It's not selling well in the US. In fact, there was an article in the
Wall Street Journal yesterday about how GM might pull the plug on the
entire Pontiac division. The Pontiac GTO was meant to be a nostalgia
car. It needed some reference to the original, but it had to be done in
a stylish and contemporary way. Pontiac failed on both counts.
DaimlerChrysler's Dodge Charger comes closer in terms of alluding to
the original design of it's ancestor, although a two-door variant
should have been offered.
On Apr 19, 2005, at 11:31 PM, Anthony Farr wrote:
GM's boss fell in love with the Holden Monaro a few years back, went
home
and told the boys in Pontiac to pull the plug on their new GTO,
because they
were going to rebadge the Monaro as GTO instead. Apparently the buyer
reaction has been quite good, but the 'good ole boys' on Pontiac
forums are
pissed off that it's not made in USA, so criticise it for petty
reasons like
they think it looks too European (it's genesis many years ago was an
Opel)
instead of like some overstriped, overvented Batmobile imitator like
the
cancelled USA developed GTO was going to be.
You forgot to mention Bolwell as a great 70's sportscar marque, and the
current Elfin range (see them at
<http://www.elfin.com.au/flash/index.aspx>
) are total jawdroppers.
Minardi is Australian owned as well. Even being back in the pack in
F1 is
way in front of the rest of the auto world.
And apparently there is a brisk trade in XA and XB Falcon hardtops,
which
are exported to the USA and converted into Mad Max Interceptor
look-alikes.
But please forget about the Mercury Capri debacle. It was supposed to
be a
good little two seater, but some moron though that two seats wouldn't
sell.
They went years over the intended development time to stretch the
chassis,
never got the soft top right, all by which time the Mazda MX-5 / Miata
got
the upper hand. The Capri could have been two years in the showrooms
before
the Mazda arrived, if it hadn't been for that rear seat.
regards,
Anthony Farr
-----Original Message-----
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Quoting Godfrey DiGiorgi <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>:
So which Australian engineered cars are superior? and in what way?
;-)
The Giacottolo was a slight improvement on the original Alfa it was
based
on.
The Repco/Brabham F1 cars of the sixties were quite successful.
The current Ford Territory seems to be successfully beating its
competitors in
reviews and sales.
I think our Ford and Holden bread and butter sedans are better value
for
money
than the Ford and General Motors offerings overseas.
