The Pontiac G8 was one of General Motors’ most anticipated launches in recent years, with the Australian-born sedan bringing hope that Pontiac might actually be turned into an American BMW . Pontiac’s performance revolution, however, will be short lived, as GM plans to discontinue the G8 by 2013.
According to Edmunds, GM has canceled plans to give Pontiac a new version of the G8 based on the next-generation Holden Commodore – which is scheduled to launch in about 5 years. The Pontiac Solstice’s future is also up in the air, so Pontiac’s rear-wheel drive revolution could be rather short lived.
The decision to kill the G8 largely revolves around tight funds and upcoming fuel economy regulations. The Australian-made G8 isn’t exactly cheap to get on our shores – although North American production could solve that problem – and rear-wheel drive is seen as the antithesis of fuel economy.
Despite the G8′s short-lived future, GXP and ST versions of the are too far along to be canceled, so there is still a few years left to put a G8 in your driveway.
Instead of focusing Pontiac on performance, it looks as though GM will revert back to its old ways of badge engineering. Pontiac currently sells a re-badged version of the Chevrolet Cobalt – the G5 – and will soon get a Chevy Aveo-based G3. The G6 sedan is a relatively unique vehicle, but Edumds also reports that tight funding will prevent any significant G6 updates until about the same time the G8 goes the way of the Firebird.
