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G8 to Lead Pontiac's Return to Sport Sedan Prominence



These days, the air at GM is charged with a cautious optimism. For the first time in recent memory, the company has posted a profit. At the end of the fourth quarter of 2006 the General's balance sheets weren'tslathered in red. Some of this success can be attributed to a host of good products that have come to market lately, and people are starting to take notice. In maintaining its full-on blitz of new vehicles, GM has announced that the Pontiac G8 is going into production for 2008. Expect this car to be the replacement for the Grand Prix.

This is also the first application of GM's rear drive Zeta platform. These bones will underpin the next generation Impala and the mighty
G8 interior shows marked improvement over outgoing Grand Prix. (Photo: General Motors)
Camaro as well. Enthusiasts rejoice; rear-wheel drive is cool again! Trim levels will range from mild to wild, with the base model being motivated by a 261 horsepower 3.6-liter V6 with 250 foot pounds of torque. Those are good numbers for a base engine, and GM fans will recognize the power plant is of Cadillac lineage. The wild one in this family is the GT. Powered by a 6.0-liter V8 churning out 362 horsepower and 391 foot pounds of torque, resulting in 0 to 60 mph sprints likely taking
The G8 pulled serious interest at its debut. (Photo: General Motors)
just under5.5 seconds. The G8 GT can be viewed as the better looking, more practical successor to Pontiac's GTO.

With its four doors, the G8 will cater to the family as well as the enthusiast. This is a successful example of raiding the overseas parts bins, in this case those from Australia. Aussies might recognize it as a variant of the Holden Commodore, but folks from these parts will just see a really sharp looking car. The example GM brought to the Chicago Auto Show earlier this year had sexy, swollen body work with menacing fender flares. The package includes 20-inch wheels (some of the nicest we've seen in a while) and huge brake discs. Whether or not some of these
The G8, introduced in Chicago, puts Pontiac back on the sport sedan stage. (Photo: General Motors)
goodies will make it to production remains to be seen, howeverwhen the G8 does hit dealerships it shouldn't look that far off from some of the photos here.

What will be included for certain are 5- and 6-speed automatics for the base and GT respectively, with a 6-speed manual for the GT coming later. The G8 features a four-wheel independent suspension, and it's been said that it achieves a perfect 50/50 weight distribution. A limited-slip differential will be offered as an option.
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