Pontiac Ute is a Go for US!

I actually like pontiacs but I am not a big fan of this body style. Are they gonna come out with a new firebird or will it just be the chevy camaro with the pontiac emblem on it?

i would like to see a 350z vs it i don’t now who will win but i think 350z.

Return of the muscle car era? I THINK NOT! But then again, this new Ute/G8 is looking to be on the top of my list for favorite rides this year! Unfortunately, I will not be able to purchase it, or any other model like the new Camaro, for quite some time…so this is a major bummage for me.

Still, I can’t wait to see them on the roads!!!

I’m really tired of doing GM’s marketing for them. Based on what they did… correct that… DIDN’T do… when they brought the Holden GTO here, I predict they’ll just dump the ute on the Pontiac lot, just like they did with the GTO… and leave. The majority of the dealers I talked to didn’t even know it was built in Australia, or that it was a Holden, or who the hell Holden even was (it’s GM in Australia, for those of you that don’t know.. and they’re building your new Z-28 as well).

Anyone who’s ever owned an ElCamino knows the advantages a “ute” has over a “pickup truck”. They’re built on a car chassis, so they ride and handle like a performance car. They’re light weight and aerodynamic, so they get gas mileage like a Corvette… think 25-30 hwy MPG. I love it when dudes want to challenge what they can haul or tow. With a little googling, you can find plenty of examples of utes pulling “5th wheelers” in Australia… but then most of V6 Australian cars have a bumper hitch on the back for pulling “caravans” and trailers. I’ve hauled more in my ElCaminos than most people have ever put in a 1/2 ton pickup.

and in my googling… I ran across this… more ute history and info…

http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/biz/archives/2002/12/01/185511

Utes (short for Utility) are NOT a NEW idea… they’ve been good sellers in many geographic areas before… but Americans never get outside their borders… so I guess they don’t know about…

Ford Super Pursuit in Australia
http://www.fpv.com.au/cars/super-pursuit/overview.aspx

Chevrolet Lumina SS ute in South Africa
http://www.chevrolet.co.za/content_data/LAAM/ZA/en/GBPZA/001/models/1G/index.html

Opel Corsa Utility in South Africa
http://www.opel.co.za/content_data/LAAM/ZA/en/GBPZA/019/corsautility/gallery.html

Chevrolet Tornado in Mexico
http://www.chevrolet.com.mx/content_data/LAAM/MX/es/GMMGM/showroom/chevrolet/modelos/tornado/diseno.html

just a few examples… so then they bring us the least desirable of all of them… and then price it at twice what a Dodge Quad Cab Hemi costs… and then when it doesn’t sell, they tell us “Oh they won’t sell in America”. They’re such masters of marketing… hmmm, then wonder why Toyota whups them.

I’ve been ranting for one of these for at least 5 years… after I saw them in Australia and New Zealand… but then I’ve had several big block ElCaminos too… and lots of dumb big trucks that do nothing more but take up space and drink too much gas. Unfortunately they should have brought the ute here instead of the GTO. Now that gas is $3+ a gallon, they need to make this in some kind of hybrid version to sell it. Typical GM… a day late and a dollar short. Ford also makes one of these in OZ, and I think it’s even cooler than the Holden version. Unfortunately, they’ll bring us a watered down version (not the Maloo R8 HSV) with an automatic… yea, right, why bother? There are several other smaller utes built by GM and others sold around the world that sell well too. Give GM 10 years, and they’ll probably figure out how to get them here too late too. AND, if I bought one, I’d have to take all the Pontiac badging off it and put the correct Holden stuff on it. I don’t want no friggin Pontiac in my driveway.

http://www.hsv.com.au/index.asp

i had a feeling the el camino would make a comeback, but i didnt expect it to come back as a pontiac, i was expecting a chevy and i was expecting an el camino not a ute

It kinda bugs me that they’ll come out with the ST but not the wagon, the market for a new el camino is awful small, not that people won’t buy them at all. There’s a very niche group of folks that’ll eat these cars up as soon as they come out and you can honestly count on every pontiac dealer keeping two or three on the lot at all times. What I really don’t get comes down to conventionalism. Personally I’d rather have the wagon that the sport truck, I have a family to tote around but even if I didn’t I don’t think I’d pick the ST over the SW. Now don’t get me wrong, I love the Ute! It’s great and I know everytime I see one driving by I’ll be jealous (especially in the wild colors the Ute comes in) But Practicality is gonna win me over when it comes to dropping $30,000+ on a car. Come spring 2009 I’m picking up a Mitsubishi Evolution MR, its all wheel drive, combined with a fuel effecient 4 cylinder, a state of the art transmission and features galore make it my go anywhere, anytime car. Other cars I’m considering are a new Civic SI and a Pontiac G6 sedan with the panaramic moonroof.

I have a 2006 GTO and i would put it up against any car out there today under the price tag of 30 g’s. The best bang for the buck. Pontiac’s are great cars.

Hi all, a lot of you blokes are missing the point these utes or trucks as you call them are heaps lighter than your heavy thirsty F series and handle like a sports car to a point, on highway these utes use as little as 12 lts to 100km not sure what that is in miles to the gallon, and don’t fall apart as quick as the F series. will do the 1/4 mile in the high 13sec from the factory 270kw. down under we would sell more v8 6 speeds than auto’s with the gen 4 or we also have the HSV (holden special vehicles)series with 307kw gen 4 just released standard.

awesome! glad we get it…

and lutz said himself, chevy WILL NOT get a new el camino.

bitch is tight

this thing will be a huge gamble for GM b/c it WILL NOT SELL. The new generation simply doesn’t have the same vehecular taste as the old farts did in the 70’s.

ted is right im my openion

Hey guys, maybe it’s possible that GM will do the El Camino, but will test the waters with the Pontiac. If it sells and causes a stir, the two can share the platform and Chevy’s work will be devoted to just the asthetics, mainly.

As to go the route the other guy did. i think he is right, that Gm should come out with an el camino package in ss form, a base off of the monte carlo-impala frame of mind. But in the same, Pontiac has always been the one to go outside the box, considering there marks with the G8, who else is making a four-door, six-speed rear drive car thats worth a damn? (don’t say Dodge). Plus, i don’t think that is will only come in the automatic, as the G8 is ranting and raving on our heels with the 400 hp 6-speed manual theory, and they won’t go the extra distance to put the automatic in and exclude the Manual. Plus, the rumor of the v-6 version is kind of a fetch too, just because the g8, well, will be the G8. st or not.

if it has a v8 it better be a stick or they need to take it back to ausi.

I’m a big fan of GM, but i think they are making a mistake bring the Holden Ute over sea as a Pontiac G8 ST, if they want to sell this truck they need to re-design it as a Chevy El Camino SS.

great car but i think that they should make it a chevy.
-alex

Great car. You guys will love it!

now that looks good.

Ya but Ted, what i was going at was, if you really wanted a small practical pick up that would have better fuel economy, you would get a Ranger or a Colorado. not to mention a Ranger or Colorado would be far cheaper.

I Apologized to bewolverine2 for my comments. He’s a decent guy. I’m not even a big fan of some of the new Pontiacs, my response was mainly for Pontiacs in general.
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The Ute very well could find decent sales numbers as long as its MSRP isn’t too high and its mileage beats F150’s, etc which it probably will. Yes, the bed is short but will probably be good enough vs. the prospect of feeding a truck $3, $4, $5 gas?
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Let’s not kid ourselves. Gas won’t get cheaper and it won’t stay at 3 bucks.

Well, you could always haul groceries or even load the bed up with custom made Hydrogen fuel cells and burn water on the go. May seem a little out there, but I’ve already seen alot of h2 supplemented vehicles. Just make sure you take necessary precaution to avoid explosions.

I dont get it, with high gas prices now, who would want a gas guzzling truck that would be less usefull then a full size silverado

i foresee a ssr

I wanna a wagon V8 6spd soon as they have one its mine

I will buy it as soon as it gets to my dealer!

i didn’t make myself clear enough, and for that i’m sorry to all pontiac owners. i’m just mad at the car companies in the now. pontiac used to make some of the best cars, but now they just started to make one car and give it a different name. i don’t want them to make another gto mistake and come out with a new trans am and making look like every car in its fleet. everybody on this site has put so much money to make our cars special and tried to make them stand out, right? so why wouldn’t our beloved car companies do the same? like why would dodge make a turbo-charged minivan? or why would subaru keep making the sti uglier? that’s the point i wanted to make, so once again to the pontiac owners i am sorry and i was out of line.

It looks pretty cool. I would drive it. They couldn’t come up with an original name for it.

I need to sell my TrailBlazer SS and get me one of these. I thought 2010 was the release date.

Besides, he bashed all pontiacs. I only bashed one mopar model. I like the majority of mopars.

my attitude never thought of the altitude. Sorry, guess I just have a hard time reading such nonsense. Struck a nerve.

Thats a low blow insulting the guys car, your real cool! Grow up.

“…pontiac- if you buy one model you’ve bought them all.
now which car is this the bonniville,g5,g6,gto,grand prix,vibe or the sunfire?
PONTIAC SUCKS!! TIME TO BREAK THE MOLD!…”

BTW: HE DRIVES A NEON.

The whole two seater car/truck thing has never worked! Well at least when they were in production. They only become popular after their gone like the El Camino and the Rampage. -Justin

PONTIAC is where it’s at. PONTIAC owners are a tight-kint bunch and we know our cars can kick ass. Fools loke bewolverine2 have their mouths on a long leash but don’t know crap.
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I got an ‘01 Widetrak. I’m not easy on cars, not by a long shot. My driving has been described with such words as “white knuckle experience” and “oh my god…”.
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My GT has taken 30,000 miles of hard driving and gave me no problems. Starts every time. Handles great. Looks great. Takes off like a bat outa hell every time I want it to.
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Got a Firebird Convertible too. That car kicks ass and hey guess what… it looks NOTHING LIKE my Grand Prix bewol… you freaking moron.
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What’s in your driveway?

pontiac- if you buy one model you’ve bought them all.
now which car is this the bonniville,g5,g6,gto,grand prix,vibe or the sunfire?
PONTIAC SUCKS!! TIME TO BREAK THE MOLD!