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Old 12-17-2007, 02:19 AM   #74
stovt001


 
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Drives: 2006 Cobalt, 2004 Taurus wagon
Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: California
Posts: 3,810
Luxury cars have gone with non-names for a while now, and Cadillac finally jumped on board. Personally I hate it. A name is part of the car's personality. Oh and BMW's numbers have no relation to engine sizes or output. Benzes sometimes do and sometimes don't. Same with most other manufacturers. The only one that is always consistent is Audi, and that pattern seems to be exactly what Pontiac is following. Interesting that both Pontiac's and Audi's roadsters are the ones that don't follow with the letter-number naming scheme.

As far as I know the Vibe and Torrent are likely on the chopping block as Pontiac moves towards strictly RWD performance cars. With the new CAFE regulations we may see the Vibe and the G6 stick around, but I don't think the Torrent will last much longer, what with the new Chevy Lamda, rumored Chevy and Saturn rebadges of the Zafira (so much for limiting badge engineering), and the addition of the G8 wagon and Ute to Pontiac's lineup. I think GM will have quite enough utility to afford killing off the Torrent.

As far as renaming existing models, it hasn't worked out too well for Ford so far, so I don't think it is very likely. Pretty much the only renamed Ford model that has done better is the Zephyr/MXZ.
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