gmsolstice
12-08-2003, 09:37 AM
GM Could Reap Harvest Of Cars Off Solstice
Chicago Tribune
By Jim Mateja
December 08, 2003
General Motors will use the Detroit Auto Show next month to announce that it not only has approved production of the two-seater Pontiac Solstice, but also that it will start assembling the open top, rear-wheel-drive roadster soon, according to Auto Horizon, an Internet automotive information and research newsletter.
Solstice, you may recall, was introduced as a concept at the Detroit Auto Show just two years ago and proved to be an immediate hit.
Auto Horizon says GM initially will build 20,000 annually and work up to 40,000 units of the car.
It also says that a new four-seat Saturn, an unnamed four-seat Buick and perhaps a small open-top Hummer are candidates to share Solstice's new rear-wheel-drive small car Kappa platform.
Bob Lutz, vice chairman of product development for GM, recently told us that the return of the Pontiac Firebird is a dead issue.
But Auto Horizon says now that the GTO is here and because Solstice soon will be, Firebird's cousin Chevy Camaro is still a live issue and a small, rear-wheel-drive model could appear in late '06 off a new platform from GM's Holden subsidiary in Australia.
GM insiders, however, insist that while a small rear-wheel-drive Chevy sports car may be under consideration for the near future, it wouldn't carry the Camaro name if it did appear.
Stay tuned.
Chicago Tribune
By Jim Mateja
December 08, 2003
General Motors will use the Detroit Auto Show next month to announce that it not only has approved production of the two-seater Pontiac Solstice, but also that it will start assembling the open top, rear-wheel-drive roadster soon, according to Auto Horizon, an Internet automotive information and research newsletter.
Solstice, you may recall, was introduced as a concept at the Detroit Auto Show just two years ago and proved to be an immediate hit.
Auto Horizon says GM initially will build 20,000 annually and work up to 40,000 units of the car.
It also says that a new four-seat Saturn, an unnamed four-seat Buick and perhaps a small open-top Hummer are candidates to share Solstice's new rear-wheel-drive small car Kappa platform.
Bob Lutz, vice chairman of product development for GM, recently told us that the return of the Pontiac Firebird is a dead issue.
But Auto Horizon says now that the GTO is here and because Solstice soon will be, Firebird's cousin Chevy Camaro is still a live issue and a small, rear-wheel-drive model could appear in late '06 off a new platform from GM's Holden subsidiary in Australia.
GM insiders, however, insist that while a small rear-wheel-drive Chevy sports car may be under consideration for the near future, it wouldn't carry the Camaro name if it did appear.
Stay tuned.