GM will stick with Sunfire for Pontiac, but Canada will get small-car replacement
By DAVE GUILFORD | Automotive News (08:30 July 01, 2003)
The 2003 Pontiac Sunfire. Pontiac officials say they will continue to sell the vehicle for several years.
DETROIT --
Pontiac has no plans to replace the Sunfire small car in the United States, even though Chevrolet is replacing its sister vehicle, the Cavalier, next year.
General Motors' Lordstown, Ohio, plant will assemble the Sunfire for several years alongside Chevrolet's new car, the Cobalt, according to Lori Queen, GM vehicle line executive for small cars.
That means Pontiac will woo small-car buyers with the aging Sunfire, introduced in 1994, and the Vibe hatchback.
Although U.S. dealers will keep the Sunfire, GM will replace the vehicle in Canada with a new nameplate, the Pursuit, next year. Both the Pursuit and the Cobalt will be built on GM's new Delta small-car architecture. Like the Cobalt and Sunfire, it will be assembled in Lordstown.
Meanwhile, Pontiac is not ruling out replacing the Sunfire with another small car.
"Pontiac has to decide from a portfolio standpoint where they want to go, what's the right number, what's the right vehicle, for their entry-level strategy," Queen says.
U.S. sales of the Pontiac Vibe are a key factor, she adds. Pontiac is pleased with Vibe sales - 28,521 this year through May, compared with 15,154 Sunfires.
"If the Vibe takes off and it's really hot, you have to question how many small cars they can sustain," Queen says.
Lynn Myers, Pontiac-GMC marketing general manager, says the division has different entry-level strategies in the United States and Canada because of differences in the two markets.
'The Vibe plays a much bigger role for us in the States," Myers says. "We'll sell over 60,000 Vibes in the U.S. this year."
Myers says Pontiac is weighing options for a low-priced entry but is unlikely to follow Chevrolet by using a Korean-made car priced below the Cobalt.
Chevrolet's small-car strategy is to use the Aveo, built by GM-Daewoo Auto & Technology Co. in Korea, to battle Hyundai and Kia models, while moving the Cobalt to the upper small-car range. The Aveo, due in showrooms early next year, is expected to have a base price near $10,000, while the Cobalt would sell in the mid- to upper teens.
But Myers says Pontiac's entry-level car wouldn't be priced as low as the Aveo."That really is a Chevrolet play," Myers says. "That's not in our sight line."
Pontiac will continue to sell the Sunfire for several years, she says. The Sunfire was freshened for 2004, getting a sportier suspension, restyled front and rear ends, and an upgrade to a 140-hp, 2.2-liter four-cylinder engine as standard equipment.
Building the Cobalt, Pursuit and Sunfire in the same plant poses challenges, Queen says. Although all can use the same paint shop, they require separate body shop and final assembly lines.
But Lordstown needs the volume of all three vehicles to run economically, she adds.
Jim Hall, vice president for industry analysis at AutoPacific in Southfield, Mich., says Pontiac can continue with the existing Sunfire for a few years. But the age of the car, which was introduced in 1994, will become increasingly apparent, he says.
Hall says the Vibe probably isn't suited to be Pontiac's entry-level vehicle. Its base price of $17,045 is high, he says, and GM buys it from its NUMMI partnership with Toyota.
"The Vibe is lower-profit than a car GM builds itself," Hall says.
John Wiesner, co-chairman of the Pontiac-GMC national dealer council, says he expects Pontiac to develop a new small car, but the Vibe and Sunfire can cover that segment in the interim.
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quoique une autre raison serait-ce que cette option arrivera en millieu d'année ou l'an prochain
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