its-official-pontiac-gto-will-return
03-02-2006, 07:55 PM
#1
its-official-pontiac-gto-will-return http://www.leftlanenews.com/2006/03/...o-will-return/
March 2 2006
Reports of the GTO's death are greatly exaggerated! According to GM Vice President Bob Lutz, the Pontiac GTO will return in 2008, alongside the 2008/2009 Chevrolet Camaro. Lutz told AutoWeek at the Geneva Motor Show today that the GTO will share the Zeta architecture with the new Chevrolet Camaro and Holden Monaro. Like the last ill-fated GTO, the 2009 GTO will be engineered jointly by GM in North America and Holden in Australia. Lutz said the new GTO project was only on hold for two months, but has since been revived. Lutz also said the rear-wheel-drive Zeta platform will be used for a new Chevrolet Impala, Monte Carlo, and an all new Buck model called the "Statesman." Lutz said a new El Camino could come by 'putting a Chevrolet face' on a Holden Ute, but that's unlikely at this time. The GTO and related programs, however, are back on "full tilt." (The image shown at the right is the 1999 GTO Concept).
March 2 2006
Reports of the GTO's death are greatly exaggerated! According to GM Vice President Bob Lutz, the Pontiac GTO will return in 2008, alongside the 2008/2009 Chevrolet Camaro. Lutz told AutoWeek at the Geneva Motor Show today that the GTO will share the Zeta architecture with the new Chevrolet Camaro and Holden Monaro. Like the last ill-fated GTO, the 2009 GTO will be engineered jointly by GM in North America and Holden in Australia. Lutz said the new GTO project was only on hold for two months, but has since been revived. Lutz also said the rear-wheel-drive Zeta platform will be used for a new Chevrolet Impala, Monte Carlo, and an all new Buck model called the "Statesman." Lutz said a new El Camino could come by 'putting a Chevrolet face' on a Holden Ute, but that's unlikely at this time. The GTO and related programs, however, are back on "full tilt." (The image shown at the right is the 1999 GTO Concept).
03-03-2006, 12:15 AM
#4
TECH Addict
Join Date: Mar 2004
Location: Seattle, WA
Posts: 2,563
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
If you read between the lines it sounds like they are going to actualy build the Camaro then. But it also sounds like the Firebird is officially dead. Ironic that the fourth gen firebird looked so much like the Banshee concept. (Ban-shee [n]: A female spirit in Gaelic folklore believed to presage, by wailing, a death in a family.) But, it also sounds like the GTO is going to take its place along side the Camaro.
03-03-2006, 05:02 PM
#6
TECH Enthusiast
iTrader: (8)
Join Date: Feb 2004
Location: In my garage
Posts: 579
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
By GREG KABLE
AutoWeek | Published 03/02/06, 12:21 pm et
The Pontiac GTO lives! It will be replaced in late 2008 by an all-new
model underpinned by General Motors' latest
rear-wheel-drive Zeta platform, with a strong likelihood of it being
built on the same production line as the
Chevrolet Camaro in North America.
That's the message from General Motors vice president for global
product development, Bob Lutz, at this week's
Geneva motor show.
The replacement for today's slowish-selling GTO was canceled last year
when General Motors announced it was
reorganizing its North American operations and was set to focus its
efforts on creating a new line of sport/utility
vehicles, pickups and crossovers.
But Lutz has told AutoWeek that reports of the rear-wheel-drive coupe's
death were premature and the next-generation
GTO's development program was only really placed on hold, and-after
some internal reorganization to ensure
profitability targets can be met-it is now back on.
"The reason we said it was canceled is because that way our people
would put their pencils down," Lutz said. "In GM
if you say something is deferred, then people keep working on it. We
really needed to get that message through to
everybody." GM's 74-year-old product guru said the program into which
the GTO is incorporated was 'getting out of
control' and running up costs that would have made it unworkable.
"It was my fault that it got out of control in the first place," he
added. "It was going to be the world's greatest
car and apparently cost nothing to make. So we've started over now. The
program is back on and it's going full
tilt."
Lutz confirmed that the GTO was "only ever off for two months, but that
break has enabled us to get a more feasible
program up." The program he points to is General Motors' Zeta
rear-wheel-drive platform, which is being developed by
Holden in Australia and set to underpin the new-generation Commodore
due to be launched in August.
Besides Camaro and GTO, other models set to be based on the Zeta
platform are upcoming replacements for the
Chevrolet Impala and Monte Carlo, and a new car called the Buick
Statesman, according to Lutz.
Contrary to rumors, however, Lutz said General Motors is not planning
to revive the Pontiac Firebird. "No, that's
not something we are planning. We are not going to do that car," he
said.
When pushed on whether GM was thinking about bringing back the El
Camino off the Zeta platform, Lutz beamed with
enthusiasm. "The kids in the company, myself included, would love to do
another El Camino, but the grown-ups amongst
us don't share that way of thinking," he said. "It would be fairly
simple. We'd only have to put a Chevrolet face on
the Holden Ute [a car-like pickup sold in Australia]. The building
blocks are there."
Less sophisticated than the existing rear-wheel-drive Sigma platform
found beneath the Cadillac STS and other
high-end GM models, the Zeta architecture is said to be considerably
cheaper to produce, owing to a simplified
rear-suspension arrangement and other features.
Lutz suggests the individual character of GM models would not be
compromised by basing them around one platform. "We
have developed different dash-to-front-axle lengths for various
models," he said. "It [the Zeta platform] is a
really flexible platform."
Along with Australia and North America, Zeta-based rear-wheel-drive
models are also being developed for sale in the
Middle East and China. Details remain scarce, though GM's business case
for the new GTO is rumored to be based
around sales of between 15,000 and 20,000 per year in North America.
After a promising start, today's model has
failed to live up to initial estimates recording 13,569 sales in 2004
and just 11,590 in 2005.
Lutz confirmed that GM's Australian subsidiary, Holden, would play a
leading role in the engineering of the GTO
[where it is sold as the Monaro] and its sister car, the Camaro.
"Holden is responsible for the large rear-drive
architecture that these cars are based on. If it happens, Holden will
do the development on the Camaro as well as
the GTO," he told AutoWeek.
Despite being developed in Australia, however, there are strong
indications the next GTO will be built in North
America. "Whether the GTO will be built in Australia [as the current
Pontiac GTO is] will largely depend on the
[U.S. vs. Australian dollar] exchange rate at the time," said Lutz. He
added, "With the current strength of the
Australian dollar and the recent Free Trade Agreement between Australia
and the U.S., it would be more feasible to
build the GTO in North America. This raises the possibility of both the
new-generation GTO and Camaro being imported
to Australia in right-hand-drive guise.
Production of today's Pontiac GTO is planned to end in September,
leaving GM with two years before the new
Zeta-based model arrives in North American showrooms. As with the
recently unveiled Chevrolet Camaro, it is expected
to carry a more retro-inspired design with cues from earlier GTO
models. Today's model started life as the Holden
Monaro and was never envisaged to carry the GTO badge, leading to
complaints from North American buyers that it
lacks any visual connection with the original.
AutoWeek | Published 03/02/06, 12:21 pm et
The Pontiac GTO lives! It will be replaced in late 2008 by an all-new
model underpinned by General Motors' latest
rear-wheel-drive Zeta platform, with a strong likelihood of it being
built on the same production line as the
Chevrolet Camaro in North America.
That's the message from General Motors vice president for global
product development, Bob Lutz, at this week's
Geneva motor show.
The replacement for today's slowish-selling GTO was canceled last year
when General Motors announced it was
reorganizing its North American operations and was set to focus its
efforts on creating a new line of sport/utility
vehicles, pickups and crossovers.
But Lutz has told AutoWeek that reports of the rear-wheel-drive coupe's
death were premature and the next-generation
GTO's development program was only really placed on hold, and-after
some internal reorganization to ensure
profitability targets can be met-it is now back on.
"The reason we said it was canceled is because that way our people
would put their pencils down," Lutz said. "In GM
if you say something is deferred, then people keep working on it. We
really needed to get that message through to
everybody." GM's 74-year-old product guru said the program into which
the GTO is incorporated was 'getting out of
control' and running up costs that would have made it unworkable.
"It was my fault that it got out of control in the first place," he
added. "It was going to be the world's greatest
car and apparently cost nothing to make. So we've started over now. The
program is back on and it's going full
tilt."
Lutz confirmed that the GTO was "only ever off for two months, but that
break has enabled us to get a more feasible
program up." The program he points to is General Motors' Zeta
rear-wheel-drive platform, which is being developed by
Holden in Australia and set to underpin the new-generation Commodore
due to be launched in August.
Besides Camaro and GTO, other models set to be based on the Zeta
platform are upcoming replacements for the
Chevrolet Impala and Monte Carlo, and a new car called the Buick
Statesman, according to Lutz.
Contrary to rumors, however, Lutz said General Motors is not planning
to revive the Pontiac Firebird. "No, that's
not something we are planning. We are not going to do that car," he
said.
When pushed on whether GM was thinking about bringing back the El
Camino off the Zeta platform, Lutz beamed with
enthusiasm. "The kids in the company, myself included, would love to do
another El Camino, but the grown-ups amongst
us don't share that way of thinking," he said. "It would be fairly
simple. We'd only have to put a Chevrolet face on
the Holden Ute [a car-like pickup sold in Australia]. The building
blocks are there."
Less sophisticated than the existing rear-wheel-drive Sigma platform
found beneath the Cadillac STS and other
high-end GM models, the Zeta architecture is said to be considerably
cheaper to produce, owing to a simplified
rear-suspension arrangement and other features.
Lutz suggests the individual character of GM models would not be
compromised by basing them around one platform. "We
have developed different dash-to-front-axle lengths for various
models," he said. "It [the Zeta platform] is a
really flexible platform."
Along with Australia and North America, Zeta-based rear-wheel-drive
models are also being developed for sale in the
Middle East and China. Details remain scarce, though GM's business case
for the new GTO is rumored to be based
around sales of between 15,000 and 20,000 per year in North America.
After a promising start, today's model has
failed to live up to initial estimates recording 13,569 sales in 2004
and just 11,590 in 2005.
Lutz confirmed that GM's Australian subsidiary, Holden, would play a
leading role in the engineering of the GTO
[where it is sold as the Monaro] and its sister car, the Camaro.
"Holden is responsible for the large rear-drive
architecture that these cars are based on. If it happens, Holden will
do the development on the Camaro as well as
the GTO," he told AutoWeek.
Despite being developed in Australia, however, there are strong
indications the next GTO will be built in North
America. "Whether the GTO will be built in Australia [as the current
Pontiac GTO is] will largely depend on the
[U.S. vs. Australian dollar] exchange rate at the time," said Lutz. He
added, "With the current strength of the
Australian dollar and the recent Free Trade Agreement between Australia
and the U.S., it would be more feasible to
build the GTO in North America. This raises the possibility of both the
new-generation GTO and Camaro being imported
to Australia in right-hand-drive guise.
Production of today's Pontiac GTO is planned to end in September,
leaving GM with two years before the new
Zeta-based model arrives in North American showrooms. As with the
recently unveiled Chevrolet Camaro, it is expected
to carry a more retro-inspired design with cues from earlier GTO
models. Today's model started life as the Holden
Monaro and was never envisaged to carry the GTO badge, leading to
complaints from North American buyers that it
lacks any visual connection with the original.