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I haven't posted a take on it here, so I thought I would interject some conclusions about the G8 and Pontiac as a whole because the two are so closely related.
Pontiac was never given a shot as a niche brand. Every single time that it sought to act in a specific performance market, it faced brand-damaging products. It is hard to assess why this happened or whether someone is to blame, but no one managed to successfully enforce a performance brand identity for Pontiac in recent history. Instead, toxic, brand-damaging products took that performance image and damaged it. These products include the G3 and Aztek that no one liked.
The G8 could have made a great Impala, but GM decided to make the Impala FWD. Adding a RWD Impala back into the lineup make Chevrolet less the brand that it is designed to be. What is Chevrolet? It is everyone's car. As a result, it is both a performance brand and a family brand. We all have to remember that the greatest of muscle cars were born of incredibly average family cars. This created the original sleepers. The G8 is too performance-oriented to be a family car.
The G8 sells poorly. It has to go. I wish it could go elsewhere. The most logical choice is apparently Buick, a niche luxury brand. It hasn't had a real performer in a long time. Apparently, Buick is not slated for a G8-like product, and GM simply has no good excuse to bring the G8 over to Buick right now. Think about it. GM is in bankruptcy court. The government has a large amount of control over GM right now. GM also possesses other performance products, so there is no good reason to port this over. The current stakeholders simply don't see it as a good idea. I would have to agree, at least on a temporary basis. Keep selling big sellers. The G8 simply has to go for now.
The G8 market is the same as other GM car markets. Look at us. We're on a Camaro site. We're talking about ways we can wiggle a car that we all love into full lineups. If we are so desperate to keep it while so many buyers are prepared to ignore it, then we are a poor representation of the market. As enthusiasts, we like performance cars, and we have a bias. Unfortunately, that makes our opinion marginal.
The G8 is amazing. It is a testament to GM engineering. Killing the G8 is not the end of this sort of engineering. It is a sign that GM has other products that represent the best of GM performance. If the G8 is an expendable performance car, then the remaining performers must be pretty amazing. I'm very optimistic about GM's future, and I have every reason to believe that great cars, like the G8, will continue to exist in GM's future.
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