This should be cool for Pontiac:
http://www.cheersandgears.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=12268
A Pontiac-badged Commodore will be unveiled at the Chicago motor show in 2007, signalling the start of the Commodore’s global tour.
Speaking at this week's Paris motor show, General Motors product guru Bob Lutz did more than hint that the Commodore would wear a Pontiac nose and badges before long.
“Come to the Chicago auto show and all we be revealed,” said a smiling Lutz, who earlier praised Holden and the new Commodore for being one of “the best vehicles GM has produced”.
Speculation has been rife about Commodores being built in other markets, but nothing has been confirmed to date.
However Lutz’s admission to drive.com.au confirms the rumours that the Commodore could be built in markets such as the United States to provide a large, rear-drive car to help revive General Motors’ ageing vehicles.
The Commodore’s architecture is also expected to spawn many more rear-drive cars within the General Motors world, starting with the born-again Chevrolet Camaro that was unveiled at the 2006 Detroit motor show in concept form.
The Pontiac “Commodore”, which is expected to wear a different name when it goes on sale in the States in 2007, is not the first time a Pontiac has been spawned from a Holden.
Three years ago Holden sent Monaros to the 'States with fresh noses and Pontiac GTO badges to revive one of the most famous nameplates in Pontiac’s history.
Like that car, the rebadged Commodore is expected to get some minor changes, including the classic Pontiac twin-nostril grille.
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Have your say now: Will America steal our Aussie Commodore?
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GM considers Torana
Also at the Paris show Lutz confirmed that General Motors is forging ahead with plans to produce a compact, rear-drive car to rival premium sedans from BMW and Lexus. And it could lead to the revival of the Torana, which was born-again as a concept in 2004.
Lutz admitted a new rear-drive small car is on General Motors’ radar to compete with other dynamically-focussed small sedans such as the Lexus IS250 and BMW 3-Series.
“As we look at rising fuel prices and the success of the (BMW) 1-Series in Europe … we are telling ourselves one of the things we’d like to investigate – and I stress, investigate – is a smaller, lighter, rear-wheel-drive architecture,” he says.
The comments fuel longer-term expectations that the Torana could be reborn as a smaller, more fuel efficient alternative to the Commodore. However, Lutz stressed any such project would not be simply a “shrunken Commodore”.
“The probability of a VE being shrunk is very remote,” said Lutz. “It never works well to take a large architecture and shrink it.”
Lutz also said that any such small, rear-drive vehicle would be designed from the outset with a four-cylinder engine.
While he said a larger engine is a possibility for a such a car, he wanted the small, rear-drive platform vehicle to be initially designed as a four-cylinder.
“It will be smaller, lighter and more agile (than a Commodore),” says Lutz.
