yeah GM rush it! thats the path to sucess……………..
no doubt it will be much uglier as a pontiac.

awesome!!! just the GTO! and we all know how that worked out…

That “thing” looks like it just came from japan. I hope thats not your dream car MR. GM4blablabla

If GM truly wishes to stay competitive they should simply shutdown their Pontiac division.

Zeta’s are going to be roaming the streets looking to embarrass BMW and Mercedes guys. 911 guys are going to be peeing in their pants when they get their asses handed to them by a 4 door sedan! Leave it to GM to build a high quality, ultra-reliable monster like what’s coming out of Pontiac. Nobody is going to be able to claim the same achievments. It’s gonna be pretty cool to watch the outcome.

Just Send The Car..We Will Sell it… DO NOT MAKE IT LOOK LIKE A G5 or G6 Leave it aloan…Just put PONTIAC on the Trunk deck WE Will Sell it….. A Pontiac Dealer since 1930…. PS we are sick of the spilt grill

Sorry, I meant “Nobody at the moment can claim the same achievments”

rather take the evo 9 fq400 anytime

^no such thing as a IX FQ-400. There’s an FQ-360, and soon to be FQ-360 MR Edition, but the last FQ400 was a VIII, not a IX.

I think most of the people I met like the look of this car, sure its a lazy effort on GM’s part, but if it doesn’t look bad who cares if its just a slight rebadge of the Commodore. Most people don’t even know of Holden to know the difference, and within two years I hope GM actually comes out with a unique shell for a vechicle that from what I have heard has already had some good press.

So…. now we know the ones that are going to the collectibles. The Aussie built ones.

Built without being touched by the UAW!

The GTO was a very nice car. It had the best interior fit and finish of any GM car I have been in of late. Including Cadillac.

These will be good cars. I’ll bet there will be Holden re-grill and rebadge kits, just like those Sprinter/Benz vans.

I thought GM wasn’t going to do badge engineering anymore… except for the Cobalt and G5, and the G6 and the Aura, and the Equinox and the Torrent, and the Uplander, Terazza and Relay, and all the trucks, and….

The have the kits out there to turn a GTO back into the Holden Manaro. Don’t know the website address or the price though.

“Zeta’s are going to be roaming the streets looking to embarrass BMW and Mercedes guys. 911 guys are going to be peeing in their pants when they get their asses handed to them by a 4 door sedan! Leave it to GM to build a high quality, ultra-reliable monster like what’s coming out of Pontiac. Nobody is going to be able to claim the same achievments. It’s gonna be pretty cool to watch the outcome.”

Rofl. You should see if you can get a marketing contract with GM.

Btw, I think it looks pretty cool.

Please no! I can just imagine the perception everyone would have of GM after just one month of his advertisements.

Bringing this to America is gonna be smart because it it’ll save cost significantly.

But if they get it out now, make some noise, get some good reviews, that’ll prep it well for the transition to a newer, cheaper model that’s made in America.

@buenos, it’s not badge engineering if you won’t see both cars on the road together. I won’t see a Commodore in America.

Stupid, damned stupid, do it right the first time or don’t do it at all. The resale value on those first G8’s will hit rock bottom fast when the American styled one comes out and a redesign after two years will cost more. Just release the G8, Impala, Camaro, GTO and Invicta all at the same time.

roadmaster96– I disagree. I think the OZ built ones will be worth more. Despite the styling changes. Just avoiding the UAW has got to make the cars better.

Well, looks like I have to get the Australian version. Cuz I sure as hell dont want the Pontiac facelift.

“^no such thing as a IX FQ-400. There’s an FQ-360, and soon to be FQ-360 MR Edition, but the last FQ400 was a VIII, not a IX.”

my bad ok evo VIII still same car different number i rather preffer as sedan the FQ400 fastest 4 door out there

so we got people complaining about badging and we have people complaining about changing it.
and we have a fanboy who I honestly think is a ricer in disguise.
(I mean… I’m a GM fan… but come on. he can’t be serious)

I personally like pontiac styling. I like the GTO over the Monaro. (but don’t get me wrong… the monaro and the commadore are beautiful)
each to their own tastes, really.

but, honestly, how many of you would actually seriously buy the Commadore/G8, but now won’t cuz of the pontiac split-grill? and how many are just trashing pontiac cuz you don’t like domestics?

Im the ricer, muahahaha!!!

I wish GM will stop this doing this.Why dont they just steal toyota corollas and rebadge them for sale. good grief

—–>bump rice, yell for tha butterbeans!!!!!

I wish GM will stop this doing this.Why dont they just steal toyota corollas and rebadge them for sale. good grief

Comment by MC, posted on January12 at 9:09 pm

Great idea! Unfortunately, GM already has.. the Pontiac Vibe is just a rebadged Toyota (Corolla) Matrix!

Is there an official teaser shot of the pontiac version of this car (not someones photoshopped version)? There must be if people are saying the pontiac styling sucks, ill have my own opinion when i see it. whats the problem with rebadging if they are sold in 2 different markets?

@bauer100

From everything that we have heard and read, the Photoshopped Holdens are an accurate representation of what the G8 will look like. You have to understand that there have been only a few months between the decision to rebadge the Commodore for NA sale and the time that it is supposed to appear in showrooms here. There is simply not enough time to do more than a simple rebadge. Furthermore, there are only so many ways to fit a faux Pontiac grille to the Commodore.

The car may look something like a Pontiac from the front. In profile, however, it will look like a generic 2007 Asian 4-door sedan.

I dunno. Everyone sees this as so generic but I think it has presence. Nice lines, sporty looking.

Ah, fair enough. I’ve seen the commadore up close, despite what people say about the above picture, it does have a presence. the first thing i thought, was “this should of have been the GTO (i know its a 4-door).” i read it will get a redesign in 2009 when production switched from australia to the oshawa plant.

duh, nevermind my last sentence above.

I am going to be entirely frank here.

HONESTLY, I think the holden design looks far better than Pontiac could ever make it look. I do not like Pontiacs current styling. And while I do not think any of us would turn down the Commodore were it raped in the face with a pontiac grill, I do think those who have the money would pay a higher premium on the orignal styling over pontiac styling, and of course knowing it was produced in Aussieland would be a plus.

As for its looks in general, I do not think you can really lump it in with asian sedans, since all those asian sedans are designed by Western design houses and the Commodore is taking cues from many sources and quite a few original points you really have to pick and choose if you want to try to equate it to a staid asian sedan design.

As an exercise in future possibilities the Holden Commodore shows much promise for an american release. With engineering, looks, and power behind it, if it were allowed to keep what makes it a superior machine as it crosses the pacific you can very definitely see it helping to save Pontiac from its recent trouble, alongside the Solstice, and helping GM bump profits without having to pander to UAW BS.

Anyone with their ear just needs to make clear to GM that the commodore is what is going to draw the people, not the pontiac name, and not putting that god awful nose on the front of it. So long as they let it keep the soul it has and allow more such superior designs to make it into america the will have greater customer satisfaction and a higher quality product and profit margin to boot. Had I the money the Commodore would be top on my list, without it, the ‘pontiac’ is a ways further down, until i see the ‘facelift’ at least.

I just really do not want to see GM shoot themsleves in the foot on a deal that is most definitely win-win at the moment. with its looks, I would even like Holden to put the effort into maybe turning it into an AWD scooby/evo alternative. I like the look it has and I would like to see Holden get the respect it deserves on this continent along with its home continent.

@HalGameGuru–

You make an irrelevant argument. Whether or not the Commodore looks better than a Pontiac is irrelevant. Lots of cars look “beter.” Many others look “worse.” The relevant issue is that the Commodore does not look like a Pontiac. One of the lessons learned over the last few years is that each brand should be immediately recognizable even with the badges removed.

As a result, you are seeing certain brands actually get uglier, particularly DCX brands. However, they are immediately recognizable. GM has done this with Cadillac, Buick, and is making strides with Saturn and Chevrolet. However, if you remove the badges from a Holden Commodore, then you have no idea what it is or where it came from. This is a prescription for failure.

everything GM does is an afterthought

so when holden is finally allowed to sell its wares in america and the plebes can recognize it without being led to the lion on the grille then it will be ok? you attack my comment for a spurious basis on looks then go and re-equate the whole thing to aesthetics. forked tongue and all that.

Simple fact is a good car is a good car, and a good car that LOOKS good is a double threat. The Commodore is a good enough car that even if changed to look ‘pontiac-ish’ would sell well, the problem being that it is NOT quality that sells most cars in a america, it is aesthetics. Bland seems to work for those who rely on brand recognition tho. It is looks over substance, and price over value. Not the greatest of systems but its what we operate under. The standardization of aesthetics to brands does nothing but limit designs, there is a reason every super car looks so much like every other one, aesthetics take a back seat to aerodynamics, same is true with modern manufacture, design take a back seat to efficiency and cost. And it isn’t just exterior either, American manufacturers especially have had just as much trouble with interiors, quality – materials – and design.

The commodore is a superior machine, altho its price may put many off, as such it will sell well. mitsubishis and dodges look dissimilar also yet we have stealth/eclipse duality way on back. I would much rather see the Holden brand brought to america than any trade off on its performance or styling be allowed, but that is not a high probability course of action.

if the styling of a vehicle not fitting into the staid preconceptions and mass produced blandness of its brethren is enough to relegate it to failure then my comment was right on, if it doesn’t then it was also right on. Saturn gets its uniformity from opel, cadillac from saab? Chevy has had opels and all GM platforms share between brands. ALL there is to differentiate is trim and aesthetics. I would like to see a little more diversity in any way shape and form available.

Every totyota looking as bland as the toupe over mauve hallway in your local hospital is not a plus, and every argument for quality or engineering over aesthetics falls short. would taking the badge off a mazda make the engine less ford? would taking the badge off a suzuki make it LESS korean? would taking the badge of a tundra make it less american? The Holden Commodore is uniquely australian, while you may chose to point to it and say ‘it strikes me as one of the same from everyone else’ there are those of us who can see it for more, who can recognize a holden without seeing the badge, who can see the underpinnings of an opel or a saab in the successful american offerings, God help us if we have to rely on such blase thinking, we could just go back to stealing our designs from the korean chopping room floors and calling it original. and saying it fits aesthetically.

lookin forward. but the Evo will eat this. for breakfast.

so will STi’s

It just bothers me that GM has to resort to badge engineering , once again, like they do for basically everything. It reeks of laziness and a lack of ability, no doubt the Commodore is a good car, I actually like it (which says something, knowing my feelings for GM), but I just don’t support this kind of ****, it didn’t work w/ the GTO, and it won’t work for this. How about some actually intelligently designed cars that are, like Richard says, designed to fit the persona associated with each distinct brand. The Commodore is not a Pontiac, it may be a better car than the cars Pontiac is offering, but it has no brand distinction, and that’s not good. By diluting the personalities of its cars, GM has basically taken out most of the personality of each sub division, resulting in massive failure and a huge loss in sales

I would like to apologize for that second post, it is horribly written, exhausted and half in the bag, take its message bt please ignore its content.

Every company does badge engineering, Heck, the ridgeline is the Honda Odyssey/Pilot. The problem, to me, is not the sharing of cars and designs, but the lack of any distinction when they do so, if they were to really focus one brand for one type of customer over the other brands it would be fine, make all of the pontiac line sleeker and more powerful, give the buick line more comfort and sedate aesthetics, give caddy luxury and some muscle, chevy would probably end up being the middle ground affordable everycar and saturn would be the asian-antithesis.

I think the commodore would fit nicely with the pontiac “persona” were pontiac restructured a bit to allow for such things as innovation and non-union workmanship. remember this isn’t badge engineering so much since we cannot get holdens here anyways. I would prefer to see it as a chevy, altho I wouldn’t want the look changed there either. The biggest problem IS the push for brand personification. better to design good cars and shoehorn them into a brand with accoutrements and simple cosmetic changes, but when half of the beauty of a car lies in its origins and the design of its creators changing it to fit into a corporate image just strikes me as unnecessary. The Commodore would sell perfectly as a pontiac were they to go old school bonneville with the badging, take off the holden lion and put a rondel with the pontiac shield in it. boom done. rebadged. perfect solution.

the GTO problem was the changing of the look for pontiac, and doing that to the commodore would be insane, literally. The GTO was a wonderful car, it LOOKED sorry, and so didn’t do well. I never got to drive the monaro, but those I have spoken to who have and drove the GTO loved the GTO as much or more than the monaro, but the looks were awful, they looked old even compared to the staid looks the monaro had at the end. and that was the problem. let the holden work shine thru and you wont have such a problem with bringing one over.

I say dump the UAW, dump the staid engineers here, let holden and the euros design all our cars for a decade, bring in new faces here, and finish sweeping out the UAW and then lets see if we can produce some vehicles with the same spark we see in the big-3’s foreign partners. when ford produces and focus that draws crowds in europe and a focus here that draws nothing, when holden can produce a commodore and chevy is left with a FWD impala. Some blame goes to the regulations, some to the unions, but mostly I think it just goes to corporate america’s staid system. no innovation. god save us AND the japanese if the chinese get a foothold here.