Now Pontiac Is Really Dead: Last Pontiac Solstice GSX Sold

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The last new Pontiac model was sold last week in the United States of America. The car is a Pontiac Solstice Coupe, the top version.

Although GM closed Pontiac in 2009, not all the cars of the brand were sold. The last Pontiac unit that left the dealership was a Solstice Coupe in the GXP version and was bought by giving away an old car and paying the difference. This move is very common in the US, the models bought by dealerships being resold to recover the money. The ex-cop Ed Dieffenbach drove about 1,000 miles to change his Chevrolet Silverado with a brand new roadster from Pontiac.

The Pontiac brand was one step away from being saved in 2009, after some discussions with Roger Penske over a sale. Penske wanted to sell the models of other automakers under the Pontiac logo in the United States, not only the GM models. The closing of the Pontiac brand led to the loosing of 7,000-8,000 jobs in the United States. Besides Pontiac, GM closed Saturn and Hummer in 2009, and Saab was sold to the Dutch of Spyker.

While the beginning of the Pontiac brand had a special identity for it, the last 20 years were marked by sharing their platforms with the other brands of the GM and the lack of really special models for the enthusiasts of the brand. So, the sales gradually dropped, and the public’s interest for Pontiac was down to the ground. Even when the the it looked like the brand was getting up, the economy crisis in the US cut the Pontiac sales and led to significant looses in their dealership network.