Posted on 02/21/2006 8:11:58 AM PST by Mikey_1962
General Motors has told Pontiac dealers that it will discontinue the GTO coupe at the end of this model year. GM will make the last deliveries of the vehicle to dealers by the end of September, sources close to Pontiac say.
GM will produce 10,000 to 12,000 more GTOs before dropping the nameplate, one source close to the situation says. Last year, Pontiac sold 11,590 GTOs compared to 2004 when it sold 13,569. That's a 14.6 percent drop.
When Pontiac launched the GTO in 2003, it projected 18,000 annual sales. The vehicle was criticized for bland styling, and some fans of the original GTO complained that it lacked nostalgic styling cues.
"For the remaining life of the car, it simply wasn't worth the engineering expense or effort to re-certify it as an '07 for a very limited run, when we could continue selling them as '06s," says a source close to GM who is familiar with the program.
The GTO is built on a rear-wheel drive architecture from GM's Holden division in Australia. The present model is going out of production as GM constructs the new Zeta RWD architecture, says the source. There is no replacement coupe planned at this time and because of the strong Australian and weak U.S. dollar, the GTO had to be priced thousands over where GM originally wanted it -- in the mid-twenties, the source says. "It never did as much volume as we had hoped," the source says.
The GTO suggested retail price starts at $31,990, including shipping. One GM source says, "the 2005 and 2006 were pretty well sold out, and sales were especially strong in areas of GM weakness, like Southern California. It's a shame it has to go -- for now."
(Excerpt) Read more at autonews.com ...
Just bring back the OLD GTO! sheesh.
They really did drop the ball with this, Ford won all kinds of attention for their Mustang, and Cobra, and GM brings back the GTO as a super generic? Sad really, lot of potential it had.
I was previously hoping pontiac might bring back the Fiero... not so sure now. it'd probably be a 4 door sedan.
I can't believe what a flop that car was. There was so much potential, but no creativity.
How could the GTO possibly have failed? The Aztek was such a great success...
GTO? What GTO?.........
Ya .. its a great car ... higher quality interior made by the aussies yet with that baddass american motor the ls2 .. i was really considering picking one up ... oh well i'll wait for the return of the challenger or camaro.
"GM brings back the GTO as a super generic?"
Yeah, I was in the dealership and asked what gives? They told me that GM said that's what the GTO would have looked like had it been through model changes through the years. How weak. GM's management has the collective IQ of a fence post.
" because of the strong Australian and weak U.S. dollar, the GTO had to be priced thousands over where GM originally wanted it."
Guess off shoring wasn't such a great answer in this case, huh?
The new goats did have bland styling, but credit where it's due: they had wicked horsepower. At least they got that right.
A Grand Am with a Corvette engine is all it is.
You beat me to it! The '64 or '65 design, with modern materials and technology would be great.
......and four doors?........
It's a Holden. A really nice car.
AND it would sell. Stupid auto makers...
How insulting!........to fence posts.........
No four doors. Pontiac also makes a 2-dr Grand Am coupe.
Have you seen the Soltice? That's a good looking Pontiac.
(Sadly that may be true the way GM screwed up every muscle car it had... )
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