http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/a...701120360/1014

Pontiac will get pep with sport sedan
January 12, 2007

BY MARK PHELAN

FREE PRESS AUTO CRITIC

Pontiac will add a rear-wheel-drive sport sedan to its lineup as soon as the end of this year or in early 2008, General Motors Corp. sources confirmed Thursday. GM will probably officially announce the car at the Chicago auto show in February.

The news was reported this week in the Sydney (Australia) Morning Herald, which quoted GM Vice Chairman Bob Lutz.

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The person did not want to be named, because Lutz was not yet authorized to announce the decision.

The car, to be called the G8, will be based on the Holden Commodore VE SS, which went on sale in Australia last August. It will eventually replace the Pontiac Grand Prix.

The top Commodore model features a 362-horsepower 6.0-liter V8 engine and a choice of six-speed automatic or manual transmission. The five-passenger sedan is about 5 inches shorter than a Pontiac Grand Prix.

The powerful model should help bolster Pontiac'* standing as GM'* performance brand.

Pontiac expects to sell 25,000 to 30,000 G8s annually, a person close to the program said. The car will initially be imported from Australia and share its sheet metal with the Commodore VE, although the grille and bumpers "will be unmistakably Pontiac," the person said.

Production of a second-generation model with unique Pontiac styling should begin at GM'* plant in Oshawa, Ontario, in 2009.

The G8 comes from the same global Zeta development program as the Chevrolet Camaro sports coupe and convertible, which Oshawa will begin building in late 2008 or early 2009.

The program was developed in Australia, GM'* center of expertise for affordable rear-wheel-drive cars. It is also expected to produce the Chevrolet Caprice large rear-wheel-sedan and one or more models for Buick.

repost

http://www.bonnevilleclub.com/forum/...ic.php?t=69534

It'* not a repost when you offer different information. If you would have read the two you would notice that my link talks of WHEN we're getting the car and how long before it'* updated again for it'* second generation. Also, that it'* confirmed to being built in Oshawa, Ontario (albeit in late 200 so I would assume that it would be for sale in Canada as well, since we won't have any more large Pontiac sedans (grand prix being gone) by that time anyway.

sorry to offend but its pertaining to the same topic so...

FYI, I was given that info yesterday by a GM insider, who is trying to get more details for us. Specifically body lines/cladding and front grille.

Yeah, I'm really curious to see Pontiac'* body styling for the new car.

No problem, I just found it odd that you called it a repost when I was providing new information.

willwren, is your GM insider the same person who was interviewed by the Detroit Free Press? I'm just wondering since you said you were given that information already.

This is the car that I've been waiting for from GM for a long time. A 6-sp CTS would have probably been okay, but you'll turn more heads with a Pontiac I think (well, I do now anyway with the GXP).

I can't say who my source is. Same source that confirmed the end of the Bonneville pre-press, and a couple other goodies including GTO scoop.

Please tell them to bring back the Bonneville. I know it won't work, but tell them for all of us Bonneville freaks who feel they have no voice.

Back to the poll, i love my Bonne and i love FWD, especially in the snow. I couldn't see myself driving a RWD, if that were the case i would have a Magnum or a Charger.