The death knoll chimes for Pontiac

It's no secret that GM are going through a particularly tough time and are set to cut around 21,000 jobs this year as it focuses on the June deadline for the revamp of its business.

GM are also looking to reduce debts by encouraging bond holders to swap bonds for shares, but the other element to ensure the government loans and avoid bankruptcy is to phase out the Pontiac brand and push Chevrolet, Cadillac and Buick along with the other GMC brands.

I know that there is always the chance that sometime in the future they may bring Pontiac back, and if they do it wouldn’t be the first time a manufacturer many years later revitalised and re-introduced a famous brand.

Without doubt this must have been an incredibly difficult decision for GM, after all Pontiac was started 83 years ago and brought us the Firebird, Trans-Am and the GTO amongst others. In fact it was the GTO that inspired songs by various musicians including the Beach Boys.

But to me it seems they’ve missed a trick with the Pontiac brand. In the last few years we’ve seen the come back of some classic muscle cars in modern guise – namely Mustang, Camaro and the Challenger, and they’ve been very well received and encouraged a resurgence in big V8’s.

So why didn’t GM see it as an opportunity to breathe new life into Pontiac with a modern interpretation of the GTO or late 60’s Firebird?

I expect it was considered and no doubt resource was an issue, it was also probably felt that the Camaro was a better bet at the time.

But if you are a Pontiac fan try not to be too upset. There are plenty of beautiful examples around, and you know what they say about a Firebird - The Phoenix will rise from the ashes!