May be old news...

http://www.boston.com/cars/news/articles/2006/02/26/the_pontiac_gto_loses_its_muscle/

The topic title sounds like the familiar headline when they were planning on making a GTO concept car.

May be old news...Nah it's fresh news. February 26 2006. It sounds older than it is, because February distract one because of the 28 days...


Damn, we're loosing cars left 'n right. Well, the Monaro got killed so we knew it would happen soon.:cool:

i'm sorry, but the Camaro won't fill the void of the GTO. they are completely different cars. they were completely different cars in the sixties, and they are completely different cars now.

^--true dat..

Honestly this is very old news..

BUT the GTO was an extremely attractive car, comparatively to the rest of the GM linup...

Dude the Camaro/FB/TA all looked like upchucked apple sauce compared to the goat

So I guess Rhys Millen's GTO Drift team in now kaput ? :(

http://www.gtodrift.com/index.html

Seeing as he won the Formula D championship last year, and it states on the website that track schedules have not been released yet, I think they might try for one more year.

Awwww...it was like a Corvette, great bang for your buck. I'm pretty upset about this. =(

yeah, it is kind of dissapointing. i mean, sure, the exterior styling is debatable (even tho i really like it) and i've heard that the interior isn't that great. still, its a really good car.

http://carsguide.news.com.au/story/0,20384,18246015-21822,00.html

^Holdens press statement about them stopping making the GTO. HSV and vauxhall models will be the only monaro/gto based cars built anymore. Its rather sad.

For the price of $35,000 you get a Blaupunkt stereo system, leather interior, 6 speed gearbox, 400bhp engine, sleeper styling, it's pretty darn understated, I still have trouble distinguishing one in traffic, and fun for four.

Sat in a couple and it was fine, big comfy seats, nice visibility, a nice quality feel to it.

Like I said, hate to see it go.

Yep, we've lost our Monaro, you lose your GTO.


I, by the way, found our Australian Monaro much nicer looking from the front than the Pontiac.

i have yet to sit/ride in one, let alone drive one. i would really like to. i have no trouble distinguishing one in traffic tho, but i have a very keen eye for these kind of things.

only problem is Ghalos....35,000 dollars was still alot for what you got. Which is why they didn't sell..
They were intended to be in the Evo/STi range if not lower....Another "Fb" if you will...(maybe even the 26's)

but just Bringing it over here cost too much money to turn a profit.

and not only that Drifter. safety conversions and some other things made the sale price go higher too.

Funny thing is though, it was cheaper to buy a GTO in America than it was to get a Monaro here in Australia. Mainly because GM wanted the GTO to be priced agressively next to the Mustang.

lol. but i'd think the holden badge carries more weight than a pontiac badge.

the only GTO i like is the one with a HSV badge :p

The Monaro looked better than the GTO.
But its sad to see them go.

Too bad the new GTO had to die young. Still, another goat built on the new Camaro platform would be sick. Especially in black. Aw yes I can visualize it now.

Sad to hear that.....though it wont have a really lasting effect on me...

This was to be expected.

I never really saw the new GTO as being a serious car with staying power.

It was just a gap filler until they could get something else out.

Too bad the new GTO had to die young. Still, another goat built on the new Camaro platform would be sick. Especially in black. Aw yes I can visualize it now.
Its being based off the upcoming Holden VE Commodre Platform.

Pontiac GTO to be back in 2008

Pontiac GTO is Back at ‘Full Tilt’
General Motors plans a follow-up to today’s GTO, and a high Australian dollar means it will likely be built in North America

The Pontiac GTO lives! It will be replaced in late 2008 by an all-new model underpinned by General Motors’ latest rear-wheel-drive Zeta platform, with a strong likelihood of it being built on the same production line as the Chevrolet Camaro in North America.

That’s the message from General Motors vice president for global product development, Bob Lutz, at this week’s Geneva motor show.

The replacement for today’s slowish-selling GTO was canceled last year when General Motors announced it was reorganizing its North American operations and was set to focus its efforts on creating a new line of sport/utility vehicles, pickups and crossovers.

But Lutz has told AutoWeek that reports of the rear-wheel-drive coupe’s death were premature and the next-generation GTO’s development program was only really placed on hold, and—after some internal reorganization to ensure profitability targets can be met—it is now back on.

“The reason we said it was canceled is because that way our people would put their pencils down,” Lutz said. “In GM if you say something is deferred, then people keep working on it. We really needed to get that message through to everybody.” GM’s 74-year-old product guru said the program into which the GTO is incorporated was ‘getting out of control’ and running up costs that would have made it unworkable.

“It was my fault that it got out of control in the first place,” he added. “It was going to be the world’s greatest car and apparently cost nothing to make. So we’ve started over now. The program is back on and it’s going full tilt.”

Lutz confirmed that the GTO was “only ever off for two months, but that break has enabled us to get a more feasible program up.” The program he points to is General Motors’ Zeta rear-wheel-drive platform, which is being developed by Holden in Australia and set to underpin the new-generation Commodore due to be launched in August.

Besides Camaro and GTO, other models set to be based on the Zeta platform are upcoming replacements for the Chevrolet Impala and Monte Carlo, and a new car called the Buick Statesman, according to Lutz.

Contrary to rumors, however, Lutz said General Motors is not planning to revive the Pontiac Firebird. “No, that’s not something we are planning. We are not going to do that car,” he said.

When pushed on whether GM was thinking about bringing back the El Camino off the Zeta platform, Lutz beamed with enthusiasm. “The kids in the company, myself included, would love to do another El Camino, but the grown-ups amongst us don’t share that way of thinking,” he said. “It would be fairly simple. We’d only have to put a Chevrolet face on the Holden Ute [a car-like pickup sold in Australia]. The building blocks are there.”

Less sophisticated than the existing rear-wheel-drive Sigma platform found beneath the Cadillac STS and other high-end GM models, the Zeta architecture is said to be considerably cheaper to produce, owing to a simplified rear-suspension arrangement and other features.

Lutz suggests the individual character of GM models would not be compromised by basing them around one platform. “We have developed different dash-to-front-axle lengths for various models,” he said. “It [the Zeta platform] is a really flexible platform.”

Along with Australia and North America, Zeta-based rear-wheel-drive models are also being developed for sale in the Middle East and China. Details remain scarce, though GM’s business case for the new GTO is rumored to be based around sales of between 15,000 and 20,000 per year in North America. After a promising start, today’s model has failed to live up to initial estimates recording 13,569 sales in 2004 and just 11,590 in 2005.

Lutz confirmed that GM’s Australian subsidiary, Holden, would play a leading role in the engineering of the GTO [where it is sold as the Monaro] and its sister car, the Camaro. “Holden is responsible for the large rear-drive architecture that these cars are based on. If it happens, Holden will do the development on the Camaro as well as the GTO,” he told AutoWeek.

Despite being developed in Australia, however, there are strong indications the next GTO will be built in North America. “Whether the GTO will be built in Australia [as the current Pontiac GTO is] will largely depend on the [U.S. vs. Australian dollar] exchange rate at the time,” said Lutz. He added, “With the current strength of the Australian dollar and the recent Free Trade Agreement between Australia and the U.S., it would be more feasible to build the GTO in North America. This raises the possibility of both the new-generation GTO and Camaro being imported to Australia in right-hand-drive guise.

Production of today’s Pontiac GTO is planned to end in September, leaving GM with two years before the new Zeta-based model arrives in North American showrooms. As with the recently unveiled Chevrolet Camaro, it is expected to carry a more retro-inspired design with cues from earlier GTO models. Today’s model started life as the Holden Monaro and was never envisaged to carry the GTO badge, leading to complaints from North American buyers that it lacks any visual connection with the original.


source:http://www.autoweek.com/apps/p.../1039

yeah..too bad I liked the GTO..and so did alot of enthusiasts..

Not as a homage to the old GTO..but as a whole new car

I saw an old GTO today and they are so insanely cool. The new ones are cool too and I really liked them. To bad they are killing it for a while.

:cry:The whole thing is bringin' tears to ma eyes. :smt089

Yea I saw a blue GTO today with hood scoops. It looked really nice. Such a great car to be killing off.

Its being based off the upcoming Holden VE Commodre Platform.

...which is what the new Camaro (if produced) will be based on.

The GTO looked like a giant Cavalier, 400hp or not..... good riddance.

I hate that people under estimate the GTO here in the States. I get to drive a 04 GTO anytime I want and its sitting in my garage. This GTO is owned by my uncle, who has had it updated exterior wise to 05 exterior and 06 tails. He has done alot of performance mods to it too. He autoxs it and its quicker then a BMW e46 M3 most of the time. The fit and finish is lightyears away from just about anything in the Generals lineup. Besides from Caddy and Saab. There is no shiny slippery plastic in the interior. And the leather seats are really nice.

The GTO was only a stop gap vehicle that was overpriced. If it was priced with the Mustang GT, Pontiac might of sell its 18,000 a year.

In my opinion, they murdered the classic GTO! Pontiac should have done something more unique and special for such a beautiful and legendary automobile.

Death is the perfect word for the tragedy!

The GTO will be back in 08 on an all new chassis.

I hope so.

I hope so.

I wonder what it will look like. I do like the current model.

The GTO will be back in 08 on an all new chassis.

and it will be called the Impala SS/monte carlo SS/ any # of other names of cars + a "SS" logo GM is already making

im so hoping it comes back with some originality and all i cant wait. it better be good though

I have always been a fan of the old goats. I have posted many times that I had a 66 GTO in high school, and a 69 GTO judge later.I could not bring myself to have the same passion for the new body style though. To me they look like an asian import. I have a friend who just bought a new one less than 90 days ago. He has offered to let me take it for a drive a few times, but I never have. Aside from the performance, it is just not that exciting to me. He did blow by me the other day. It was raining, and in poor conditions it gets alot better traction than my vette, but it just didn't look cool enough going past me to make me want one

They should have never brought it back..