A GM By Any Other Name

The 2010 Pontiac G8 GXP was supposed to be the feather in Pontiacs cap, the proof that would solidify the brand as General Motors' performance division, until it wasn't. The recession hit GM like a freight train, except that GM could see the train coming for a long time, but it was too fat, bloated and useless to doing anything to help itself.

Now the automotive giant lives a comfy life in Barack Obama's back pocket, where it is on a strict diet that involves daily exercise, watching Dr. Phil and cutting everything from it's diet, including half of it's brand identity including Pontiac.

The G8 GXP was supposed to bring Pontiac back to its muscle bound roots, a web that stretches all the way back to the car that sparked the muscle car era, the GTO. A proud beginning, but somewhere on the yellow brick road, Pontiac lost its way and began producing vehicles like the Aztec; a car that even a blind person would refuse to go near; mostly because their seeing eye dog would have a seizure. It's horrible i know, but so was the Aztec.

Slowly but surely, starting with their first modern crack at the sport sedan, the G6 GTP, Pontiac was putting its muscle machine back on the rails, replacing the senile Grand Prix, which was a good thing, because the only thing Grand about it was the fat it had accumulated over it's life span.


All history aside, the G8 GXP represents that perfect American ballet dance between ludicrous power, sensible convenience and the  red light showdowns that make an American muscle car what it is. The engine bay is stuffed to bursting with the 361 bhp LS3 engine that normally lurks under the hood of the Corvette.

Mix that with the only six speed manual transmission offered in the G8 range and you've got a new job painting all of the grey pavement in your neighbourhood black. That means 0-60 in 4.7 seconds, that puts the G8 in some serious territory, playing with the luxury big boys like Mercedes, BMW and Audi. And you know what, it can play ball.

It's too bad then, that the cars interior looks like every other Pontiac's, consisting of the same mystery plastic that would look more at home as part of a trash can instead of a dashboard. But the fact that is only redeemed by some nice front buckets and the splashes of 'aluminum' that coat the interior.

 It's really a shame that Canada will never be graced by it's presence.

At least not as a Pontiac, GM does one thing better than most,  re-badging.  The G8 will put it's bow tie on and be re-born as the Chevrolet Lumina SS, which isn't really saying much.  The G8 is just a re-badged version of it's UK manifestation, the Vauxhall VX-R8. But that really isn't saying much either because the RX-R8 is just a re-badged version of it's Australian older brother, the Holden Commodore.

Confused yet?

So, I guess this means that in truth when I gave Pontiac the credit for the G8 GXP, I really meant Vauxhall, and by Vauxhall I mean Holden. With a family tree this overweight, it's no wonder that GM had to cut back on the Twinkies.

Hopefully it can keep the weight off; after all, Obama's back pocket is only so big.