Just when Toyota opened its doors to a new partner in Aston Martin, it closed another door on a 25-year partnership with General Motors.
With news circulating that the Japanese auto giant and Aston Martin have forged a partnership together to produce Toyota’s iQ car in the UK under the Aston Martin brand, it came as a surprise to a lot of people when General Motors announced that it would discontinue its relationship and forego its ownership stake in the New United Motor Manufacturing Inc. (NUMMI) partnership the Detroit-based automaker created with Toyota 25 years ago.
GM’s announcement came on the heels of its decision to completely drop the Pontiac brand from its roster of cars – a decision that has virtually made the Nummi plant in Fremont California, where the Pontiac Vibe was being produced, meaningless to GM.
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The whirlwind of activity surrounding General Motors these days appears to be far from over. The latest piece of news we’ve heard is that GM is discontinuing the Pontiac Vibe, two weeks after it said that it had plans of continuing the car through next year.
It wasn’t that long ago when GM said that of all the Pontiac cars earmarked for 2010 releases, only the Vibe and the G6 would be rolled out with the G6 specifically earmarked only to fleet customers.
Now, it appears that the Vibe won’t even make to September as GM has just confirmed that production of the Vibe will finish this August, with poor sales – down 35% through May – being largely attributed as the culprit regarding the Vibe’s untimely demise.
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Pontiac today confirmed pricing for the 2009 Vibe will start at $15,895 when it arrives in dealer showrooms in February 2008. Also returning to the Vibe family for the 2009 model year, an all-wheel drive model will start at $19,495 and the performance-oriented GT model will start at $19,895. All prices include a $585 destination and freight charge.
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General Motors today unveiled its redesigned 2009 Pontiac Vibe. The five-seat, crossover SUV features revised exterior and interior designs and enhanced safety features, including a tire pressure monitoring system, OnStar and an electronic vehicle stability control system.
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Pontiac will reveal the next generation of the Vibe compact crossover vehicle via a live webcast of the Vibe Slam! event in Detroit on November 6. The all-new 2009 Vibe will offer three unique flavors: the functionally-designed base model, the all-season versatility of the Vibe All-Wheel Drive, and performance inspired Vibe GT.
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