A case for Pontiac's return

Wed, Apr 5 2017

Sadly, many brands have disappeared off of the automotive landscape over the decades. Many people have imagined over the years of restarting defunct automotive brands. A few of those dreamers even made prototypes to shop around and to established connections with investors. But, alas poor Yorick, however valiant an effort, many brands are shuttered for good, rarely to be heard of again except in historical tales or maybe seen in car shows.

So, what do you do when you win the lottery? Not just any lottery... In fact, it is a lottery that takes care of you and your loved ones for life? You and your family don't have to work, ever. You can give to charity, pay other people to do those projects that you've been putting off, and so on and so on. But, you're still a Car Nut right? There begins the conundrum. Do you buy and fix cars, new premium cars, old muscle cars, or classics, or maybe, just maybe, do you buy the rights to an old departed automotive brand and bring it back to life. Hmm. Which brand?

The problem with the old Pontiac was that it was an additional badge engineered vehicle in the portfolio of GM. The meant the brand was diluted by competition from its own parent company, in addition to the competition outside the camp. So, if it were to come back, it would have to be different. Yet, it would still need to keep true to its roots at the same time in order to wake up its armies of existing fans.

Even those that aren't fans of Pontiac cannot deny that Pontiac has a long heritage of legendary vehicles. So do Packard, and Studebaker, and others. So, why would a lottery winner choose Pontiac as the marque to bring back? That's easy! Pontiac's long heritage is closely tied to performance vehicles that made many of a teenager drool. Even more important though is that Pontiac is still fresh on people's minds. The brand itself is only recently departed. So, Boomers, Generation X, and Millenials all would all be able to identify with it as opposed to brand names that disappeared multiple decades ago and that now have a more limited appeal.

The return of Pontiac couldn't just be another launch of a badge engineered vehicle. It would have to be performance oriented, yes. But, it would have to be unique in some way, a niche brand. What niche though?

Look at the automotive landscape now and you see that Tesla is the one out there grabbing at the wide open electric niche with success. That success is requiring other main stream manufacturers to reconsider their own timelines to bring all-electric offerings, or enhance the ones they have. So, why not take your lottery winnings and bring back Pontiac as an all-electric performance brand for the average man? Keep the names like Trans Am, and GTO, Tempest, and others that are easy to remember. Then create them kick-butt electric models, under the "Green" banner of Pontiac? Not hybrid trim lines or specific models. No, the entire brand would be all-electric.

The closure of the brand is recent enough in history that there are still a plethora of fans online and across the nation in various car club chapters that would no doubt gladly take up the banner of the new Pontiac. That brand name is strong enough that it would easily have a grass roots movement of people opening their checkbook a lot quicker than the fans of Fiat have done with their return to the United States in recent years.

A legendary brand with legendary name plates, a green halo for the environmentally conscious, keeping to the performance bent for historical continuity, and legions of fans still in place... What's not to like about that picture? This is the United States. Let capitalism work! Tesla doesn't have to be the only all-electric brand that can mass produce vehicles in incredible quantities. A competitor with a name like Pontiac with models that have screaming chickens painted on the hood would be worthy of such a challenge. I can hear the national anthem playing in the back ground now with the crowds chanting, "Bring back Pontiac! Bring back Pontiac!", and see the television stations advertising reality shows of the factory workers returning to Detroit and getting retrained for the electric onslaught that would be Pontiac's return. Let it be so! Bring back Pontiac!

Related Video:

Image Credit: HJ Pizarro

Pontiac
Electric
Classics
brands
open road

By HJ Pizarro