Holden Slashing Pontiac G8 Production By 97%

[Sprint XR8]

http://www.autoblog.com/2009/02/11/r...duction-by-97/
The Pontiac G8 has received mainly positive reviews since it first hit roads here in the U.S. last year. Unfortunately, what it hasn't gotten a lot of is actual sales. The usual combination of high gas prices in the first half of 2008 and the financial crisis in the second half has hit the G8 particularly hard. It looks like Pontiac will give the G8 almost the same treatment as it gave the Saturn Astra. While Saturn chose to skip the entire 2009 model year because of the high number of left-over '08 Astras they still had on hand, the 2009 G8 is at least being built, but barely.

According to an insider at the GM Source, it now appears that Feb-June 2009 production volumes of the G8 are being cut from a planned 10,000 units to under 1,000. That's a 97% reduction versus projection, and July-October volumes are evidently also being cut by 79% from earlier production schedules. As much as the hardcore among us may have cheered Maximum Bob Lutz's plan to transform Pontiac into a rear-drive performance brand, it looks like the marketplace just isn't interested. Perhaps if GM had the spare cash to market the brand properly, it could be viable. In all likelihood, the G8's days are numbered just like the GTO before it, and possibly the Pontiac brand as well.