The G6 and the G8 will be the saviors of the brand.
The Solstice will not be the savior of the Pontiac brand its not meant to be. But it will create more interest in the brand, just like the GTO was supposed to do, and is starting to do from what Ive been seeing recently. That interest will draw people to the Pontiac nameplate.
And just like denalidave stated there are still 3 models of G6 to hit showrooms yet. So dont consider the G6 as a sales flop just based off a few "winter" months of sales data. Spring/tax return time will bring more new car buyers. It appears that car sales are slowing down, so dealers wont be moving as much volume as they did in years past. But with SUV sales slowing due to increasing gas prices, those buyers will be looking elsewhere like sedans and minivans.
As for roadster sales, remember Toyota is dropping the MR2 from their lineup. So that is one less option on the market for potential roadster buyers. So the only other option will be the miata in the soltice/sky price range. The VW concept R will be more in line with the S2000/Sky redline/Boxster/Crossfire with its pricing.
The only car manufacturer to make real big strides in market share recently is Nissan and if you look at it a few years ago they were dead in the water. If the VQ multiplatform engine would not have taken off like it did, Renualt was going to dump them. So if Nissan can do it, then Pontiac has the ability to make a big turnaround also. I personally think Pontiac is headed in a good direction with the G6 and G8 coming into the lineup with the soltice and the GTO being Halo cars to draw attention to the brand.
Improved resale value and increased reliabilty & initial quality will also help GM in the years to come.
Think about it though. You have this list of cars here that it's competing wtih:
Honda Accord(4 and 6 cylinder)
Nissan Altima(4 and 6 cylinder)
Toyota Camry(See above)
Mazda 3(which is cheaper), Mazda 6
Ford Five-hundred
Mid-Sized Saturns
etc.......
I mean the G6 is nice to me but it has alot of better compeitition.
I still hope I'll be able to find a used '05 GTO in a couple of years but it looks dim right now for Pontiac.
The G6 is way over priced. When I went to look at a G6 the sticker was $27k and the GTO was marked down to $26k, guess what I picked.
Good point. One thing they were hoping on is the people who don't necessarily want a coupe and would prefer a sporty looking mid-sized sedan.
That price is redicilous though. There are sedans out there that cost less and have more power and comfort.
I had a g6 gt rental car 2 weeks ago and it was awesome for what it was very refined feeling. Power wasn't any less thaan the 3.8 non s/c gp's t/c sucks it won''t let you spin the tires with it off just alittle more than with it on. BETTER than a GRAND AM we traded a 2003 for the goat . The g6 is not in the same catergory as the grand am to me. WAY better radio than ours I'm not saying I'd trade my goat for one but they are far better than the grand am or the grand prix in my opinion I just had a 2005 grand prix gt rental over the weekend and was not impressed. And the grand ams are still available so that contributes to the lack of g6 sales also in my opinion.
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cosmos purple A4 1 of 334
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408 E85 GT47-91,Nitrous outlet 50 shot, turbo 400,9" currie,28/10.5w mt et streets
2005 yellowjacket A4 1 of 234!!
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516 rwhp and 656 torque (150 shot)
I can tell you that our dealership has been and continues to do well with the G6 and from the amount of dealertrade calls that we get so are our competitors.Is it selling as well as the the Grand Am did?No,but the car is only available in 2 trim levels,both 4 door models.I agree with HRJ that the 4 cyl model is going to boost our sales and the convertible,imo,is going to be a boost.It is more expensive than the Grand Am was but you have to keep in mind that it does have a lot more standard equipment and more available options than the Grand Am did.I've sold a lot of them to previous Grand Am owner's who initially were not interested in looking at it,but once they did and drove it fell in love with it.I had one for a demo when they first came out and liked it a lot and am currently driving a GT with leather and panoramic roof and I like it allot.I bought my wife a new Grand Am last year when they were offering $5500 in rebates with my discount and I wish that I would have waited and got her the G6.For those of you who haven't driven one,I think your opinions and judgements will change
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Tom Capozzi
Spitzer Pontiac GMC
Canton, Oh
Toll free 1-877-896-1211
You have an automotive market still struggling in sales across the board, you only have a 6 cyl, 4 door variant out, and you have probably most dealers trying to make a decent profit on a "new" marketed car, while other makes are in their "heavily discounted" mode. Not to mention those sales figures on the Grand Am were averages since 1984 (WHAT?) which probably included a big chunk of fleet sales. I hate when investigative researchers don't throw all the variables into the mix.
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2006 Pontiac G6 GTP Coupe 2005 Saab 9-2X Aero 5MT - sold 1976 MG Midget - project car
---------------------------------- Real men wear Pink? No - real men (and women) wear camoflage, sleep in ditches dug in the sand, eat MREs, and carry US issued weapons...
Consumers bought an average of 195,949 Grand Ams a year, or an average of 16,329 a month, between its release in 1984 and last year, according to the research firm Autodata Corp. of Woodcliff Lake, N.J.
In February, consumers bought 7,043 G6s, which would translate into about 84,516 in annual sales.
Well, let's look at the REAL numbers.
In Feb 02, the Grand Am sold 14,397 total units. In Feb 03, 10,268. Feb 04, 11,192. Not exactly 16,329 a month.
Additionally, Pontiac sold 5938 grand ams in Feb 05 with the 7043 G6s. Take the heavily-discounted Grand Am out of the picture and you'd probably have additional G6 sales.
I also think it's funny how a 7043 Feb sales rate will translate to 84,516 in annual sales. Gee, what fantastic extrapoloation skills - 7,043 x 12 = 84,516; how genius! If they would have wrote it against Jan sales (4,104) that number would have been only 49,248! That's a 71% improvement in annual sales from Jan to Feb! We're looking good....
Think about it though. You have this list of cars here that it's competing wtih:
Honda Accord(4 and 6 cylinder)
Nissan Altima(4 and 6 cylinder)
Toyota Camry(See above)
Mazda 3(which is cheaper), Mazda 6
Ford Five-hundred
Mid-Sized Saturns
etc.......
I mean the G6 is nice to me but it has alot of better compeitition.
I still hope I'll be able to find a used '05 GTO in a couple of years but it looks dim right now for Pontiac.
I completly agree with you, that market segment is one of the toughest to compete in.
Your up against the Camry and the Accord which are year after year #1 & 2 in auto sales. But the Altima was able to sneak up there in sales too, so why can't the G6? It wouldn't be bad for the G6 to be #4 on that list of cars behind the Camry/Accord/Altima. I feel it has the potential to do very good. It needs to get better publicity in the auto rags. For instance the next time they run one of those all midsize sedan tests, If the G6 can finish high up and get some half decent comments or praise that would help alot an would be great marketing fodder.
I hated the last Grand am I thought it looked dated and overdone with plastic body cladding and it still had its 93 interior. But Im really impressed with the G6 in many ways, and I feel its far better than the new Jetta, Ford Fivehundred, Mazda 6 & 3, & Mitsu Galant.
The G6 is going for a tough market, but it's not sensible to assume to much from the salesnumbers when so much of the model lineup is not even released. Pontiac is in a transition period, looking at them a year, and especially two years from now will tell a lot more.
-Very attractive looks in coupe or sedan versions.
-Good build quality from what i've seen
-good materials for the interior
-a hardtop convertible coming out for around 30 grand if not a little less
-a kick ass gxp verision coming out
they are all steps in the right direction for pontiac and GM
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2007 Miata Powered Lotus 7 Replica - Build Log Here!
2009 Saab 9-7x Aero - 390HP AWD Fun
People today look at a few more things than before .
1 safety features/ratings or better yet what the car will look like after a suv hits it
2 resale or residual value, will it lose 1/2 its value the first year
3 mpg
4 features
5 dependability
6 price of product
Add all that together with the 0 % financing , Asians steel buying power over US due to week dollar , interest rates rising , slow economy , a country at war and unsure of its outcome . Housing going up 100 % in a few years time . All that together and you have a shit ****tail for the US auto manufacturers .
In my driveway I have three vehicles currently , the 04GTO (lease) great car , 04 Ford f-150 ext cab (good company workhorse) , And a 04 Toyota tundra Crew cab which I bought .
Question : Which one do you all think held its value the best . Sad but true the japs have figured out a good way to sell rice . Value to yeild .
The market for this car commands that it be priced just right or it will not sell. The internet has also given the average person a good set of tools to search facts, figures and features prior to a car purchase.
Gm will pull through as always , They are not going anywhere . Just time for a change in priorities .
Bought my wife the G6 the day after I took delivery on my GTO. Gotta say I like it alot. FULLY loaded GT, heated leather, monsoon stereo, pano sunroof, on-star, remote car start. Fits the family well (2yr. old and an 11yr. old) and gets great gas mileage, 29+ on our last 600 mile trip. All for around $23K+change after incentives and the fact I just bought a GTO from the same Dealer. As far as performance, its actually better the the base RSX it replaced, compared to the GTO now, I will leave her standing at the light like a hooker with aids
Bought my wife the G6 the day after I took delivery on my GTO. Gotta say I like it alot. FULLY loaded GT, heated leather, monsoon stereo, pano sunroof, on-star, remote car start. Fits the family well (2yr. old and an 11yr. old) and gets great gas mileage, 29+ on our last 600 mile trip. All for around $23K+change after incentives and the fact I just bought a GTO from the same Dealer. As far as performance, its actually better the the base RSX it replaced, compared to the GTO now, I will leave her standing at the light like a hooker with aids
Now if they just put a sticker of $25k on it and cut out some of the rebates, people wouldn't be scared off so easily. Hopefully GM does the right thing and price it accordingly like they said they will.
They are too dam expensive that's why. That's GM's problem across the board for the most part. Their cars are too dam expensive. The retiree's benefits alone could make this company have to reorganize. This company
has been run inefficiently for a long time and to make up for it they keep adding it on to the price of the cars. Well, it's catching up to them.
Not too many people buy cars this time of the year. Of course if you average the Grand Am sales for the year and then compare it to the last couple months the G6 is going to lose. The G6 is a good car and will sell well with time, wait for spring to come and start moving cars. The coupe, convertibe, and 4 cylinder will be great. The hard top convertible should sell really well if GM can keep the price low. It's not that hard to go in to a Pontiac dealer and get $4500 off MSRP anyway, most people are idiots though and just walk in expecting to pay close to MSRP. I just helped my sister buy a Malibu Max LT, it had custom wheels on it so it stickered at $28,000. We went in there and took it for $450 above invoice at about $24K. My Avalanche was the same thing, stickered at $39K and I got it for $35K.
Too bad GM doesn't just drop their pricing for what you could buy it for with rebates and discounts. The magazines also should take that into account as well when doing auto reviews. "The G6 stickers at $27K but with a little effort it will be easy to purchase the vehicle for $24K with rebates or discounts"
You know what's funny is GM might make more if they lowered prices, reduced the bonuses and then slowly raised prices without raising the cash back etc. This would be a 10+ year strategy though and few corporations have management that really cares more than 1-2 years ahead.
Um, just in case anyone wants to really research the whole "lower the price, remove the rebates thing", you'd find that DOES NOT work in the US mindset of buying US cars. Just look at Saturn.
Regardless of what we may say SHOULD happen, US buyers STILL look for money off, lots of money off, period. People expect to get very little money off of imports and lots of money off of american cars. It's just the way the last few years have shaped our buying mentalities. It's easy for us to say just lower the price and offer less rebates, but all that does is leave the dealers to deal with customers still wanting "the deal". I believe GM did some amazing discovery market research that found people would spend more money than they planned if they could get more money off the car - if thy felt they were getting a better "deal". I watche myself, customers that would come back and tell me they bought some other car with $4500 more equipment (which was about $400 more markup margin), and got an additional $200 off the deal I offered them. Little did they know (and I wasn't going to rub it in) they actually got a worse deal.
Um, just in case anyone wants to really research the whole "lower the price, remove the rebates thing", you'd find that DOES NOT work in the US mindset of buying US cars. Just look at Saturn.
Regardless of what we may say SHOULD happen, US buyers STILL look for money off, lots of money off, period. People expect to get very little money off of imports and lots of money off of american cars. It's just the way the last few years have shaped our buying mentalities. It's easy for us to say just lower the price and offer less rebates, but all that does is leave the dealers to deal with customers still wanting "the deal". I believe GM did some amazing discovery market research that found people would spend more money than they planned if they could get more money off the car - if thy felt they were getting a better "deal". I watche myself, customers that would come back and tell me they bought some other car with $4500 more equipment (which was about $400 more markup margin), and got an additional $200 off the deal I offered them. Little did they know (and I wasn't going to rub it in) they actually got a worse deal.
Some people do, but some people also dismiss American brands when comparable models start with several thousand higher MSRP. Everything is give and take. Really deep discounts are not a must, Chrysler/Dodge is not constantly discounting everything to the extent GM is. Sure the discounts are there, but GM's gotten a bit overboard with high msrp pricing and markdowns.
The G6 is way over priced. When I went to look at a G6 the sticker was $27k and the GTO was marked down to $26k, guess what I picked.
I agree, I was waiting for my car to get serviced and took a look at a loaded G6, the car is Nice, inside and out and without driving it, I like it better than a camry or accord but when I got to the sticker, it was somewhere north of $28k. HAH! an accord EX V6 with Leather is cheaper than that. People see that and they walk right away. GM needs to do what the foreigners did to them in the 80s and 90s. Sell an equivallent or better product CHEAPER than they do. OR at least so close people will think twice. Their cars are overpriced to account for the eventual giant rebates. If they would just price them correctly they wouldnt need the rebates and they would sell more cars
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Guiltlessly turning gallons of gasoline into teary-eyed bliss at every opportunity!
2004 Pulse Red GTO LS-1
1995 Black Chevy Impala SS LT-1
1995 Dark Cherry Chevy Impala SS LT-46 speed
2003 Blue Yamaha FZ-1 2010 Yamaha VMAX on the wish list...
Um, just in case anyone wants to really research the whole "lower the price, remove the rebates thing", you'd find that DOES NOT work in the US mindset of buying US cars. Just look at Saturn.
Saturn's prices aren't that low for what you get, in fact I've always held a general opinion that they were overpriced but you saved the hassle of haggling with the idiot sales departments typical of US brand dealerships.
2004 GTO Owner
cosmos purple A4 1 of 334 
No Longer With me
