Putting the Brakes on Pontiac

General Motors has announced it is phasing out the Pontiac line. It's too bad. Pontiac started the American muscle car trend in 1964 with it's GTO. Unfortunately, it's the same company that also brought us the Aztek, arguable one of the ugliest cars ever made. Not exactly your "excitement dealer."

Recently they've come out with the Pontiac G8, a rear-wheel drive, hot looking, performer. But it seems to be too little, too late. There's just way to much competition from other well-crafted brands. Pontiac has squandered away it's brand by sending us too many mixed messages. We're a cost-effective performance brand ... no, we're a place to rebadge boring GM cars.

Kevin Smith, editorial director from the automotive website edmunds.com puts it best: "There was a time, a long way back now, when you knew exactly what Pontiac stood for ... [unfortunately] Pontiac's lack of focus as a brand may finally have brought its demise. That's just death in a marketplace where there's so much competition and so much quality."

For years, General Motors has been trying to convince us through millions of advertising dollars that Pontiac is an exciting line of cars. Unfortunately they forgot to check with the customers to see if we really believed the hype.