Pontiac

Pontiac was a division of General Motors (GM). It had a long and sometimes illustrious history. Its image for building performance vehicles began in the late 1950s, and was solidified with the introduction of the Pontiac Tempest LeMans GTO, which developed into the Pontiac GTO, which is often thought to have begun the craze for muscle cars.^[1]

History[edit]

Edward Murphy founded his buggy manufactuing business, The Pontiac Buggy Company, in 1883 in Pontiac, Michigan. He moved into automobile manufacturing in 1907 with the Oakland Motor Car Company. GM purchased the company, and introduced a 5-passanger vehicle in 1926 at the New York Auto Show. The car originally sold for $825.^[2]

Closure[edit]

Although Pontiac was the third best-selling brand for GM, the company announced on April 27, 2009 that the Pontiac brand would be closed due to profitability issues. The United States government, after the 2008 TARP bailout, gave GM until the end of May 2009 to restructure. GM chose to concentrate on four brands: Chevrolet, Buick, GMC and Cadillac.^[1]

References[edit]

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1} What killed Pontiac Valdes-Dapena, Peter, CNNMoney.com, April 27, 2009, retrieved August 20, 2011
2. ↑ A Brief History of Pontiac TimePhotos at time.com, retrieved on August 20, 2011.