2006 Pontiac G6 Review
A media lightning rod gets its day with us.
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Pontiac has dished out its share of cataclysmic subjects over the years. A sports car whose mid-mounted engine caught fire (Fiero), a mutated minivan that forever scarred the legend of an indigenous Mesoamerican tribe (Aztek), and the awesome instant classic roadster landing in showrooms right now (Solstice) are some of the more recent examples.
Sometimes the ones you least suspect cause the most trouble. Just last year General Motors took the Chevrolet Malibu and dressed it up in a Pontiac suit we've seen many times before, giving it the anonymous new name of G6 (replacing Grand Am). Business as usual - right up until they spent $8 million to give away 276 on them on the Oprah Winfrey Show, which got everyone talking. None of this impressed Pulitzer prize winner Dan Neil of the L.A. Times, whose view of the G6 was best conveyed through his suggestion that the man responsible for its design get "sweeped from GM's dugout" like so much dirt. GM's reward for such honesty was to sever a $10 billion advertising deal with the Times, drawing a firestorm of national debate about corporate bullying and freedom of the press. Finally, there was the headline of the G6 missing sales targets despite an average discount of twenty percent given to people who would take them off Pontiac lots, making it seem like the most desperate dud in a very large stable.
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