Fritz flops for sake of feasability, GM RWD gets dumped.

DETROIT — Fans of the Pontiac G8 were dealt yet another blow on Tuesday with the official word from GM that the performance car will not live on as a rebadged car for Chevrolet or any other GM brand. "I am not a fan of rebadging," said GM CEO Fritz Henderson when asked if the Pontiac G8 has any kind of future within General Motors as a rebadged model and what kinds of changes would be need to be made to the car for it to be sold under another brand. Henderson also addressed why Pontiac could not be sold in the same manner as Hummer, Saab and Saturn. "We have had success in discussions with buyers re[garding] Hummer, Saab and Saturn," he wrote. "But in the end we did not see the same potential, to be honest, for Pontiac." Henderson seemed more positive about the automaker's ability to "continue to differentiate" the GMC brand versus Chevrolet. "Take a look at the new Chevrolet Equinox and the GMC Terrain, for example," Henderson wrote. In other product news generated by the Web chat, Henderson said that GM's fuel cell vehicles are "still some considerable time away from commercially feasible vehicles." He added: "Re R&D, while we need to be more efficient in this area, we are confident that we can maintain the capabilities necessary to win in the market going forward." Inside Line says: It appears that all hope is gone for the Pontiac G8, even though it has a hard-core loyal following. — Anita Lienert, Correspondent

Accountants... who woulda thunkit.

Oh Well Ford still makes cars.

"I am not a fan of rebadging," said GM CEO Fritz Henderson....

Makes you wonder how he managed to rise through the ranks at the all-time champion of badge engineering.

We dont badge engineer vehicles at gm, except pretty much everything we sell.

Not a fan of rebadging...look at what we did with chevy and GMC. Does not compute. GMC is nothing BUT rebadged vehicles.

billy3esq wrote:

"I am not a fan of rebadging," said GM CEO Fritz Henderson....

Makes you wonder how he managed to rise through the ranks at the all-time champion of badge engineering.

plus eleventy billion......................

DILYSI Dave wrote: Not a fan of rebadging...look at what we did with chevy and GMC. Does not compute. GMC is nothing BUT rebadged vehicles.

Yeah...seriously...wtf is he talking about??? Talk about some bonehead quotes!

Bryce

For E36 M3s sake they could rebadge a CTS and make an Impala, don't say you aren't into rebadging, say you would prefer to rebadge a car with more market appeal.

DILYSI Dave wrote: Not a fan of rebadging...look at what we did with chevy and GMC. Does not compute. GMC is nothing BUT rebadged vehicles.

Amen. Corporate doublespeak at it's finest/worst!

GM, I am raising my middle finger in your general direction.

This reminds me of a popular saying in business school about one's head being so far up one's behind that it popped back out...

I'll bet Roger Penske could do something with them, like the Saturn deal.

Too cool to die.

I bet they are sitting around wondering why they are bankrupt.

Guy at work has one with the v6. Moves good, looks good.. I was actually starting to like it.

Btw.. The accountants comment is lame. Accountants tell you what is happening vs the product planning/marketing folks who tell you what it could/should be but is really not. Blame the losers who put together a losing business plan that obviously had a very poorly done breakeven. Face it.. If the product was good and marketed effectively ( 4P's people) it wouldn't be cut.

Uh, igny, the G8 has been showing sales increases during these pathetic times. There's a reason it should not have been cut.

P71 wrote: Uh, igny, the G8 has been showing sales *increases* during these pathetic times. There's a reason it should not have been cut.

umm.. if it was making a profit it wouldn't be cut.

Isn't the dang thing a rebadged Holden in the first place?

Whatever. They made enough of them for me to pick one up for $15k in a couple of years.

I see it like this, ok rebadge the cts, make an SS version of the impala, and a v6 pedestrian version with a 306hp v6, sounds like a weiner to me. just give us a RWD option, for berkeleys sake.

ignorant wrote:

P71 wrote: Uh, igny, the G8 has been showing sales *increases* during these pathetic times. There's a reason it should not have been cut.

umm.. if it was making a profit it wouldn't be cut.

No, if it was making a profit in a sane company it wouldn't get cut. We've already determined GM management is of it's freaking rocker, hence the profit-making G8 gets cut yet the Vibe will live on as something else. It's GM dude, nothing they do makes sense, even to GM fanboys like me.

P71 wrote: profit-making G8

I don't think the car makes a profit. Do you have data?

To say that its sales were increasing is a wonderful, but sales can be increasing and it still be so far behind on its targets that it'll push the ROI out years....

wherethefmi wrote: I see it like this, ok rebadge the cts, make an SS version of the impala, and a v6 pedestrian version with a 306hp v6, sounds like a weiner to me. just give us a RWD option, for berkeleys sake.

No kidding, lets think why some us dont like dont like the cars they make.

step 1: rwd

step 2: make it fun to drive, every day

step 3: make it coast effective

is it really that hard?

ignorant wrote:

P71 wrote: profit-making G8

I don't think the car makes a profit. Do you have data? To say that its sales were increasing is a wonderful, but sales can be increasing and it still be so far behind on its targets that it'll push the ROI out years....

According to AutoBlog, Jalopnik, and Autoline it was making a profit. I'll try to dig up some figures for you.

It was definitely making a profit for Holden, and they are furious about losing the NA market for that platform, hence all of the G8/Caprice cop car talks.

"Take a look at the new Chevrolet Equinox and the GMC Terrain, for example," Henderson wrote.

I did, they are the same.

The only firm thing I can find right now is that Holden pulls in a Billion $ US from the G8:

"It was recently reported that the death of the Pontiac brand could cost Australia's Holden as much as $1 billion a year due to lost G8 sales, but the Aussies may have a backup plan in the form of Commodore/G8 police cars."

hence why I won't be purchasing a GM product any time soon. I'm voting with my wallet.