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I think Pontiac is dead... it's just a matter of when.
My cynical view is that the "niche brand" thing is only going to last until they can get more Pontiac dealers dualed up as Buick/GMC so they don't have to pay the dealers off to axe the brand. And until they can develop a Chevy fascia/trim for the G8, because that car's too good to let go. Given the likelihood that the Solstice loses money... I can't see how it would be kept around long. The rest are pretty much rebadged Chevy's, which GM has said it's trying to stop doing.
The Pontiac brand just doesn't work. The '04 - '06 GTO, and current G8, were/are pretty darn good cars. But neither sell anything close to what GM hoped. Enthusiast buyers just don't shop at Pontiac dealers anymore, at least not nearly enough of them. And GM just doesn't have the time and money to keep trying to revive the brand, IMO.
I think Pontiac as a brand has been in a slow death spiral since about 1973.
My favorite "old" cars are mostly Pontiacs, so I'm sad to see where this seems to be going....
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