GTO a flop?

[GregFarz78]

Slow Goat: Controversial styling, high price hobble initial sales of new GTO

By K.C. CRAIN | Automotive News


Pontiac sold 719 GTOs in March and 650 in April.

DETROIT - The Pontiac GTO, a pet project of General Motors product czar Robert Lutz, is off to a slow start.

Dealers say the GTO - touted as a halo car for Pontiac - suffers from bland styling, a high sticker price and no incentives.

"The car is more conservative looking than today's customer expects," says dealer Hugh Fiore, owner of Harbor Motors in Old Saybrook, Conn.

So far this year, Pontiac has sold just 2,451 units. Discounting seasonal differences, that amounts to an annualized rate of 7,300 units - well below Pontiac's 16,000-unit target. GM has a 168-day supply of GTOs, well above the 60-day supply that is considered ideal. A December launch slowed sales of the Australian-built car, says Pontiac spokesman Jim Hopson. "Winter probably isn't the best time to launch a rear-wheel-drive vehicle," he says. "However, we're already beginning to see sales pick up with the nice weather."

Pontiac sold 719 GTOs in March and 650 in April.

GM launched an advertising campaign for the GTO in November. Pontiac hopes the USA Network cable TV movie The Last Ride will help spread the word. The movie features the GTO.

Lutz, vice chairman for product development, pushed the Australian car to the United States with only minor changes.

GM engineers reworked the Holden Monaro, giving it left-hand drive and a Pontiac front end. The V-8 received 48 more horsepower, for a total of 350 hp. The exterior received a new front fascia and a spoiler.

Lutz praised the car's "brawny, muscular stance." But many enthusiasts say the reborn GTO lacks the in-your-face styling of the original muscle car, fondly nicknamed the Goat.

"When you come back with a name like GTO, you need something more," says one Detroit area sales manager who declined to be named.

Last week at a press event in Detroit, Kip Wasenko, director of design for GM's performance division, said, "You heard me talking about heritage. That's probably one of the things the GTO could probably use a little more of. But other people find it quiet and reserved because not everyone wants in-your-face, look-at-me kind of style."

Some dealers say the market for coupes is limited, and the sticker is high. The GTO starts at $33,495, including the destination charge. The 2004 Ford Mustang with a V-8 starts at $24,300.

The GTO lacks popular extras such as hood scoops, a sunroof and factory chrome wheels, some dealers say. Rumors have circulated that the 2005 model will have different styling and more horsepower, but GM declined to comment.

Uneven allocation to dealerships may be one factor in the slow sales start. One dealer, for example, says the Detroit area is flooded with GTOs. Hopson says the company has changed its allocation, shipping more vehicles to dealerships where the car is selling.

Some dealerships report brisk sales. Dennis Hadd, sales manager of McNamara Pontiac in Orlando, Fla., says, "All but a couple of our allocation are sold. A vast majority were pre-sold." McNamara has sold about 10 GTOs.

Last year the company said it planned to sell 18,000 GTOs. But Holden plans to assemble 16,000 GTOs this year in Australia. The GM subsidiary can produce up to 18,000 GTOs annually in coming years.

As of last week Holden had built 8,500 GTOs. At least 6,000 are in the United States, and another 1,000 are in transit, GM says.

[GregFarz78]

Good thing they killed the F-body b/c of low sales

This would sum it up for me...suffers from bland styling, a high sticker price and no incentives

Lutz should retire already time for some young blood to step it up

[SC/TGrandAm]

[mr_eh]

the monte carlo ss pre supercharged version, my dad dropped 32k on one i believe and that was for a 3800 fwd peice of s*** car... no ones gonna buy a "muscle car" now, that market is all over 40 and can afford corvettes now ...

the market that is now thriving is the tuner market and they want cheap ass cars they can drop engines into, not tell insurance and pay next to nothing for them...

im surprised the gtp's are still around, obviously theres something about them keeping them around, i wonder how many more gtps then none supercharged models have been sold?

either way i'd take a civic with 5k in mods then a stock gto

edit: oh yeah,

[AMRAAM4]

I never saw this article originally. And all I gotta say is...

My brother -in-law told me sales were crap back in December (a guy wanted him to call him when their allotment came in because he had an old GTO, my B-I-L did, guy came in and looked at the car for about 1 minute, said thank you and it wasn't what he expected, and walked out)

..and I TOLD YOU SO!

[Mike3800]

New GTO = without the "flip".

[mr_eh]

the car looks like a grand prix coupe, i dont care how ballsy it looks with non functional hood scoops, its just more of the same rehashed bull**** thats on the road currently, nothing bold or daring about it - thats what the essence of the original gto was... this car needs to be DOMINANT in looks AND performance for the market, it needs to go directly after the cobra with a higher up model and come down in price, which isn't happening... i'd still take a gtp (pre 04 wtf is pontiac doing?) over a gto...

[AMRAAM4]

but wait, the GTO is gonna have two exhaust tips and ugly hood scoops in 2005.


but it is supposedly going up to 400HP

[mr_eh]

well i happily await my gto sc/t with a stupid ****ing exhaust tip and stupid ****ing hood scoops, pontiac = teh sux0r lately

edit: i want a 95 240sx *sigh*

[AMRAAM4]

Originally Posted by mr_eh

well i happily await my gto sc/t with a stupid ****ing exhaust tip and stupid ****ing hood scoops, pontiac = teh sux0r lately

edit: i want a 95 240sx *sigh*

that would be the car in my sig above


oh yeah, another thing, in that article the honchos want to blame its december release....well, then explain why the cars sales actually went DOWN from March to April :

[mr_eh]

[quote=AMRAAM4]that would be the car in my sig above[quote]

i know it kills me when i see it, i stopped trolling 240/sil boards because of the envy issues... i am still trying to convince myself the ga = fun project car, i just have to avoid driving anything else or i'd get sick of it...

theres supposingly one, ONE silvia in my area (a real imported one) and i have never seen it, theres a rh skyline too, i was told he parks the car in an indoor garage and knocked the wall down so its basically in his living room i want to shake his hand

[AMRAAM4]

shoulda went to SEMA, there were quite a few Silvia/240's there of different years.

I want an S15 with sr20det as my next project. I would probably have to do a front and rear end conversion on a US spec 240 though.

[mr_eh]

Originally Posted by AMRAAM4

shoulda went to SEMA, there were quite a few Silvia/240's there of different years.

I want an S15 with sr20det as my next project. I would probably have to do a front and rear end conversion on a US spec 240 though.

busy with chick, had plans for great adventure saturday (bad ass time)...
yeah aspec 240 -> silvia is the way to go, its just cheaper then importing the whole god damn thing, theres always a few clips on ebay too... god those cars are works of art tho... and no brainer on the sr20det, the only way to go...

i'd even be happier with a pre 95 gen one and going 180 with it.... i'd whip the **** out of it tho...

[Vintalage]

*cough* check autonews/rumors section *cough*

I need a cough drop. :/

I saw the GTO and GXP at the Autoshow in motion on the weekend. Looked and walked right past them. It did nothing for me at all. The Monaro HSV GTO would. GM imports the wrong model then screws it up. Typical.

[Slim]

A '95 240sx is not an S-15, it's an S-14. I don't remember when the S-15 started, but I don't even think it made it to the U.S. The last new 240sx sold in North America was the 1998 model.

edit: I had a '92 LE Coupe before my GA and sometimes I really miss it.

[AMRAAM4]

The Silvia S15 started in 1999 and was the continuation of the 240sx/Silvia series. However it continued in Japan and not the U.S. Nissan thought the market for a 2-door, middle class, RWD car was washed up.

They need to bring it back so they have something a bit lower than the 350z crowd

[coupe]

The original GTO was a tempest i believe(could be wrong). It was a car that lacked the bold look but was fast as all hell. Thats how it started back then,maybe thats how it is gonna come back now.

I am going to waite an see if they restyle it and put some real pony's under the hood then ill try to buy it.

[GregFarz78]

Thing I dont get about the GTO is for a nicely loaded one its anywhere 35k+ ...$hit for that kinda cash I'd rather just get a vette...least that has its own unique styling

[Slim]

Originally Posted by AMRAAM4

They need to bring it back so they have something a bit lower than the 350z crowd

Agreed. If they brought it back, I wouldn't even hesitate getting one when my GA's lease expired.

The only complaint I had about my 240 was lack of power. I looked into an SR20-DET conversion, but at the time it was horrendously expensive. The reason I got rid of it was because it was going to need a lot of work in the coming months (clutch, brakes, struts etc) and it had a wierd engine problem neither I, Nissan or my mechanic could diagnose. Plus, it had 265,000 kms on it.

[Slim]

Originally Posted by GregFarz78

Thing I dont get about the GTO is for a nicely loaded one its anywhere 35k+ ...$hit for that kinda cash I'd rather just get a vette...least that has its own unique styling

I assume you mean a used Vette since a new one is over $50K.

I'm hoping we just need to give the GTO time to grow. If GM pays any attention they'll realize the car needs some styling changes to make it more "Pontiacesque".