Dead US auto brands last 20 years

[69 300 vert]

plymouth became a carbon copy of dodge. think about the neons and mini vans. they became redundant and had less of a brand image. scions and saturns never really caught on with buyers. olds became overshadowed by buick. overseas, buicks are top sellers. the one that i can't understand is pontiac. that was gm's performance brand and was still a strong seller.,

A brand can't survive on one rebranded Neon. Go on say it out loud, Plymouth Neon, sounds funny doesn't it? Remember the Plymouths they offered before, Breeze, Prowler (never intended to be anything but a low volume halo car) and a minivan. A marque can't survive on that lineup and I don't think that was the intent. Now look at what Chrysler offers, a 300 and a minivan, the writing is on the wall. 2¢

Pontiac got treated like Plymouth and became redundant. Pontiac Motor Division ceased to exist (IMHO) in 1982 when they lost their engine.

Robert

 

['69FuryIIIConvertible]

I just looked up Firebird production numbers, only 920 made in 2003, 109 in 2004. Down from a falling 20,613 in 2002.

Silly question, but could the low 03 and 04 Firebird sales be cause by the last one being built August 30th 2002?

 

[LocuMob]

Silly question, but could the low 03 and 04 Firebird sales be cause by the last one being built August 30th 2002?

Heh heh, yeah, that might be why. Sold so well they had hold over cars for two years?

 

[C Body Bob]

Heh heh, yeah, that might be why. Sold so well they had hold over cars for two years?

Recalled cars. Sold after fixes is my guess.

 

[1970cat]

firebird sales were low, but sunfire, grand am, grand prix and even the g6 were good sellers.
the holden gto and aztec were mistakes though.

 

[MoPar Maniac]

If Pontiac's demise came about when they lost the Pontiac engine then MoPars died back in the 50s for the same reason.

 

[LocuMob]

I looked up the G6, I think it's the most common car I see around. The sales fell off in the last year, before GM killed it off for good. The Aztec? I've met two or three people who love them, the rest I've met that drove one, hated the thing. The Sunfire was a POS, good sales or not, and don't seem to be around much. Maybe because so many kids got them as starter cars?

 

[LocuMob]

If Pontiac's demise came about when they lost the Pontiac engine then MoPars died back in the 50s for the same reason.

What engine did they lose, the early Hemi?

 

[C Body Bob]

I looked up the G6, I think it's the most common car I see around. The sales fell off in the last year, before GM killed it off for good. The Aztec? I've met two or three people who love them, the rest I've met that drove one, hated the thing. The Sunfire was a POS, good sales or not, and don't seem to be around much. Maybe because so many kids got them as starter cars?

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Wow had no idea they sold that many. I’ve worked for new car dealers my whole life. Still do. At a different dealer every day. I bet I haven’t seen 10 of the damn things. The dealers didn’t want to trade for them. Kinda like Saturns. Too hard to resale.

 

['69FuryIIIConvertible]

I looked up the G6, I think it's the most common car I see around. The sales fell off in the last year, before GM killed it off for good. The Aztec? I've met two or three people who love them, the rest I've met that drove one, hated the thing. The Sunfire was a POS, good sales or not, and don't seem to be around much. Maybe because so many kids got them as starter cars?

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The sun flowers were decent enough commuter/starter cars, I still see them frequently here in GM country, most I worked on had 250-300k on them....

We even had one.....after my wife was done with it, it sat around here for a few years until I could convince her to let it go....

 

[LocuMob]

The sun flowers were decent enough commuter/starter cars, I still see them frequently here in GM country, most I worked on had 250-300k on them....

We even had one.....after my wife was done with it, it sat around here for a few years until I could convince her to let it go....
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I still see a few cobalts, the Chevy cousin, around here, but not many. That's a lot of km's!

 

['69FuryIIIConvertible]

I don't feel Pontiac died in 82, their demise was truly at the helm of the execs in 09, In GM country here, Pontiac was a strong seller, right to the end.

G8's sold very well, G5's/Pursuits, G6's, and Montana SV6's are still popular around here.

Yet we never see Buicks around...in the past few years GM has tried to rebirth Buick as more of a youthful image, yet their sales in North America and the buying demographic dictates otherwise...

We have a firebird also...an 82 funny enough.. it has over 300k on its 2.8....inlaws bought it in 85 from a divorce sale, the Sunfire was it's replacement as daily driver around 04, the firebird was parked around 09 when the carb became problematic....its currently living with my hoard...It's a future resto...

The Orange arrow is where my shop is now, The firebird is the far left covered car....

I have a soft sport for Orphan's

 

[cantflip]

I don't feel Pontiac died in 82, their demise was truly at the helm of the execs in 09, In GM country here, Pontiac was a strong seller, right to the end.

G8's sold very well, G5's/Pursuits, G6's, and Montana SV6's are still popular around here.

Yet we never see Buicks around...in the past few years GM has tried to rebirth Buick as more of a youthful image, yet their sales in North America and the buying demographic dictates otherwise...

We have a firebird also...an 82 funny enough.. it has over 300k on its 2.8....inlaws bought it in 85 from a divorce sale, the Sunfire was it's replacement as daily driver around 04, the firebird was parked around 09 when the carb became problematic....its currently living with my hoard...It's a future resto...

The Orange arrow is where my shop is now, The firebird is the far left covered car....View attachment 326840 View attachment 326841 View attachment 326842 View attachment 326843 View attachment 326844 View attachment 326845 View attachment 326846 View attachment 326847 View attachment 326848

I have a soft sport for Orphan's

My buddy gets all nostalgic over and 82 he had with the 2.5L and a 4 spd... , I have to admit, it would be a lot cooler now than I thought it was then.

BTW, IIRC, weren't Pontiac, Saturn and Hummer all killed off in order to receive federal bailout funds? It wasn't so much a well thought out decision as a last ditch effort to get the $$ while they could. I'll bet in hindsight they would have done lots of things differently, before and after the bubble, if they had the ability. They couldn't have recovered much of the investment on the Sky/Solstice when they wrapped up.

 

[65sporty]

We have a firebird also...an 82 funny enough.. it has over 300k on its 2.8....inlaws bought it in 85 from a divorce sale, the Sunfire was it's replacement as daily driver around 04, the firebird was parked around 09 when the carb became problematic....its currently living with my hoard...It's a future resto...

The Orange arrow is where my shop is now, The firebird is the far left covered car....View attachment 326840 View attachment 326841 View attachment 326842 View attachment 326843 View attachment 326844 View attachment 326845 View attachment 326846 View attachment 326847 View attachment 326848

I have a soft sport for Orphan's

The Firebird needs either a small block or LS swap.