontiac was profitable selling garden variety G5’s. G6’s, G3’s, Torrent’s, and Montana’s. Those cars, despite who they were attached to a grossly outdated brand strategy, were the real pulse at Pontiac becasue they were the ones that brought money in.
Money losing cars like the Solstice, G8, and all cars in GXP trim hardly brought back a dime to GM because they cost too much to engineer and returned too little. They were simply showroom pieces that roped in people to gawk at a Solstice coupe GXP, only to go away with a brouchure for a mid-level G5 sedan.
So lets pick apart your business plan. It better have a componet that allows for volume sales and acutally brings money in.
“I would have a compact Lancer Evolution fighter,”
Strike 1 – Mitsu sells far more Lancers than Evo’s. That very fact is what keeps the Evo going, not demand. It doesn’t work the other way around and never will; not for Pontiac, not for Mitsubishi, not even for Kia.
“a performance Malibu”
Strike 2 – Pontiac had the G6 GXP. Guess what it relied on just to even exist in the first place? The G6. Guess what happened when the G6 couldn’t sell in large enough numbers? The G6 GXP goes stangnent and nobody would want it.
“and Impala (but not rebadges),”
Strike 3 – Same deal with as above, but with the Grand Prix GXP.
Also, rebadges are a fact of life in the auto industry and will never go away. In fact, rebadging isn’t even practiced anymore, rather sharing a platform.
But for Pontiac, they had so little money coming in, there was no way in hell they could have their own platform without “rebadging” an existing GM car. The W-body itself was ancient, and GM is not stupid enough to spend billions and billions of dollars on a single use platform for a under-performing brand to sell a performance version of a car in a segment that is dying.
“cars with more aggressive looks and better engines)”
Strike 4 – Aggressive doesn’t sell. Historically, cars that are consevatively styled move off the lot. Pontiac had the Aztek and it was ridiculed. Pontiac had Millenium yellow offered, but only 5 people ever ordered it on the G3’s they bought new.
Also, the same thing about billions and billions for a new platform can be reduced to millions and millions for different engines. Not ‘better engines’, Pontiac is only worth what GM has available.
“of course the G8 to compete with the Charger”
Strike 5 – The G8 was the large segment car for Pontiac. Having it along with the aforementioned “performance Impala” would be a needless overlap and a waste of engineering resources.
“a Camaro (Firebird),”
Strike 6 – Again, a segment too small to chase after considering GM already has enough money tied up in the Camaro just to make a version for Pontiac.
Also, if GM did make the Firebird, you can bet your shoes that it would have to share the Zeta platform the Camaro has. No question.
“a Corvette,”
Strike 7 – Aww hell no! GM tried that stunt with the Cadillac XLR, so how could even think to convince people to buy a gussied up Corvette again?
“the Solstice,”
Strike 8 – The segment is dead and even Lutz admitted the Kappa platform was a money losing venture.
“and a compact crossover or two.”
AND FINALLY HE GETS IT! A volume car that would sell and be the sole breadwinner for the whole Pontiac brand!
So here’s the real question for your Pontiac business plan: Where’s your volume selling compact, subcompact, and mid-size cars? Why is there more emphasis on tired and predictable sportscars and not things like a Camry fighter, a Civic fighter, or an Accent fighter?
You may think the Camry, Civic, and Accent aren’t important as the Charger, Camaro, or Evo you’ve mentioned, but I can tell you which group of 3 always brings home the money and which group of 3 sell to just a fraction.
If you can tell the difference, you’ll know why Pontiac isn’t here anymore.
