2002GGPIS3

I disagree, I feel the GTO was the right car at the wrong time.. Lutz wanted to sell fun cars like the GTO, G8, Solstice, Sky, and even wanted to bring a new V8 RWD el camino,based on Holden's Ute. Problem was the economy died, and no one was interested in buying fun cars, because they had more important priorities.

I still rather have a 2006 GTO then any other muscle car built today.

Fizzboy7

^
Timing was bad, but so was the styling. The muscle car category is an extroverted and trendy sector. The GTO was too plain and generic on the outside. Styling did not match the performance and didn't dazzle like a Mustang or Camaro does. The same result could easily happen with the upcoming SS, as it has big power, but is wrapped in a generic and soft body. These American "sleepers" worked well in the 60's and 70's, but the U.S. customer wants more attention on the streets and at the night clubs.

mmarshall

I have to agree with 2002GGPIS3. There was nothing wrong with the last GTO. Some people claimed that it was too much of a rental-car look (at the time, I heard some of those comments at the D.C. Auto Show) But look at the original ones in the 1960s, which sold like wildfire.....even having songs written about them. Those original ones from the 1960s (with the possible exception of the 1970 GTO Judge model with the bright orange paint and fender-flame-decals) were even MORE plainly done......essentially just a plain old Pontiac Tempest with double hood-scoops, which Pontiac also added to the 2005 model after it debuted in 2004 without them.

So, I don't agree with the rental-car looks complaint. If anything, the car actually looked BETTER than the original ones.

Fizzboy7

Keep in mind, today's muscle cars sell to rappers, basketball players, and the Hollywood film industry crowd. The demographic has shifted and those people require flash with their horsepower. Anything coming out today by the big three has to have the flash to be popular. Rental car and soft styling will get nowhere, as it got the GTO nowhere.

mmarshall

Probably not as much as the Cadillac Escalade and Lincoln Navigator, though, today, those two bling-icons admittedly have more competition.


I'm not sure that was the GTO's main problem. When the 2004 GTO debuted, Ford was also in the process of bring out, for the first time in decades, a Mustang that was stating to look like a REAL Mustang (e.g. the original ones). And the Mustang was American designed/built....the GTO, nice of a ride as it was, was essentially an Australian car with an American engine. Many people simply bought the Mustang, instead, out of of patriotism and nostalgia.