BREAKING: Lutz says Pontiac G8 to survive as Chevy Caprice in U.S.; Camaro Z28 dead.
 

Bob Lutz is back, and after what seems like five minutes into his job as GM's new marketing kingpin, he's doing what he does best: making headlines. Rest assured that this is a good thing, as El Generalissimo Roberto Maximo told Automobile Magazine that yes, the Pontiac G8 will live on in the United States as the Chevy Caprice. So much for Fritz "I'm not a fan of rebadging" Henderson's statement to the contrary a couple of weeks ago.

"The last time we looked at [the G8], we decided that we would continue to import it as a Chevrolet. It is kind of too good to waste," Lutz told the mag. As for the G8 being "too good to waste": Amen to that, Bob. This also makes us wonder if law enforcement-grade models will be part of the deal with Holden to continue production. Chevy Caprice police cars? That's got a very familiar ring to it. The next question is whether a U.S. Caprice would mimic the Middle East-market Caprice, which is based on the long-wheelbase Holden Caprice/Statesman, or whether it will simply be a Chevy-badged version of the standard-wheelbase Holden Commodore/Pontiac G8/Chevrolet Lumina. Frankly, as long as there's ultimately a Caprice SS that is identical to the Pontiac G8 GXP in every critical way, we don't care.

In his conversation with Automobile, Lutz also essentially confirms that next year's Cadillac CTS coupe will be joined by a V-series variant, saying that the CTS-V coupe was the car that had most of the Presidential Task Force members' tongues wagging during the product-pipeline tour they were given by GM. Lutz even hints that a CTS-V wagon is not completely out of the question. (We'll take the wagon in brown, with the stick, Bob.)

On the bad news side, in a separate blog post, Automobile reports that Lutz kind of throws dirt on the idea of an LSA-powered Camaro Z28 (though he doesn't specifically state that the program's toast). He says that for "mainstream" sports models like the Camaro, powerful sixes (like the one in the Camaro LS and LT) and turbo fours (like the one used in the now-dead Cobalt SS, HHR SS and Solstice GXP) are more indicitive of the automaker's future direction in that regard. Hmmm. Well then, how about bolting a blower to the direct-injected V6?

Welcome back, Bob. This sounds like it could get pretty fun.
http://www.blogcdn.com/www.autoblog....ia_002_580.jpg

rebadge the Pontiac G8 to BMW G8, and the car will sell like rice; all Asian gotta have it to survive.

i actually prefer the Pontiac look over the projected Caprice SS look =/

The Caprice name does not have a good heritage at ALL.... stupid

next cop car!

Good thing there is still Ford and Chrysler willing to make V8's

the G8 looked really good with the Pontiac grille... this looks like any old Chevy...

http://media2.paultan.org/i/w204-special-edition.jpg

it looks so mercedes

maybe the z28 could exist (albeit not as an official trim/model) as parts u can buy from a GM performance parts catalogue?

Yeah... no heritage there whatsoever.

I mean, the Caprice was only produced for 31 years.. during which it was known to be the most luxurious (and therefore the most expensive!) model in the Chevrolet full-size car line-up...

No heritage at all.. they should call it Corolla instead. :haha:

But to most people, they remember it as the stereotypical 70's boat/station wagon. An image that's gonna steer people away from buying it.

holy mofos.

I really thought that Bruno's assistant was reporting this. Whew.

^ROFL

"Most" of those people on here weren't even born in the 70's.

Lutz is a putz, and Fritz lacks the balls or power to do the right thing.
:mad:

You're talking the days when the a-body was actually ten different cars in three different brands. The Caprice was a Chevy side project, trying to inject some level of luxury in the everyman's brand. The Caprice itself doesn't have the heritage, like the Camaro or Chevelle. Those are cars that jumped at people, not like the Caprice, which should never have existed in the first place. It's concept was Buick, straight up.

Granted, around the 70's things got all messed up. Buick was offering power, Pontiac was offering luxury, and GM was offering weak versions of cars that did have a following.

Most people on here have never seen a Ford Pinto either but can tell you what a POS it is... and most people on here don't fall into the demographic that would buy a car like this anyways.

pontiac grille looks way better than the chevrolet's

Aside from the 20-something people who died in that 'barbeque on wheels'... what was wrong with the Pinto? They sold more than 2 million of them over 10 years...

My Mum had a Pinto when she was much younger... man, she loved that car. All nice and polished, kinda like people nowadays have love for their Honda Civics and all... There's even some naughty pictures of her on the hood... kinda sick, when I think about it... but I digress.

I can think of many other cars that don't last 10 model years, and sell way less than 2 million. Market share speaks volumes... if anyone cares to listen.

I think that's inherently the problem with Revscene and other ricer forums.... there's this huge misconception about reality. Our collective heads are shoved so far up our fart cannon exhausts, that we've forgotten about the real world.

fukin awesome. ill definatley be thinking of adding that cts-v to my household. gona be a sick car.

Okay... I don't know how you got onto that when I was cited the Ford Pinto as an example of how a bad reputation gets around. I wasn't talking about whether the Pinto or Caprice was a good car or not. Fact of the matter is, once it gains a bad reputation like exploding in a crash, it's as good as done. Even if it's a rare occurance, fewer and fewer car buyers would be willing to take the risk of buying an exploding car.

Now with the Caprice, most people may not remember the era when they were made but they'll probably remember the big honking boat of a station wagon that their parents drove them around in. How many people would buy a car that their parents had? One that they were embarrassed to be seen in so they asked their parents to drop them off 2 blocks away from school? The G8 was a great car and as a Caprice, it's still a great car but with a name that people are trying to forget.

http://chevroletcapriceppv.com/#home

6.0L V8 6spd auto

indeed


oh well all the same shit

looks like a C class to me, and they dont deserve that kind of cop car

still ugly, probably just end up as rental cars again