New York Times – For Pontiac, Quality Comes Too Late:
General Motors will phase out the Pontiac brand in 2010, said Fritz Henderson, president and chief executive of G.M., in a press conference this morning. I had heard that G.M. was giving up on Pontiac last week, at virtually the same time G.M.’s car delivery guys were taking away the test car I’d been driving for a week: a “liquid red” Pontiac G8 GXP. So in some small measure, the news, though anticipated, was personal. I felt as though I were losing my new best friend.
The G8 GXP is a terrific car. I’d rate it at or near the top of the list of 20-odd new vehicles that I’ve tested this year, and the less rascally G8 GT is high on the list as well. As Eddie Alterman wrote in his perceptive review of the G8s in The Times last December (before he moved on to become editor in chief of Car and Driver), these impressive new Pontiacs arrived at Detroit’s party as the floors were being swept and the last drunks were staggering out. “It’s too much, too late,” he wrote.
All too true, and, for those who recall when Pontiac was the life of that party, so sad.
The only Pontiac I ever owned was a piece of junk and I think closing that division is the right thing to do. Still, it’s a little sad when an old American brand shuts its doors.
And poor Delmar Haynes. Guy sells Pontiac, GMC, and Jeep. A decade ago he expanded his lot. A few months ago he consolidated his dwindling inventory to his original dealership space and left the new building empty. He and his employees have got tough times ahead.
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