GM will drop GTO this year
By Joe Guy Collier
General Motors Corp. confirmed Tuesday it will quit making the Pontiac GTO high-performance vehicle this summer.
The last GTO, made at an Australian plant, is expected to roll off the lines in June and reach U.S. customers in July, said Pontiac spokesman Jim Hopson.
GM decided to stop production of the GTO because of new U.S. safety requirements, Hopson said. The GTO uses the same platform as the Australian Monaro, which has been discontinued.
As this platform is being phased out worldwide, it simply doesnt make financial sense to make those kind of investments, Hopson said.
The original GTO was an icon of the muscle-car era from 1964 to 1974.
The current GTO, revived in late 2003, boasted a 400-horspeower engine that hit home with car enthusiasts. GM sold 11,590 GTOs last year, according to Autodata Corp.
As the current GTO is phased out, Pontiac is exploring options for adding another high-performance, rear-wheel-drive vehicle to its portfolio but no decisions have been made about a replacement, Hopson said.
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Source: Detroit Free Press
by Joe Guy Collier
Tuesday, February 21, 2006
