I read this on Camaroz28.com...this guy knows his stuff -- and what he says is enlightening, to say the least.
Quote:
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Originally Posted by guionM
This story is another example of how in the journalism business, you take a nearly insignificant bit of common information and turn it into a sensationalistic story. The story is basically factual, but the theme is misleading.
Here's what the story misses.
The VE series will have a total life of about 5 years. Holden is scheduled to change over to the next series in 2011-2012. GM North America initially planned to use the G8 as a stand in till our own Zeta plant got up and running. The G8 was never intended to run past the time of the current VE, so basic premise that the G8 is being killed by GM and all the reasons being given for it are not factual..... bogus, in fact.
Second, news of the Kappa not seeing a 2nd act broke a long time ago. Bob Lutz himself said originally that the Kappa (Solstice) would only be around 3 to 4 years. Sales volume have very little to do with the Kappa. It was developed for pocket change. The resources commited to it were akin to the number of people it takes to lay out an engine compartment.
Kappa's profits overall are in fact, razor thin. It's a relatively cheap car to produce, but it's also sold at a very cheap price and the factory it's made at is using something like 20% of it's total capacity. After what happened to Ste Therese, it's logical to believe that GM was keeping the plant open for something bigger by making Kappas to keep the utilities on and pay the taxes. Also, the Kappa is so much like a Corvette, it could actually come off the Corvette assembly line. Finally, if GM wanted to continue the Kappa, the car is modern enough that it could continue for some time without change simply for the sake of change. The Solstice is also already 4 years old.
For the record, Holden's Elizibeth City plant is producing at near capacity thanks to a strong export market (including the US). The current G8 is in very little danger of being discontinued. The G8 is scheduled to have a model run of only 3-4 years, when the Oshawa version was supposed to start production (we're going into year #2). Solstice was supposed to be dead by now.
What will the future may hold (assuming GM is around to carry it out)?
Holden in Australia is working on a smaller RWD platform expected to be manufactured here or down under..
Here in the US, we're working on an Espilon 2 Impala.
Either one can end up in Pontiac showrooms.
Kappa is already living on borrowed time, but I suspect we'll see it beyond 2011 assuming both GM and Pontiac survive.
The story takes a normal life cycle and turned it into a GM is killing off Pontiac story. It may be true, but they are using the wrong evidence.
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In other words....this is a sky-is-falling article.
The G8 is one of GM's more successful (in the public eye) cars, and it's needed as a PBG (Pontiac-Buick-GMC) halo car to get people into dealers. They're not going to "kill it" -- they might as well say the Camaro will be canceled in 5 years...that's so far away in the auto world, who the heck knows what's going to happen?