ADDING TO SPECULATION already sparked by GM’s new ‘creative’ products chief Bob Lutz, a source within General Motors told Automotive News that plans are afoot to bring the discontinued Pontiac G8 back to American showrooms - but as a high-priced, low-volume flagship sedan badged as a Chevrolet Caprice.
The insider also said that GM intends to proceed with importing the G8 from Australia to sell to American law enforcement agencies - a plan we first reported on back in April this year.
Should the Australian-built large sedan return to the USA, the benefits to Holden, and to its vehicle engineering and design arm, will be immense. The G8, despite the stalling US economy, performed well in the world’s largest and toughest car market.
Holden is remaining tight-lipped on any future export plans, but indications are strong that exports of the rebadged Commodore are about to resume.
However, while Bob Lutz and the unnamed inside source are bullish about the future of the Pontiac G8/Chevrolet Caprice, others within GM are a little more cautious. GM Spokesman Tom Wilkinson said that any talk of a Holden-sourced Caprice is “purely speculative”, and that new fleet emissions laws may restrict the usefulness of such a vehicle.
“As a leaner, faster-moving company, we will be looking at opportunities,” Mr Wilkinson said to Automotive News.
“But I think what [GM CEO] Fritz [Henderson] said at the press conference Friday is there are real issues with CAFE with rear-wheel drive.”
The Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards require all manufacturers with a presence in the USA to achieve an average fuel economy figure of 6.7 l/100km.
With the V8-powered G8/Caprice using 9.8 l/100km on a highway cycle and the V6 drinking 9.4 litres of fuel over the same distance, making the big sedan a volume-seller would put GM at the risk of having to pay penalties for breaching CAFE regulations.
