GM Canada is Keeping Tight Lips on What, If Any Niche Cars Come North of the 49th
SANTA BARBARA: General Motors introduced its first niche vehicle from a global product -- the Pontiac GTO -- here recently and let it be known there would be more to follow.
But how many of the niche vehicles from such GM subsidiaries and partners as Opel, Holden and Fiat-Alfa make it to Canada is an open question.
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| There are still no plans to import the Pontiac GTO from the Holden operation in Australia to Canada. (Photo: General Motors) |
In the first place, there are still no plans to import the GTO from the Holden operation in Australia to Canada, and the things that make them unsuitable for our country (bumper crash standards and so on) could still apply with the other vehicles GM plans to bring from Down Under.
In the second place, the Oshawa-based firm plans to keep adjusting its lineup of vehicles to better suit Canadian tastes. That means more variations of models we buy (small cars and others) in great volumes and fewer variations of models we don't buy many of (such as luxury-niche vehicles).
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| Canadian consumers will get more of the less-expensive Korean-built vehicles, like a Pontiac Pursuit version of the Chevrolet Cobalt compact car. (Photo: General Motors) |
On the plus side, that means Canadian consumers will get more of the less-expensive Korean-built vehicles, a Pontiac Pursuit version of the Chevrolet Cobalt compact car, and a few other models that haven't been announced yet. This time next year, it's safe to say, there should be about half-dozen models sold in Canada that aren't available in the U.S. Stay tuned for details on that.
On the minus side, it seems increasingly unlikely that we'll get all of the niche vehicles that the GM executives were so excited about at the GTO launch.
This would indeed be unfortunate for Canadian consumers, since the fabulous production version of the GTO shows that GM clearly knows how to do this niche thing.