2009 Pontiac Solstice

With Chevrolet, GMC, Buick, and Cadillac named as GM's "core" North American brands, the Internet is rampant with all sorts of speculation about what General Motors plans to do with its "Excitement Division." Fact is, GM isn't there, yet. GM can't develop a plan until its finances are certain enough to take all its projects from being on hold, and then it has future corporate average fuel economy standards to consider. However, GM has said Pontiac is to become a "specialty" brand, while Saturn and Saab are under strategic review and Hummer is up for sale.

If GM doesn't cancel its Alpha small rear-drive program for a BMW 3 Series-size Cadillac, that platform could support a second-generation Solstice. GM's hope would be to make the Solstice a "world" sports car, like the Mazda Miata, and kind of like the Chevrolet Corvette. If there is a second generation, though, the Solstice is likely to continue in Europe as the Opel GT. This fits in nicely with plans we revealed last month for GM to combine Opel and Buick design.The G6 is older than the Chevy Malibu and Saturn Aura, and its replacement has been put on hold. It's Pontiac's volume car, so simply dropping it from the lineup makes Pontiac a "specialty" brand by definition. Vibe probably has another four years to its lifecycle.

Longer term, Pontiac will need sporty cars on small, lightweight platforms for fuel-efficiency if it's to remain viable. Consider a version of the Chevy Volt with a handling package, a coupe built on the Cruze platform and with more turbo boost, a U.S.-built car off the Delta platform or the Mini-fighter, still apparently in need of a division, that was spotted in late 2007 on GM's drawing boards. Better to update the brand with cars like these.

If GM defines Pontiac's "specialty" as baby-boomer-oriented cars like the G8, the division won't last much longer than that car's lifecycle.

© Source: motortrend
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