From todays carconnection.com

GTO Going, Going, but Not Gone

General Motors has no intention of abandoning its reborn GTO badge, despite a slow start-up for the Australian-made muscle car. The GTO "is a permanent addition to thePontiac stable," GM's Bob Lutz, stressed during an interview with TheCarConnection.com. "Maybe in retrospect, we should have done a more retro (looking) car," the GM vice chairman added, but he forcefully emphasized that "the car is not a flop." If anything, Pontiac officials insist that the "Goat" is gaining momentum, especially in the critical California market. While dealers in import-oriented Los Angeles account for only 1.4 percent of total Pontiac sales nationwide, they generated 4.6 percent of the overall GTO volume through mid-July, according to company data. While Lutz declined to discuss future product plans, industry sources report that the next generation of Pontiac's muscle car will be much more aggressively styled than the current, jellybean-shaped two-door. GM has good reason to hang onto the GTO. Since it's adding incremental volume to a product already on sale in Australia, "It's making a lot of money," despite a slow start in the U.S., said Lutz. -Paul A. Eisenstein