Pontiac/GMC Has More Models Ready For 2003

Chicago Tribune

June 10, 2002

By Jim Mateja

Lynn Myers, general manager of Pontiac/GMC, is all smiles. Pontiac car sales are up 5 percent this year and GMC truck and sport-ute sales are up 11 percent.

And lots of good things are to come, such as freshening of the Grand Am this fall (and an all-new version for '04), a redesign of the compact Sunfire coupe (sedan dropped for '03 now that the Vibe sedan has arrived), an all-new Grand Prix that arrives next February and a high-performance rear-wheel-drive GTO coming toward the end of '03 as an '04 model.

Also coming along about the middle of next year is the GMC XUV, an Envoy-based sport-ute with a rear end that converts to a pickup truck when the roof is retracted to open up the cargo hold, an SUV/truck blend that Myers calls "dynamite."

Myers also refused to comment on reports that Pontiac will be the designated division to market an all-wheel-drive sports car developed in cooperation with Subaru, a GM rendition of the high-performance Subaru WRX.

Middlebrook, however, was a tad more open.

"It's one path we're exploring," he said of the vehicle brought in to take the place of a joint venture GM/Subaru sport-ute that's been shelved.