Every so often in the annals of automotive history, you come across a pinch-me moment of “whoa, they sold that here?” From the insane Mercedes-Benz R63 AMG minivan to the petitioned manual V10 BMW M5, sometimes the car world serves up an unexpectedly excellent dish from abroad. It doesn’t happen often with American brands, but it happened with the Pontiac G8.
It wasn’t the first time GM tried selling a Holden in America, but after the somewhat tepid sales of the 2004 to 2006 Pontiac GTO, it’s somewhat amazing that General Motors tried again. More importantly, this was technically the last all-new rear-wheel-drive Pontiac ever. How’s that for a title?
Unfortunately, the Pontiac G8 was also the victim of some of the worst automotive timing ever. It launched just in time for a world-altering event, was only sold for two years, and as a result, has a somewhat complicated legacy thanks to a future that never happened. So, what happens if we go back in time?
From Australia, With Love
Flash back to the mid-2000s, and while Detroit was moving in all sorts of directions, Chrysler was the big image maker when it came to passenger cars. Words almost can’t describe how big a deal the 2005 Chrysler 300, the 2005 Dodge Magnum, and the 2006 Dodge Charger were. After decades of front-wheel-drive vegetables, here was an American automaker serving up rear-wheel-drive steak with V8 rub to the masses. It was a move that caught everyone else flat-footed, especially as sales exploded. In 2006—the first full year of the three LX cars—Chrysler sold 297,943 of the things in America alone. More importantly, the cars were cultural phenomena. They were hot, driven by celebrities and dads alike, and nothing else out of Detroit could touch them.
Unsurprisingly, GM wasn’t about to be caught lacking forever. The corporation’s Australian division had been building the Holden Commodore, a rear-wheel-drive sedan with V8 power, for ages. Once the VE model dropped, it was time to bring it to America, both as a successor for the Monaro-based Pontiac GTO and as a Charger competitor. Of course, it also helped to have a huge performance car proponent in the C-Suite, thanks to Bob Lutz’s position as Chairman of GM. While rumblings of a Zeta-based U.S.-market GM sedan had been going on for a while, details were shrouded in reasonable secrecy until January 2007, when Maximum Bob let the cat out of the bag to the Sydney Morning Herald.
“We are seriously planning to import a lot of Commodore SS sedans as Pontiac G8s,” Mr Lutz said, adding that Holden could export up to 50,000 Commodores a year if the model was priced correctly.
Ah. Turns out that wasn’t public information at the time, as the G8 wasn’t supposed to debut until the 2007 Chicago Auto Show. Still, two months later, the G8 was one of the show’s big hits. Here was a large, reasonably priced rear-wheel-drive sedan with either a 3.6-liter V6 or a 361-horsepower six-liter V8, a true blue-collar performance sedan for the GM fan. Sure, the production car would lose the show car’s wheels and certain other accoutrements, but the next year, this love letter from Australia would arrive on North American shores essentially as-promised.
Alright, so the only transmissions available at launch were automatics, but everything else checked out brilliantly. With a starting price of $27,595 for the V6 model, you got a far more sophisticated interior than Chrysler’s LX cars had, and plenty of toys. Power front seats, a Blaupunkt seven-speaker sound system, a remote starter, the sort of stuff that would normally be optional equipment at the time. Want V8 punch? The $32,745 G8 GT didn’t just add a thumping six-liter, it gained a limited-slip differential, dual-zone climate control, an 11-speaker sound system, and six forward ratios to the V6 model’s five. That’s within shooting distance of the Charger for a car that could sprint from zero-to-60 mph in a shade over five seconds, incinerate its rear tires on command, and feel more sophisticated than its rival from Auburn Hills. When Car And Driver pitted a G8 GT against a Charger R/T, the Pontiac won thanks to it being sensational to drive.
Once inside, with the 6.0-liter V-8 strutting its stuff, the G8 seduces the pilot with its grunt, its poise, its eager responses, and the confidence it inspires in decreasing-radius turns with blind entries, or hold-your-breath sweepers, or 100-to-0-mph stops. Like the Charger, the G8’s defining dynamic trait is mild understeer, right up to the limits of adhesion. But the G8’s limits are higher, the steering is more tactile—as well as nicely weighted—and the certainty that goes with high-speed driving on mountain roads is sensational. BMW might do it better, but not by much. And not for this kind of money.
Indeed, what Pontiac had by borrowing Holden’s work wasn’t so much a family muscle sedan, but instead something more like a cut-price 550i. A slice of performance family sedan excellence offering a taste of the sweet life without much of a penalty. The only way to top that would be to offer something like a cut-priced M5. Oh, wait.
Want to know how to elicit maniacal laughter? Take the same excellent bones underneath the G8 GT, throw away the six-liter L76 V8 and 6L80-E automatic transmission, and install a 415-horsepower 6.2-liter LS3 V8 and a Tremec TR-6060 six-speed manual transmission. From there, tune the suspension on the Nürburgring, slap on some big ol’ Brembos, and deliver a $40,060 king hit to German sports sedan royalty. The result was the sensational G8 GXP. We’re talking zero-to-60 mph in around 4.7 seconds, the quarter-mile in the low 13s, and the footwork of a boxer. As Car And Driver wrote:
The steering is lighter and less communicative than the best racks from, say, BMW, but it still manages to instill confidence in hard corners. Placing the nose is easy and reassuring as the compliant suspension soaks up bumps and pitching pavement without disturbing the body, which is well disciplined by the shocks to remain steady. Grip from the conservatively sized tires is unexpectedly good, no squealing or understeer to report; we recorded 0.85 g on the skidpad. Lurid slides of oversteer are only summoned with a heavy right foot, and then easily controlled.
We’re looking at the most powerful stock Pontiac production car ever made, but one with a tragic ending. Only 1,829 of these four-wheeled highlights were made before the G8 GXP, and indeed the entire G8 name, came crashing to a halt.
Timing Is Everything
Remember how the Pontiac G8 launched in 2008? Well, something else happened in 2008, and it led to lots of people having no money. That’s right, GM rolled this South Australian bruiser out just in time for the Great Recession, the firm’s own bankruptcy, and $4-a-gallon gas prices. Oof. As a result, not only did sales fall short of expectations with 15,002 sold in 2008 and 23,157 sold in 2009, but we also lost the entire Pontiac brand and several interesting G8 variants with it.
The one that everyone remembers was the G8 ST, the second coming of the El Camino. It was a Holden Ute SS-V in Pontiac garb, which meant it was mechanically identical to the rubber-burning G8 yet sported a practical bed out back. Unveiled at the 2008 New York Auto Show, it immediately whipped the internet up into a frenzy before being canned just a few months before release. The cancellation of this alone feels like one of GM’s biggest misses, partially because it could’ve resulted in the hilarious spread of bogan culture across the Pacific. The other variant to have been canned was a G8 wagon. Yep, Holden made a Commodore Sportswagon, so why not also badge it as a Pontiac? Well, weak demand for the Dodge Magnum likely played a factor, but at least America eventually ended up with a V8 GM wagon thanks to the unhinged, beguiling Cadillac CTS-V wagon. You know, family car perfection.
By the end of 2009, the writing was on the wall. Pontiac had to go as part of GM’s restructuring plan, and the G8 bowed out after just two model years. While GM tried a U.S.-market Commodore again with the Chevrolet SS years later, it never saw the marketing push of the G8 and thus never achieved the same sales figures.
What Even Is A Hit?
If you’ve been reading this series for a while, you’ll know this is the point in the article where we made a judgment call: Hit or miss? The problem is, how do you quantify a hit? If we just look at sales, the G8 didn’t do spectacularly well, but it did outsell Pontiac’s previous flagship, the Bonneville. At the same time, everything was stacked against this car. The economy, gas prices at the time of its launch, the longevity of its own brand, the lot. While the G8 might not have met its initial sales targets or seen enough volume to warrant production in Oshawa, it outsold its closest spiritual successor, and it was an awesome car.
So yeah, I’d call the Pontiac G8 a hit for those reasons, plus as the final new Pontiac to launch, it really ended things on a high note. Maybe if it had a future, Holden would’ve had a future, but maybe it was just too good for us.
Top graphic image: Pontiac
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The weekend before GM killed Pontiac I was car shopping with a friend. We went to test drive a G8 GT and expected the normal dealer experience of telling a couple of young men they could ride along with a salesperson who would show us the car. Nope dude handed me the keys and told us to “try it out.”
We drove like grandparents until we were just barely out of eyesight then did smokey burnouts for 15-20 minutes before bringing the car back and thanking the salesperson.
As we got back in my car and drove away, we knew Pontiac was not going to be around much longer. That would have made us sad, but we were still high on burnt rubber and speed so we moved on to test drive a GTI that was massively disappointing after a big V8 sedan.
I really wanted one of those Utes was disappointed when they made a decision to drop bringing it over. I have a neighbor who bought a G8 last year and had it shipped cross country. Updated it with larger brakes from a CTS-V. Another neighbor showed up recently with one of the SS’s.
As an Aussie myself I’m a big fan of muscle sedans, which were always more popular in Australia than the US, so I sure wouldn’t mind owning one of these. I got to drive both a buddy’s Chevy SS here in the US and my cousin’s Commodore SS in Australia and both very great driving cars.
American gearheads: Give me a big sedan with a V8 and a manual transmission
GM: Okay, here you go
American gearheads who just lost their job, house, and 401K: Uh, on second thought, scratch that
I bought my G8 GXP with LS3 that needed premium 91+ octane right before I was laid off because I was traveling for work 99% of the time and had always had company rentals.
GM had fire sale at the time (labor dayish?). 0% financing for 60 months, no down payment and I bought my for $1000 below MSRP
The G8 and GTO. Underrated cars for sure.
Let me roll my sleeves up on this one: I wanted to love the G8. It had a very cool look, very solid engine, 4 door sedan. But the interior was abysmal. I owned a 2004 GTO, several years older, but a big step up for the interior while retaining the performance and had 6 spd manual options (the G8 GXP 6 spd manual truly is a Unicorn to find).
Now the G8 was a better base as it was a newer version of the commodore chassis. This is why I was seriously hunting for a non-beat example a couple of years ago, since the aftermarket is great for these. The chassis is the same as the 5th gen Camaro, which, while not known for its handling chops, could actually be a solid performer, way above the mustang or charger of the same day. Meaning you can swap the whole suspension from a camaro and open yourself up to all the great options for springs, struts etc. You could bolt on CTS-V brakes for a nice upgrade. you could bolt up the Camara ZL1 rear diff/axles for some serious durability. The auto trans in these was also solid, but yea they are still a torque converter auto…. They seem like great all around daily drivers that can be made into beasts on a track, but no, the interior is actively worse than if it was gutted and caged for track only purposes.
This is why, the ultimate U.S. form of the commodore is still the Chevy SS. all the qualities of performance, 4 door usability, and a nice place to be in. Alas, they are also quite expensive. But they come with a lot of performance upgrades that the 5th gen camaro had, so they do start at a good place, but they are heavy.
Also, the G8 really is the second coming of the charger, as in, the same people who drive very annoyingly in chargers also drive these.
For all these reasons, I went back to the 2 car solution, a c6 corvette and a cruze hatchback. The pull of the v8, RWD, sedan was great, but not great enough.
The interiors were the Achilles heels of so many otherwise excellent domestics of this era. I honestly think it’s what held G8s back from being successful, particularly. Car dorks might be willing to put up with a subpar interior if it means a decent engine or suspension, but the average buyer, who actually drives sales, is not.
Agreed, the late 90s and early 2000’s were peak GM crap interiors with a few okay ones (the GTO was oddly okay). GM still has a problem with making great interiors, but they finally got up to par in the last decade. I say this as someone who has owned far too many GM cars. As others mentioned, the Caprice PPV was basically a bigger G8, and the interior in that was bad, but could be explained away as a police car. The G8 had no such excuse.
As the owner of a 1994 GM product this tracks.
I owned a G8 GT, same red as the one up top (one of the “first 888” so I got a badge on the glovebox) and it was fun. Handled well, and was pretty fast for its size. But the interior was crap. Plastic everywhere, and it didn’t all want to stay where it belonged. Also, the manumatic was terrible. I would move the lever to up or down shift, and it was like I made a request that had to be approved somewhere, and then acted upon.
I eventually traded it in for a Chevy SS. Much better interior, and I was able to get a stick. If the G8 had come that way to start with it would have been a much better car.
Nobody designs car for people that buy them used.
Shop new cars if you want to complain about it
Very true and its why my complaining is the same as yelling at the clouds. But in this case, GM didnt seem to design it for people to really buy new either, and that is coming from some one that likes these cars (well most aspects of them)
I feel like every time I see a nostalgic article on either the GTO or the G8 the writer is very deep in their cups and has rose colored glasses on. I appreciate an owner of one chiming in. As for me, I was very interested in the GTO until I saw one in person. Not my cup of tea. Ironically, same feeling when the Camaro came back out. I wanted to like the G8, but brand new sitting on a dealer lot, they were way more than a Charger in terms of out the door price. The LX cars also felt more comfortable, with better seats (package dependent). To this day, I have never seen a 6-speed G8. Dealers refused to order one unless it was paid in full prior to the order. I honestly wrote GM off completely after this. I have not owned another GM product.
Most of the best cars made aren’t sold in the U.S. because U.S. consumers are too easy to milk for big money by selling lesser versions. The U.S. is so truck-centric that everything has morphed into the same basic form of SUV/CUV designed to appeal to the center of the bell-curve. Very few specialized and interesting options are worth selling here. The U.S. is a very large, homogenized market where the car-centric and sprawling development means people just want a safe, quiet box that moves them from A to B, that also acts as a billboard that expresses their social status.
The SUV bleed isn’t unique to the US, nor is chasing a badge to indicate status (arguably, the UK might be the lead in the latter).
As I travel through a nice neighbourhood to watch see a steady stream of Audi Q5s & Q3s, it’s hard to ignore which brands have taken advantage of this.
We unfortunately exported that medium of vehicle, as global manufacturing shares many components, and for the manufacturers, it’s cheaper to produce common products. In a sense, business practices conspired to give us those wretched vehicles.
For sure, it is no longer unique. However, it is more ubiquitous here for the reasons I mentioned. The badge prioritization is proportional mainly to disposable income, and the manufacturers know that there has been more of that to be had in the U.S. than elsewhere, so lean into it in that market.
I’ve thought about these, and have a buddy with a previous gen one from ’06. His issue is the parts are near unobtainium and expensive.
But, I just had this thought … We have lots of Aussie friends on the Autopian Discord.
Hmmmmm
A friend had a G8 GT that he bought lightly used in 2009. The thing was epic, especially when he put heads, cam, and longtube headers on it. The Chevy SS he replaced the G8 with was a lot more refined and nice inside, but I think the G8 looked better.
I owned a G8 GXP, and it will always be one of the best cars I’ve ever owned. It was absolutely phenomenal for the 4 or so years I had it. My only regret is not being able to keep it. I even liked the 6L80 transmission, once I tuned it to my liking I did not miss the third pedal. One day I’ll have another Holden, hopefully maybe an imported one after enough time has passed.
This would have been far superior as a Buick Roadmaster Estate.
I never liked the G8. I thought it was dowdy looking, and looking like it was styled as a product of the early ’00s.
I recall these being pretty damn nice looking cars, Slightly pricy for sure, but they were not economy cars. For me it was simply my location and access to winter beaters at the time. I needed an all year car that was newer. I almost ended up with a V8 front wheel drive GXP actually, though I suppose thankfully someone bought it out from under me. I went completely a different direction and got a nearly new Passat 5 cylinder SE for like 14K. It was slow and boring, but did the job faithfully. it was silver though and seemed to be invisible to other drivers. it was taken out after three rear end strikes by an impatient Karen in a Corrola that decided to just go for it and turn right even though she could not see around the truck in the lane next to her.
As the owner of a slightly longer, much more base model G8 in my Caprice PPV, I think these cars are great. Materials aren’t the nicest, some things seem a little unrefined, but who cares? V8 makes the right noises and RWD is fun.
The LA Auto Show featured a G8 in an LAPD livery which I consider the precursor to my Caprice PPV. Given that there was no 2010 model G8, and 2011 was the first model year of Caprice PPV, America only lacked a Zeta for one year. Now if you weren’t law enforcement you had to wait until 2014 for the Chevy SS, but still.
Also, isn’t the last new model Pontiac the little G3?
I fear you are correct on the G3. I was thinking maybe we could count the Solstice coupe as a separate model or even the 2nd gen Vibe, but I think the G3 was announced after either of those, pretty late in ’08.
The G8 was on the top of my wishlist for a long time. I didn’t have the money when they were new and by the time I did they were almost impossible to find at a typical used price or they were modified and abused. If they would have figured out a way to keep them around until the economy improved, they would have sold I believe.
The GTO was almost more of a stopgap until the Zeta platform arrived, which was designed for global sales to begin with (as they had toyed with during the 90s like in the Buick XP2000 concept car, but didn’t come to fruition). Zeta/Commodore derivatives had been rumored to underpin large cars in North America across most brands, but with GM’s financial state things those kept getting delayed/canceled. The G8 was too late for the brand and the platform.
The only figures I can find for Bonneville sales in the 2000s were the final closeout year but I’d be surprised if most years of the final gen didn’t clear the G8’s 38k total sold. However the G8 wasn’t just replacing the Bonneville – it replaced the Grand Prix too.
They should have killed Buick and kept Pontiac
The kept Buick because it was a sales leader in China.
They could have kept it there.
agreed, buick could have been rebadged Pontiacs and they wouldn’t have cared at all.
These had some weirdness to them still that was ironed out a little better in the SS, but they were pretty much unbeatable for the money at the time.
A full size V8 sedan for $30K. Hard to imagine now.
Yeah that just straight up doesn’t compute in a world where a six figure AMG GT has a boosted 4 cylinder
Now V8 mustangs are $300,000
Other than that this was available with stick, we effectively got decades of this with the Hemi Charger and 300.
Perhaps the memory is a bit foggy, but weren’t the Aussie models (GTO/G8/Caprice) sort of a ‘compliance car’? In the sense that GM had to export a certain number of them to qualify Holden for government support for their Australian operations?
They were good cars and press darlings, but I’m pretty sure the General wanted North American customers to buy an Impala or CTS/STS instead. The lack of promotion outside enthusiast magazines and pricing seem to reflect this.
All of this was definitely true of the SS, but I don’t ever remember hearing it about the G8 or GTO.
Essentially yeah, Australian manufacturing for GM could not be viable without exports – our local market is too small. They were banking big on the G8, and later the SS, being a hit, which of course did not eventuate.
Toyota in Australia hung on for a long time because they were able to export plenty of Camrys to places like the Middle East. Unfortunately they couldn’t continue after the loss of GM and Ford manufacturing in Australia, because our local automotive component industry couldn’t survive on only one automaker. The dominos fell one after the other.
So there’s no mass consumer automotive manufacturing in Australia anymore? This exact issue was just a thought the other day, as I was noting to myself various manufacturers started to eliminate brands 15 or so years ago. Like Great Britain ($$ or specialty cars aside), Australia has no car manufacturing. The same thing happened in the US. I’m sure we’ll see some brands in the EU disappearing soon. Too early to say or predict what it all means.
Nope, that industry is finished in Australia.
Yeah, unfortunately it all stopped by the end of 2017. The history is fascinating though. For decades there was a rivalry but I like how it was mostly a friendly rivalry. There’s a documentary on it which is VERY well made & exciting (not boring) I’ve already watched it twice for free on Delta flights. Ford vs Holden
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt17074824/
Pontiac deserved so much better….
Look, I get why Pontiac was sacrificed instead of Chevy. I understand the reasons.
But those reasons are trash, and Chevy as a brand mostly sucks, and Pontiac would have been way cooler to keep around. Even in a age of crossovers, I believe the Pontiac versions would have been more likely to have some sort of presence, versus Chevy’s focused grouped to death lineup.
I’d have been cool if the Silverado and Corvette became their own brands. Even though I typically hate that strategy.
I don’t get why they kept Buick as a US brand – you often hear “They’re big in China” – cool, keep them in China then.
As a going concern – in 2025 – yeah, Buick has a place – I just don’t know that they made that much sense in place of Pontiac.
I think GM had to keep Buick alive in the US because much of the marketing behind selling them in China, was the idea that the Buick was considered a nice car for Americans. Get rid of the brand in the US, and that illusion is dead.
I’ve heard folks (e.g. Tavarish) state that they were able to import the VE-era ute to America – legally – on the basis of it being “substantially similar” to the unreleased G8 Sport Truck. Actual detail on this has been scant; which isn’t to say that I think it’s impossible, nor am I intending to impugn their claims – I just haven’t seen any proof other than “well here’s the ute, it hasn’t been crushed, has it?”
If memory serves, the “substantially similar” clause requires the car to have actually been sold (which the ST wasn’t), or a letter/statement from the manufacturer indicating that the intended import is “substantially similar” – which I highly doubt GM would provide without some kind of profit motive.
Can anyone here speak on either side of the legality of importing a “substantially similar” ute to the unreleased G8 ST with authority?
The steering wheel is on the wrong side for it to be “Substantially similar.” The many VEs in America are not here the same way a 25 year old imported car is.
Right. That’s why I am asking for information from someone who has made the claim, or who can speak on its validity with authority. We can observe that the steering wheel is placed differently to the G8 ST as shown at its reveal but you and I haven’t made the claim to customs – and to make the claim, the vehicle needs to be in “substantially similar” state before it’s imported. If you have to make conversions, then you’re going the route of federalization which is probably prohibitively expensive for most folks.
Worth mentioning though: there is no law or standard requiring that the steering wheel be on the left side of the car – it’s not in the FMVSS.
https://www.lefthandutes.com/about.html
Very aware of the Colorado folks but that’s a full compliance build, not going through the “substantially similar” method. Left Hand Utes conversion is tens of thousands of dollars, if “substantially similar” was a valid strategy you’d pretty much have to do nothing.
eta: the page also has some misinformation in this segment:
“You can’t have a imported RHD that is 25 years young and keep RHD, the drive train has to be USA spec and so does the gas tank and head lights.”
every part of that is wrong lol – once you hit 25 years, you can keep RHD (ask any Kei or R32/33 etc owner), the drivetrain doesn’t need to be “USA spec”, nor the gas tank, nor the headlights. Before 25 years, yes, but after that point you need only comply with state laws.
In order to qualify as a “hit”, a car needs to be a good car at the right time.
The Fiero, for example, was a bad car at the right time. Not a hit.
This G8 was a good car at the wrong time. Not a hit.
I always liked the G8’s they were nice looking and so awesome you could get the V8 in them. Sad that is was the end for Pontiac but as you stated at least they went out with a decent vehicle like the G8. Sad the same end would happen to Holden the Commodores were such cool cars especially the UTE’s would love to own one at some point if they can ever be legally imported.
At the end, GM was selling off inventory via dealer only Manheim sales at 50% msrp, these G8s and the then new Saab 9-5. I still kick myself for not getting some as, of course, values bounced upwards to normal levels with demand for the V8. Young and not wise enough back then.
My great automotive regret is that I did not have the scratch to buy a G8 GT (let alone a GXP) when GM was fire saleing them.
It was $0 down, 0% for 60 months
0 scratch was needed
I couldn’t afford the monthly payments at the time! My salary was something like $37K/year, I paid $800/m on rent and I was also 25 years old and nobody would’ve given me those loan terms despite having “decent” credit for a 25 year old. Even at zero down (I would’ve traded in my dying Trans Am) I would’ve been paying something like $400-450/month and that was not happening. Especially in the depths of the financial crisis. Toss insurance and premium gas on top…