surgeont

As far as future classics all Pontiacs fit that model. IMHO the G6 & the G5's are fantastic cars that I hope will survive. I saw a G6 4 dr. in front of me about a 1/2 mile and a nissan next to it. I wasn't sure what either car was till I got close, but marveled at the shape of the Pontiac vs. rolling garbage can. I have 4 Pontiacs both new & old and miss the Pontiac spear in new car potentials.

While I understand all the sentiment that has been stated here, cutting GMC would have done little to reduce GM's costs - which was at the heart of the government bailout concerns. Yes, most full size GMC trucks are re-badged Chevy's. However, in the retail/wholesale market, GMC's cost more and hold their value a little more. GMCs are considered a little more luxious than a Chevy. So it means more profit for very little investment dollars since Chevy carries the bulk of the tooling/engineering costs. So the only added cost of building a GMC are those parts that differienate a Chevy from a GMC -like badging and front grills, etc.

My sources inside GM still maintain it was the government, and not GM, who demanded that Pontiac get killed. Essentially, GM had too much cost structure for the government's liking. So killing a whole brand seemed easy (to the government).

Don't expect anything with a Pontiac name on it anytime soon. Assuming for a moment that GM finally goes IPO and issues their own stock and the government is finally out of GM's shorts AND GM wants to bring back Pontiac. First the earliest GM can issue an IPO according to most reports is November and realisticly will be closer to 1st or 2nd quarter 2011. Once the government is out of the way and we, the American taxpayer, are paid off, then the decision has to be to bring back Pontiac.

So the next decision is what should Pontiac's basic customer focus should be. Should it come back as a niche performance brand? An upscale/re-badged Chevy (again)? Limited or special editions only? Also, all out performance will be frowned upon by the "infinitie wisdom" of Congress, the EPA, and other tree hugger organizations. So the cars have to be "green" too.

Once the market plan is established and car projects are green lighted from a funding perspective, it takes 2-4 years to design, test, and put a new car into production. The 2004 GTO was one of the quickest programs in GM history but it still took over 2 years to get the Monaro tooled up to meet US safety and emission standards, get through government testing, and of course make the subtle styling changes to make the Monaro a Pontiac.

Forthermore, there is lead time required to get a car into a plant for production. The plant that will build these Pontiacs will also need lead time to either add another line, or modify the existing line to accomodate the new Pontiac models.

So in all, this is 3-5 year process. Now add to the fact that there is nothing going on in any of the old Pontiac design studios at the Design Staff building in Warren, MI. This means that GM has no formal plans to bring back Pontiac anytime soon. So don't start that 3-5 year clock just yet.

In the words of an old Saturday Live skit - "Spanish General Francisco Franco is still dead! Good night and have a pleasant tomorrow."

The biggest reason Pontiac was killed off was those who buy and drive foreign crap which choked the demand down. I belong to a Pontiac club I helped start 20 years ago and many members who have an old GTO.. whatever, tell me stories of how they bought an acura or some other non American choice which is really why Pontiac is gone. Your choice of a toyota,removed my choice of a 2012 G8.

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