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GM Bringing Back The Pontiac GTO

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Lutz announced today that the GTO will be back next year. The vehicle will replace the Firebird, which gets euthanized this fall. The new GTO will be built in Australia by Holden, a GM subsidiary and will be powered by a 5.7 liter V-8 and have a six-speed manual in the floor.

Lutz says performance numbers will be similar to a 1960's circa "goat" with more sophisticated handling. Keeping up with Lutz' design vision, the front clip and rims will be changed out (and I would assume the steering wheel will be put on the "correct" side) to give a Pontiac look - of course no cladding and no "ribs."

No word on price, but I'd guess by the specification and the target market it will be high 20's to mid 30's...

read about it here
 
With the GTO and the Soltice.....Pontiac is looking to increase sales...with the Soltice I think it's Pontiacs attempt to throw their hat in the 2-seater roadster theatre.....we'll see
 
Oh my - I owned a '67 GTO - fastest car I ever drove - you could peg the speedo at 160 and it was still climbing - guess we were stupid back then, but it sure was fun [my 2nd childhood] - I just got to have one of these :cool:

Just so happens I may be down under in a few weeks - might just stop by and put my name on an early list - vedy bright red sounds about right ;D

[significant drooling and heavy breathing in the background]
 
Oh I want....I want. Add my name too "G" ;D

Officially in my 2nd childhood, got the wife tuned into dropping $35K on a truck......bet I can swing it! ;)
 
I know Holden and GM are 1 and the same but I wonder why they market the cars with different names between the two different countries. Another thing is why would they introduce the GTO equivalent in Australia first?
 
gandolphxx said:
You have obviously never seen Aussies drive - it is like a rally race - everywhere ;D
Click to expand...

Now, now be nice, we only drive how we NEED TO! If anyone would like an Aussie agent, I'd be glad to offer some help with any arrangements if I can. Don't know why you'd bother though.... although thinking about it... the RH drive version would be fun for you, just lean out and post the letter without getting out of the car, makes chatting up shielas on the footpath easier. On the down side, it's a real bummer at the drive through.

Skidd 7;)
 
For most of the three weeks that i was down there I kept trying to get into cabs and cars on top of the driver - finally got the hang of it though - got back to Houston and promptly threw a large bag onto the cab driver at the airport :rolleyes:
 
gandolphxx said:
For most of the three weeks that i was down there I kept trying to get into cabs and cars on top of the driver - finally got the hang of it though - got back to Houston and promptly threw a large bag onto the cab driver at the airport :rolleyes:
Click to expand...

LOL, it's a bit of fun to pull up to a booze bus (police random breath test station) in a LH drive car and wind the passenger window down. The copper starts his speal... "Good evening driver have you had anything to drink tonight.." Then does a back flip when they see the seat is empty. ;D

Ahhh the games we play!
 
225kW = 301.7 HP

Seems kind of low in the HP area to be a GTO :cautious:

I would think something mor ein line with 425HP would be more appropriate.

 
Motor Trend said that was the HP for the Aussie version. The Aussie's prefer better gas mileage and less vibration, so it has a milder cam and single tipped exhaust. The version we will see will have duel outlets and 340hp.
 
Hey Skidd, we just had an instructor over from down under doing some Exxon/Mobil training classes and we got to talking about it. I think he said it was called a "Marinaro" Is that right. He had a couple of brochures on it. The interior is awesome. Really like the lines on this car.
zeeya
 
Is it me or does that thing look like the Monte Carlo from about 5 years ago? I hope they give it some personallity.
 
zeeya2000 said:
Hey Skidd, we just had an instructor over from down under doing some Exxon/Mobil training classes and we got to talking about it. I think he said it was called a "Marinaro" Is that right. He had a couple of brochures on it. The interior is awesome. Really like the lines on this car.
zeeya
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zeeya,

Yep a "Monaro" but I guess we would pronounce it as "Munaro". It was shown as a concept car at a car show a few years ago and got a huge reaction. Being the first coupe by GMH (General Motors Holden) in 30 some years. The name is from the original GMH coupe of the 60s also the Monaro.
 
mjmenke said:
Motor Trend said that was the HP for the Aussie version. ?The Aussie's prefer better gas mileage and less vibration, so it has a milder cam and single tipped exhaust. ?The version we will see will have duel outlets and 340hp.
Click to expand...

I don't think that the economy would have been the issue, although some Aussies do worry about it. Today the average pump price in Melbourne is 94 cents per litre ($3.56 per Gallon).

The problem was most probably the compliance issues here in Australia, all cars must pass the Australian Design Regulations (ADR's), these rules are imposed by the Federal Government on all car manufacturers. They set everything from seatbelts, colour of indicators to emissions and engine noise. One test that all vehicles must meet is the drive by test. This is where they record the noise emitted by the vehicle as it passes a fixed microphone at a designated speed. This generaly means that our vehicles are down rated compared to similiar models elsewhere.

As a personal example I own a Honda CBR1100XX Blackbird and was interested to see that the European model has more HP than the Aussie one, when I enquired with Honda as to why, the above was confirmed as the reason... they had to reduce the air intake and lower the induction roar beacause they could not get it to pass the drive by test.

Interestingly once you have brought your car you can then modify it and will be subjected to the State Regulations and not the Federal ones that the manufacturer had to deal with. These are generaly speaking not as harsh and so you can replace the standard exhaust and intake manifold etc etc and generaly keep within the law.

Skidd 7;)
 
The new GTO from Pontiac is a great idea. ?I am so happy that they are not going to tarnish the name by adopting it out to some front wheel drive wind up car. ?It is too bad that the Firebird/Camaro were not kept current, but perhaps a clean start is best.

I own a '69 GTO, restored/modified/customized, the first four wheel vehicle I ever owned. ?I bought it 13 years ago today actually. ?Great fun to drive, and always a head turner. ?I can't wait to see what Pontiac does with the new one. ?(Ram Air, Hood Tach, Hideaway lights??)
 
Just finished reading the GTO article in Pontiac Enthusiast mag. ?They interviewed Bob Kraut - the Pontiac marketing mgr. responsible for the GTO.

Seems Pontiac doesn't want to make any comparisons to the now dead Firebird line. ?Meaning, they emphatically are saying it IS NOT a replacement. ?Rather, the market has changed and they were looking for a vehicle that basically would have a larger draw over time. ?Apparently, they're comparing the Firebird in this market to a PT Cruiser, Prowler, Thunderbird, etc. ?They are one-shots and once every niche buyer is satisfied, they sell very few units. ?Look at what happened to the PT Cruiser. ?They sold well in the beginning then died.

The LS1 engine is a nice touch, but too bad no supercharger to yipe it up. ?The body style has got to go. ?Looks like a pudgy Monte Carlo. ?There's nothing performance looking about it. ?Seems this approach is in line with GM's future concept of taking a generic platform and making many different cars out of it.
 
Just saw the movie XXX over the weekend. Vin Diesel drives a 1967(?) GTO. Too bad they mess up the car at the end by putting all these stupid James Bond gadgets in it.
 
Skidd...very good movie...at least from an action point of view....go see it....as far as the GTO goes....I agree it could use a different look.....engine wise I could definitely live with the LS1.....no fear I'm sure there will be a blower available for the model before we get a chance to say "please".....the performance should be impressive nonetheless... :B:
 
XXX looks realllllly good!!

I loved Vin in Fast & Furious. I'm hoping to catch XXX this weekend. I can't beleive they turn him into a james bond type figure :rolleyes:

Can't they just leave bad-asses alone. Why do they always have to get all high tech?
 
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