[ViperTomcat]

http://abcnews.go.com/Business/wireStory?id=12016406


Pontiac, whose muscle cars drag-raced down boulevards, parked at drive-ins and roared across movie screens, is going out of business on Sunday.
FILE - In this Oct. 9, 2002 file photo, the hood ornament of a 1967 Pontiac GTO in Sturtevant, Wis.,...
FILE - In this Oct. 9, 2002 file photo, the hood ornament of a 1967 Pontiac GTO in Sturtevant, Wis., is shown. Pontiac, whose GTO and Firebird muscle cars defined fast rides, drive-ins and cruising for a generation of teenage boys, is going out of business. (AP Photo/Journal Times, Mark Hertzberg, File) MANDATORY CREDIT
(AP)

The 84-year-old brand, moribund since General Motors decided to kill it last year as it collapsed into bankruptcy, had been in decline for years. It was undone by a combination of poor corporate strategy and changing driver tastes. On Oct. 31, GM's agreements with Pontiac dealers expire.
Even before GM's bankruptcy, Pontiac's sales had fallen from their peak of nearly one million in 1968, when the brand's speedier models were prized for their powerful engines and scowling grills.
At Pontiac's pinnacle, models like the GTO, Trans Am and Catalina 2+2 were packed with horsepower and sported colors like "Tiger Gold." Burt Reynolds and Sally Field fled the law in a Firebird Trans Am which raced through the 1970s hit movie "Smokey and the Bandit."
By the late 1980s, though, Pontiacs were taking off their muscle shirts, putting on suits and trying to act like other cars. The brand had lost its edge.
Bill Hoglund, a retired GM executive who led Pontiac during its "We Build Excitement" ad campaigns in the 1980s, blames the brand's demise on a reorganization under CEO Roger Smith in 1984. That overhaul cut costs by combining Pontiac's manufacturing, engineering and design operations with those of other GM brands.
"There was no passion for the product," says Hoglund. "The product had to fit what was going on in the corporate system."
Although the moves were necessary to fend off competition from Japanese automakers with lower costs, they yielded Pontiacs that looked and drove like other GM cars.
By 2008, the last full year before GM announced Pontiac's shutdown, sales were 267,000, less than a third of those sold in 1968.
Formed in 1926, Pontiac made cars for the working class until a sales slump in the 1950s nearly killed it. GM revived the brand by connecting it to auto racing. From then on, each Pontiac sales boom was driven by speed; each bust generally featured outdated or boring rides.






The story continues in the link.

This is an extremely sad day for me. Back in 2008 I nearly bought a G8 GT.


RIP Pontiac!

[LittleMT]

so long, good friend......

[BackinBlackSS/RS]

Originally Posted by LittleMT

so long, good friend......

[Russo]

someone had to get the axe... as a g8 and GTO fan, im ok with them removing some of the brands... i look at it this way, if you copy the same car 5 times, the soul and uniqueness of those vehicles are lower than a manufacturer who makes 1 or 2 versions... by removing redundant brands such as Olds, Pontiac, Saab, Saturn, and Hummer you are making GMC, Chevy, Buick, and Cadillac better... i would have liked to saw them consolidate without taking my money though...

[Tallboy]

1968 Firebird.
1974 Bonneville.
1977 Formula.
1979 Trans Am.
1982 Trans Am.
1988 Trans Am.
1989 Turbo Trans Am.
1994 Firebird.

I loved these cars, and loved Pontiacs. I worked at a Pontiac dealership for years. A truly sad time...

[syr74]

My two favorite GM brands, Pontiac (loved the GTO's), and Buick (the GSX and GNX were exceptional) I'll miss the tin Indians.

[shank0668]

[Sax1031]

:(

[Zabo]

*Salutes*

Yet you still live on in my garage; I wouldn't have it any other way.

[FenwickHockey65]

Meh.

[98_Camaro]

Goodbye, brave Pontiac. We knew you well.
Cherished. Loved. Worshipped.
:flag1:

[DGthe3]

umm ... why does today mark the official end of the brand? I thought the last Pontiac rolled off the line about a year ago?

[a_Username]

Originally Posted by FenwickHockey65

Meh.

I forgive them.

Originally Posted by DGthe3

umm ... why does today mark the official end of the brand? I thought the last Pontiac rolled off the line about a year ago?

On Oct. 31, GM's agreements with Pontiac dealers expire.

Yeah, this was the last tie of business relations between Pontiac and GM.

[DGthe3]

Originally Posted by a_Username

I forgive them.



Yeah, this was the last tie of business relations between Pontiac and GM.

Ah