Posted on 06/25/2002 9:20:07 AM PDT by Willie Green
For education and discussion only. Not for commercial use.
DETROIT (AP) — General Motors Corp. is counting on a reincarnation of the car nicknamed ``the Goat'' to give its Pontiac division the sales kick it needs.
The automaker released the first sketch Thursday of what will be the 2004 Pontiac GTO, a 21st century version of the popular muscle car that went out of production in 1974.
Unlike the old ``Goat,'' the new kid is based on the Monaro, built by GM's Australian subsidiary Holden. But it will be pumped up with an LS1 aluminum engine and beyond 300 horsepower to add traditional GTO muscle.
``We're going to turn the car to better suit American tastes,'' said Bob Kraut, marketing director for Pontiac GTO, Bonneville and Grand Prix. ``It'll be a bit more aggressive. We want to make sure it sounds like a Pontiac.''
GM plans to have about 18,000 GTOs built by Holden, limiting production to maintain the car's cache. The GTO will be introduced in late 2003 as a 2004 model priced in the low- to mid-$30,000 range, Kraut said.
While Pontiac has always been GM's ``performance'' division, its sales performance has been flat of late. It showed a 5.1 percent decline in the first five months of the year compared to the same period a year ago.
Wes Brown, an analyst with the automotive market research company Nextrend, says Pontiac must be careful about how it uses the new GTO.
``If you can bring it back where it makes sense in the brand portfolio, it can be very effective if executed properly,'' he said. ``The question mark as you try to reposition the brand is, what is the new position?''
Brown also said the GTO could meet resistance from buyers if it does not look enough like the original.
``One thing about the restyled Thunderbird and VW Beetle, clearly, their styling influences hark back to early version and you immediately know what vehicle it is,'' Brown said.
Robert Maher of the 12,000 member GTO Association of America is thrilled to see the car coming back and sure it will be the talk of the upcoming national GTO Association convention — but he's less thrilled that the car is coming back all the way from Down Under.
``I would have liked to see it come back as an American version, something that would have been built here,'' Maher said.
You are right no remakes,period! My buddy had 70 GTO with 400 small block 3-11 rear and a shiny red paint job. It cost 5-7 dollars to drive to school everyday, but what the hell,that car was beautiful. It died a horrible death on US 50 and MD rte 201, when it hit a bridge abutment.The 69-70 GTO's and the 70 Le Mans were my favorite muscle cars.
Why bother? I'm going to go out on a limb here and make an observation and a prediction:
Observation: Whoever the marketing "genius" is who came up with this concept has, no doubt, never driven or ridden in a real GTO.
Prediction: Can you say "car lot queen?"
I think that is too much for a Pontiac. The Bonneville can get to $30,000 with all the options, and the Trans Am's can, but I don't think the car will do too well. Didn't interest in the new Ford Thuderbird die quickly after it was released? The damn thing costs $35,000 - way too much for that type of Ford, especially when the cars didn't cost anywhere near that when they were produces last(as a different body, but who cares).
It's all because of the Corvette. For around $40,000, you can buy a GM sportscar that can whoop most every other world-class supercar costing six or seven times as much.
Notice that the Camaro SS is gone, and the Firebird is headed that way. Dodge killed their announced Charger R/T. Those cars cost -- or were going to cost -- around the mid 30-thousand mark.
Buying a Camaro SS for $34,000 proved that the buyer had a hole in their head when they could have had a Vette for a few grand more.
An engineer I work with has a Z06 Corvette and the test rides I've been in with him prove that it's invincible. Handles like a slot car, pulls a high-12 in the quarter mile, and stops from 100 mph in shot-put distance.
They are WAY to small. The times I have seen them on the street with the top down they almost look like an Alfa Romeo.
FMCDH
I know nothing about cars so I can not expand on or describe what it had. All i know is it would snap your neck and launched like a rocket.
Apparently it's an Aussie GTO, not a Camaro ;)
And the interior:
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
