General Motors needs to move Pontiacs and pickup trucks, and the bankrupt automaker is once again breaking out some serious incentives to alleviate dealer stocks. The General is offering 0% financing for 72 months for the Vibe, G3, G5, G6 and G8, giving prospective car buyers the chance to get into one of the last Pontiacs ever made. The "72 Hour Sale" oddly begins today and runs through Monday, July 6, which is more than 72 hours – even when excluding the 4th of July weekend.

GM is also using the sales event to move some of its slower-selling vehicles. The Chevrolet Impala, Silverado and Tahoe, as well as the GMC Sierra and Yukon will also have 72 month, 0% financing. Other vehicles will have 0% financing for 60 months, but they won't be part of the special 72 hour sale.

While we're not planning to run out to the local Pontiac store for a new G3, if you would have told us a year ago that we could get a 361 hp G8 GT for about $400 a month, we'd be pretty stoked. Hit the jump to scan the GM press release.

[Source: General Motors]

The Pontiac brand may be on its way out the door, but that doesn't mean it can't have one last fling with a renowned tuner. Hurst Performance Vehicles, the legendary shifter company that most recently has made waves with its Hemi Challenger, announced its new H.O. program for the Pontiac G6 and G8. Few details have been released regarding the performance upgrades of the cars, but each will feature Hurst's signature black/gold or white/gold paint scheme, forged alloy Hurst wheels, an exclusive Hurst shifter, supercharged engine, suspension upgrades, and a newly trimmed interior.

To help with the development of the car, Hurst also brought on performance icon "Doc" Watson, who developed such vehicles as the Hurst Hemi-Under-Glass and the 1972 Pontiac SSJ. Only 52 Hurst H.O. Pontiacs will be built along with ten G6 convertibles used as parade and special event vehicles. More details regarding the performance upgrades will be announced on August 1st, but until then all the available information can be found in the press release after the jump.

As part of its "New GM"/"Old GM" bankruptcy proceedings, General Motors has announced that it will abandon its ownership stake in the New United Motor Manufacturing Incorporated (NUMMI) joint venture with Toyota.

According to an official statement, GM and Toyota worked to find a future product that would work for both automakers, but they were apparently unable to do so. As a result, GM will assign its NUMMI stake to "Old GM," effectively ending a 25-year partnership with the Japanese automaker.

Over the last quarter-century, the Fremont, California plant has produced a number of vehicles for GM, including the current Pontiac Vibe, as well as the Geo/Chevrolet Prizm, and the Bowtie'd Nova that preceded it.

There is no word on what (if any) effect the deal's collapse will have on Toyota's NUMMI-made products which include the Tacoma pickup and Corolla sedan. According to NUMMI's official website, 5,440 workers are employed at the plant. Official press release after the jump. Thanks to everyone for the tips!

[Source: General Motors; NUMMI | Image: Hokubei]

While Pontiac gets ready to take a dirt nap next to Oldsmobile and the folks at Chrysler's Auburn Hills HQ brush up on their Italian, at least one American driver is showing us what might have been if the once-proposed Chrysler/GM merger (remember those days?) had come to be. Consider the perfect storm of hideous product decisions that could have ensued under such a tie-up.

What's that? Your mind's eye can't envision a scenario so horrifying? No worries. Autoblog reader Berto snagged some photos illustrating just how kooky things could have gotten. Imagine one automaker's muscle heritage fused with the base-level front-drive mediocrity of another. Imagine, friends, the Pontiac G6 V6 Super Bee. Thanks, Berto!



[Photos: Berto]

Climb into the Pontiac Solstice Coupe and there's an unsettling feeling of familiarity. We've been here before. And after driving off, it all begins to gel, although it has nothing to do with our previous stints in the drop-top variant. The Coupe feels like the unruly offspring of a night of passion between a C4 Corvette coupe and a Dodge Viper. And while the Solstice is nowhere near as large or as powerful as those two American icons, the DNA of both is undoubtedly present in this little machine – for good reason.

It's no coincidence that the history of the Solstice spans the Bob Lutz era at General Motors. After Lutz joined GM in 2001 to guide its product development, one of the first tasks he assigned the design staff was to create a new concept for the Detroit Auto Show. The Solstice was born, a stylistic hit was made and the convertible was rushed to production. Now, as Lutz is winding down his time at GM, the Solstice and the entire Pontiac brand are also fading off into the sunset. In many respects, this Solstice is symbolic of what was right and wrong with GM and Pontiac. And our time with the Solstice Coupe is a telling tale about the final new model from a vanishing brand.



Photos Copyright ©2009 Sam Abuelsamid, Max Abuelsamid / Weblogs, Inc.

It was originally thought that the Vibe would be the terminal Pontiac, but now that we've learned that the Excitement runs out of the NUMMI plant by the end of August we're not so sure. While the curtain will drop on the Vibe, General Motors hasn't totally ruled out future co-production with Toyota at its joint venture in Fremont, CA.

The Vibe is the twin of Toyota's Matrix, and tended to earn Pontiac a lot of "it's a good GM car, because it's actually a Toyota" commentary, frustrating to no end in the halls of the RenCen, we're sure. Check out the full press release after the jump.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the Last Pontiac Standing will be the nearly new Vibe. The compact hatchback was the predictable pick not just due to its young age, but because it is part of General Motors' longstanding NUMMI joint-venture plant with Toyota.

Understandably, the Vibe isn't set to get a big update for 2010, but according to GM's 2010 Product Guide, front- and all-wheel drive models will continue, as will the sportier GT. The Vibe will receive a new Ignition Orange Metallic paint option (Mystic Blue Metallic goes away), a new luggage rack will be available on all-wheel drive models, and a couple of new option packages appear on the order sheet for the base 1.8-liter four-cylinder model (Sun & Sound and cargo management). Air-conditioning will be standard across the range for the first time.

In other news, the G6 will also soldier on in 2010, albeit only for fleet buyers. It is unclear what body styles will survive, but the sedan is a reasonable bet, although it is possible that coupe models will soldier on as well.



[Source: General Motors]

We returned from a secret mission in Alaska just in time to make it to one of our favorite smaller concours, the Huntington Beach Concours d'Elegance in Central Park this past weekend. Not quite as prestigious as the L.A. Concours we covered from the Rose Bowl, it's always an eclectic show, with everything from hot rods to supercars, pre-war classics to bikes. In fact, Big Dog and Nimbus Motorcycles were featured this year. Pontiac and Aston Martin were the featured automotive marques, but there were a healthy showing of Mini enthusiasts as well for the car's 50th anniversary. Not quite as many as the number at Silverstone last month, but there were about 50 of them in every color and configuration you could think of. Lots of Ferraris, muscle cars, Corvettes and motorcycles as well.

This concours always attracts mostly locals, but this year, that included seven Borgward Isabella owners! We're not sure we've ever seen more than one in any single show before so this was a bit of a treat. And there was at least one representative of each bodystyle: saloon, estate, cabriolet, and coupe. The Master of Ceremonies was local car presenter Dave Kunz and the Grand Marshall was Jim Wangers, "Godfather of the GTO," on hand to celebrate Pontiac. Although we couldn't make it on Saturday, the previous day's Grand Marshall was our MINI-mad friend, Fireball Tim Lawrence, who was at the show on Sunday as well, just not marshaling as grandly.

Highlights included the Judson-supercharged MG TD Mille Miglia, Ferrari 400 SuperAmerica, Lusso and Europa, Barbie-pink Mini, International Karate Champion Harley, BMW 501 V8, Pegaso 102, Jaguar XK120R, '31 Cadillac Convertible Coupe, Marco Rigassi's '32 Highboy, a tangerine AMX, and the Schwinn Stingray Super Deluxe and Apple Krate. Other sentimental favorites included the '81 Lancia Zagato, two Subaru SVX sports coupes, two early Mazda RX-7s, and a trio of '80s GM ragtops. It was another fun, family-oriented show that had us smiling about being car people.


All photos copyright ©2009 Frank Filipponio / Weblogs, Inc.

The brand's demise next year will mark the end of the Pontiac G8, but there's a faint glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel for the Aussie-built sports sedan. Speaking with Automotive News, Tom Stephens, General Motors' vice chairman of global product development, said "there's still discussions on" resurrecting the G8, "but Chevrolet already has several sedans. How many sedans do you need to cover the waterfront?"

His comments don't imbue us with much hope for the G8's future, particularly after GM CEO Fritz Henderson has clearly stated that no Pontiac models will live on within the "new" GM. Although there's a groundswell of enthusiast support for the General to replace the Impala SS – due to be killed next year – with the G8, or possibly offer the rear-wheel drive sedan as a Buick model, the idea doesn't seem to be gaining traction within the automaker.



[Source: Automotive News – Sub. Req.]

General Motors makes more than a few world-class automobiles. As true as that statement may be, that alone wasn't enough to stall the automaker's steady decline – fueled as it may have been by the global economic downturn – into Chapter 11 bankruptcy. To expedite GM's return to viability, the Obama Administration plans to split the giant automaker into two parts, a so-called "Good GM" made up of GM's best assets and "Bad GM," which is what we're examining in today's Top Ten list.

In case you're not aware, Bad GM happens to include the entire lines from HUMMER, Pontiac, Saab and Saturn. Instead of dwelling on the oft ignored, underdeveloped and stagnant vehicles in Bad GM's lineup, we're taking a look at the best that Bad GM has to offer. Try as we might to make this into a true Top Ten list, we were only able to come up with seven suitable vehicles to lament – which admittedly does tell us something. Some were obvious, a few not so much. That said, follow along as we pick the Top 7 Good Cars from Bad GM.