Wheels UAE – July 26, 2019

he Aztek wasthelaughingstock
oftheautoindustryin 2001 but
Pontiacredeemeditselfwiththe
beautifullycraftedSolsticeconceptwhichlit
upthe 2002 NorthAmericanInternational
AutoShowinDetroittobecomeanovernight
sensation.Itwas green-litforproduction
andit hitdealershipsfouryearslaterwith
over 7, 000orderstakeninthefi rst 10days
ofavailability. Ifthatwasn’t enough,it could
behadasa targa-toptorivalitsEuropean
counterparts—but,thatshouldhavebeen
enough...JustasPontiacwas regainingits
pride, thesniggeringstartedupagainbecause
ofthatremovableroof.
Muchoftheconcept’s stylingremained
intactontheproductioncar;thebigfi ve-
spoke alloys, fl uidcharacterlinesandthe
retro frontendwentdownverywell with
buyersandthelittletwo-doorevenbrought
backsomeofthatold‘Pontiacexcitement’
thankstoa blown2.0-litre four-cylinder
witha healthy 260bhp. Itwas nominatedfor
the 2006 NorthAmericanCaroftheYear
award.Thingscouldn’t begoingbetter—but
h f l d
h b k ll h

pontiac

solstice

celebratingthegreatest cock-ups

inautomotivehistory

t

words:imranmalik

makingwithGeneralMotorspullingthe

plugonthebrandin 2009. Thetarga-top

Solsticeplayed a partinthelegendary

brand’s demise...

Thoughit was a greatlooker, it was a

half-bakedidea;theremovableroofwas

clearlyanafterthoughtasonceyou’d taken

it off, there was noplacetostore it inthe

car!Yourchoicesweren’t good;you could

eitherleavetheroofonortake it off and

leaveit athomehopingit wouldn’t rain.

Unsurprisingly, notmany Solsticeswith

h fl fd l h d b d

? #ntfho c oo o o ge

the economic recession of 2008 slammed
the brakes on all the progress Pontiac was

the targa roof left dealerships and in a bid

got a motoring-related whinge? use #ntfh on facebook and twitter and we’ll publish the best on our letters page

“perhapsjust another

generationof refi nement

couldhave seenthesolstice

becomea real player in the

roadster segmenthadpontiac

notbeencut.”

tosalvagethesorrysituation,Pontiacoffered

a fold-upsoft-topthatcouldbestowed inthe

boot.Thiswas a goodsolution—however

there was tobeanotherkickintheteethas

thiswas anoptiononlyandyou hadtopay

thousandsofDollarsextra forit andnotmany

bothered.

Perhapsjust anothergenerationof

refi nementcouldhaveseentheSolstice

becomea realplayer intheroadstersegment

hadPontiacnotbeencut.Guesswe’llnever

know...