We lost some pretty cool car models back then GM closed Pontiac in 2009. The Holden Commodore based G8 sedan was perhaps the coolest, thanks to its rear-wheel drive platform and available V8 power. While we did get a follow-up with the Chevrolet SSwhich continued with the Commodore base, at least until Holden was closed too, it seems Pontiac had bigger ideas for the big sedan. GM Design has once again shed light on something never seen before concept car from the automaker’s archives. It is a Pontiac G8 concept from almost the last days of the brand.
The Instagram post mentions that the show car was finished in 2008, the same year, production of the G8 was launched. We only see a partial view of it in the post, as well as some renderings, but it’s clear that Pontiac had some big ideas for the future car. The concept car has bold, vertical headlights and enormous kidney grilles. The sides have a pronounced coke bottle shape with the pinched part at the doors and the rising lines over the fenders. The fastback’s roofline hides a hatchback instead of a trunk, and the rear almost seems inspired by that Solstice And Saturn sky models.
The interior reveals a dashboard that looks surprisingly similar to that of the C8 Corvette. It has a similar driver-focused layout, with a prominent barrier shielding the key controls from the passenger. Only four seats are available, with a full-length center console dividing each side. It’s definitely more reminiscent of a luxury grand tourer than a family sedan.
It’s interesting to see how big this concept was compared to the actual G8 and the SS, both of which were pretty much Holden Commodores with different badging. This show car looks like a more complete idea. It seems that in a world where the financial crisis didn’t hit so hard and GM didn’t go bankrupt, we might have seen the G8 evolve into something all its own. Or at least, to the extent that a company dependent on shared architecture could allow it. Bob Lutz even suggested that the modest front-wheel drive G6 would get a future generation on the ATS platformso a more developed G8 seems pretty reasonable.
While none of that happened, it’s certainly interesting to see and wonder what could have happened.