Over the weekend, an iconic American car brand made its journey from current to history. Pontiac, GM’s big name brand from the ’60s, finally went out of business on October 31, a year after the announcement was made about its closure.
The brand, which GM introduced in 1926 (though the first Pontiacs had come about 19 years earlier), had a chequered time during its existence – a slump in the 50s nearly put an end to it, while the 60s was undoubtedly its most successful period (when it sold nearly a million cars at its height in 1968). By the time the 80s arrived, the brand was going into decline, and the last two decades have seen a slow, painful move towards the end, with the final nail hammered home by GM’s financial woes during the last economic crisis.
It certainly had standouts – the GTO from 1964-1974, originally built on an A-body Tempest platform with a 325hp 6.4 litre V8, then finally on a Ventura’s X-body chassis (the one just above), was one. Those old enough should certainly remember Burt Reynolds’ ride in Smokey and the Bandit as the second-generation Firebird Trans Am Special Edition from 1977.
Of course, there was also KITT, of the original Knight Rider series fame. The Knight Industries Two Thousand was essentially a third-generation 1982 Pontiac Trans Am, naturally ‘loaded’ with everything from a molecular bonded shell body armour to rocket motor-assisted turbo boost, which gave KITT the ability for bursts of speed in excess of 200mph.
So, consigned to history, it all is then.
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it probably means alot more to americans than us in this part of the world…
thats probably what would happen if u dont support ur local car manufacturer & buy “imported” makes instead
long live ol’ saga…..
They had lived in American Dream for too long.
oh no Knight Rider…..the car is damn cool…..haih
Yeah… Bye.
Really sayang!
But it’s alright ’cause KITT is now a Shelby 500KR Mustang, and no longer a Trans-Am. I think the Trans-Am family has been out of production for quite some time, since the early-2000s.
unfortunately, the show is cancelled.
I love the Pontiac Firebird
Sad… No more Pontiac GTO. Some of Pontiac cars are sold in Vauxhall right?
i love the Poniac Grand Prix!
Its a confirm closure or just another bait for far east (read: China) investor?
R.I.P.
err..RIP?
you know, rest in peace?
but for cars can also say “rest in pieces”
I shall forever remember the pontiac grand prix that i rented for a trip from new york to chicago one summer of 2007. good memories.
this is a sad, sad story. sigh~ hopefully someone will “revive” the brand again someday.
I remember in 1984-1985, during the height of Knight Rider’s popularity, Pontiac was inundated with requests to have a Knight Rider version of the Firebird Trans-Am replete with digital dashobard and TV monitors similar to KITT. At the very least, there were also requests for Trans-Ams with Knight Rider bodykit.
Instead of subcontracting limited edition KITT production to custom modification companies and such, Pontiac did a stupid thing – they forbid the Knight Rider TV series from mentioning KITT as being a Trans-Am in order to stop the public from requesting for a Knight Rider edition Trans-Am.
Hence, in the first season, KITT and Michael would leisurely refer to KITT as a Trans-Am, but in the second season onwards, we no longer hear them mentioning anything about KITT being a Pontiac Trans-Am.
This sort of rigid mentality shows how inflexible the American automakers were, and how blind they were to marketing opportunities that present themselves.
I never knew this. Shocking, their attitudes!
i never knew this too…thanks a bunch for sharing…too much arrogance in their heads i suppose..
RIP
A big V8 salute!
Pontaic may be the first of the American monsters to close down. If they do not realize their cars are not in demand – more will follow. What happens to the American dreams? They will certainly turn to be American nightmares! Good night American cars!
Is really sad.
First it was Hummer and now Pontiac. 2 legends in their right going down juz like dat :(
Dont forget Oldsmobile & Saturn.Olds in 2004 n Saturn recently.All from GM group.
Such a pity what were great names before now goes into history book (except Saturn).This shows how our global car market presently is.Only the fittest survives.
goodbye pontiac… you will be missed…
Pontiac brand wont sell well in Malaysia or Indonesia…too many teaser names… pontianak, pondan, etc…. haha
whether pontianak or not many ppl still driving a brand call proton, and it is still one of the best seller in malaysia…
i rent a pontiac back in 2004 and i can say that even the latest persona SE quality and features can’t beat that car, considering it was sold at only around USD10K that time.
R.I.P…or probably good riddance?coz i dont like american cars
coz stupid american didn’t buy their own product,now it’s like they are the culprit that send the own product too the grave.the same thing can happen if we didn’t support our own product.nuff said
Sad ending to the brand name.
Its not because of the american didn’t buy their own products to be blamed.
Its the cost to maintain it is the issue. Gas (Fuel) Price in US very high and these V8 monster consume a lot.
So only the fittest will survive. Camaro survive due to movie help and new model and technology introduced, Mustang survive also due to new model comes out and in movies.
Basicly all these legendary big CC V8 cars will only survive if it is famous in movies and new beautiful model comes out.