With rear drive and a befuddled V-8 beneath the hood, the Pontiac G8 was the aboriginal absolute action auto for Pontiac in decades, and we mourned its annihilation if GM dead off the Excitement Division as allotment of its post-bankruptcy rationalization. But it appears the G8 will accomplish a improvement - alone this time cutting Chevy badges. Three GM sources accept accepted to Motor Trend the Australian-built auto will re-appear on the U.S. bazaar as a Chevy in the advancing year. And it won't be alleged Impala. "We accept a acceptable name for it", smiled one of the sources.
Bringing a back the G8 (the 2009 Pontiac G8 GXP is pictured) as a Chevy seemed such a breeze - all the acceptance and engineering plan appropriate to transform the Holden Commodore into a Pontiac had already been paid for by the Old GM - it's a abruptness it's taken so long. Allotment of the acumen for the delay, we understand, is that GM capital to delay for a mid-cycle facelift on the Holden Commodore to accord the car a fresher exoteric look.
Cost is a problem. With the Australian dollar now on par with the greenback, shipment cars from Australia is now an big-ticket proposition. In addition, some accessory re-certification plan will aswell acceptable charge to be performed to get the car aback to U.S. spec. Because of this, and CAFE requirements, the Chevy auto will alone be accessible as a V-8, and in almost bound numbers. Holden has aswell developed a U.S. bazaar adaptation of its mechanically identical Caprice continued wheelbase auto for badge applications, but GM continues to assert that it will be for law administration assignment only.
"The Commodore Zeta 1 architectonics offers us so abundant with rear-wheel drive performance," says one of our sources. "The synergy amid motor alcove packaging of the Commodore and HSV articles against what we do actuality with Camaro and Corvette agency the opportunities are endless." GM's accommodation to accompany aback the Pontiac G8 as a Chevy is a good-news, bad-news adventure for its Australian subsidiary, Holden. After decades of blank the Australians' engineering efforts, it seems Detroit is about to embrace the Zeta rear drive architecture. But for amount affidavit it is acceptable GM will move added development of the architectonics for next-gen Zeta-based cars to Detroit, putting the approaching of its Australian engineering ability in doubt.
