Pontiac Sponsors College Football with Little Presence in the College Market
Stuart Nachbar
January 05, 2009
I began the New Year in remembrance of an old flame. Not an old girlfriend, but my first car, a 1971 Pontiac Grand Prix that I bought during my freshman year in college. Itīs been thirty years since I bought that car, and I drove it to 120,000 miles.
I was reminded of my old Pontiac as I watched the various college bowl games. Pontiac is the official sponsor of these games; they are taking a poll of the biggest plays of the past season. But there is no Pontiac that is targeted to the college student, nor does it seem that the division is trying hard enough to market to them, as in developing a youthful looking small car. In fact, there has been speculation in the media that GM will close Pontiac down as management attempts to restructure the company.
During the Sixties and Seventies Pontiac was GMīs "performance division." True, you could get a Chevy Camaro, Nova or Chevelle with a performance package, and those sold very well, but Pontiac was the division that brought out the GTO, Americaīs first muscle car and took the plunge into affordable two-seat sports cars, first with the Fiero and now with the Solstice. The Grand Prix, which made its debut in 1962, was GMīs first sports-luxury car. And then there was the Firebird, the dream car of my high school days. The Firebird was not the first small performance car- the Mustang came out three years earlier - but it was the best looking.
Back in those days a recent college grad could order up a Firebird from mild (a six cylinder engine with a three-speed automatic transmission) to wild (a huge V-8 and a four-speed stick). It was a car that looked good in all but the most basic models. There is no Pontiac like that today. Chevrolet plans to bring back the Camaro as a 2010 model, with mild to wild options, but there have been no announcements about a renewed Firebird. And thatīs a shame; the Firebird was a great entry-level performance car from a performance division. A good experience with your first īBird led you to take a look at a more powerful model, or check out a GTO or Grand Prix when it was time to shop again.
I live near four colleges, including an Ivy League school and a very large state university, and the small sport coupes I see most often are the Honda Civic and the Toyota-based Scion TC. Both have an attractive entry price and room to upgrade; the Scion takes personalization another step forward with dealer-installed options, including a supercharger to boost performance. A $20,000 Scion or Civic coupe looks more expensive than it is, and itīs quite possible to live with it for four or five years. And Honda makes a sporty Accord coupe while Toyota makes a Camry sports sedan and a V-6 powered RAV-4 that can be the next step up in the brand.
I donīt see how Pontiac will ever compete with Honda or Toyota in the youth market unless it builds a car that is more competitive with the Civic or the Scion. The division needs a small sporty car that looks expensive, has profitable option packages as well as performance upgrades. Pontiac has built performance cars for more than half a century. They sell a very nice G-8 sports sedan thatīs competitive against Acura and BMW. That would be a nice step up from a Firebird, if Pontiac brought back the Firebird. And I doubt theyīll need a college graduate rebate to drive traffic to the door for that car. The next 21st century Firebird would sell itself.
Contact Stuart Nachbar at http://www.EducatedQuest.com , a blog on education politics, policy and technology or read about his first book, The Sex Ed Chronicles, a novel on education and politics in 1980 New Jersey, at http://www.SexEdChronicles.com .
I was reminded of my old Pontiac as I watched the various college bowl games. Pontiac is the official sponsor of these games; they are taking a poll of the biggest plays of the past season. But there is no Pontiac that is targeted to the college student, nor does it seem that the division is trying hard enough to market to them, as in developing a youthful looking small car. In fact, there has been speculation in the media that GM will close Pontiac down as management attempts to restructure the company.
During the Sixties and Seventies Pontiac was GMīs "performance division." True, you could get a Chevy Camaro, Nova or Chevelle with a performance package, and those sold very well, but Pontiac was the division that brought out the GTO, Americaīs first muscle car and took the plunge into affordable two-seat sports cars, first with the Fiero and now with the Solstice. The Grand Prix, which made its debut in 1962, was GMīs first sports-luxury car. And then there was the Firebird, the dream car of my high school days. The Firebird was not the first small performance car- the Mustang came out three years earlier - but it was the best looking.
Back in those days a recent college grad could order up a Firebird from mild (a six cylinder engine with a three-speed automatic transmission) to wild (a huge V-8 and a four-speed stick). It was a car that looked good in all but the most basic models. There is no Pontiac like that today. Chevrolet plans to bring back the Camaro as a 2010 model, with mild to wild options, but there have been no announcements about a renewed Firebird. And thatīs a shame; the Firebird was a great entry-level performance car from a performance division. A good experience with your first īBird led you to take a look at a more powerful model, or check out a GTO or Grand Prix when it was time to shop again.
I live near four colleges, including an Ivy League school and a very large state university, and the small sport coupes I see most often are the Honda Civic and the Toyota-based Scion TC. Both have an attractive entry price and room to upgrade; the Scion takes personalization another step forward with dealer-installed options, including a supercharger to boost performance. A $20,000 Scion or Civic coupe looks more expensive than it is, and itīs quite possible to live with it for four or five years. And Honda makes a sporty Accord coupe while Toyota makes a Camry sports sedan and a V-6 powered RAV-4 that can be the next step up in the brand.
I donīt see how Pontiac will ever compete with Honda or Toyota in the youth market unless it builds a car that is more competitive with the Civic or the Scion. The division needs a small sporty car that looks expensive, has profitable option packages as well as performance upgrades. Pontiac has built performance cars for more than half a century. They sell a very nice G-8 sports sedan thatīs competitive against Acura and BMW. That would be a nice step up from a Firebird, if Pontiac brought back the Firebird. And I doubt theyīll need a college graduate rebate to drive traffic to the door for that car. The next 21st century Firebird would sell itself.
Contact Stuart Nachbar at http://www.EducatedQuest.com , a blog on education politics, policy and technology or read about his first book, The Sex Ed Chronicles, a novel on education and politics in 1980 New Jersey, at http://www.SexEdChronicles.com .
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