Parenthood is tough for car guys (and girls). It means trading in the muscle car or roadster in for something with a little more space. There was a time when the car companies would try to ease this pain a little. In the 60s and 70s when dad would go to the Pontiac dealer and hand over the keys to his Trans-Am, they would be able to give him back a full sized sedan with 350+ hp. Now Mr. Responsible had enough room to take the kids to school, but could still do a few red-light burnouts on the way to work.

 

This idea has been lost on the mainstream carmakers for a while. With the exception of a few special editions like the Ford Taurus SHO and the B-Body Chevrolet Impala SS, the domestic automakers spent the 80s and 90s making anything but stealthy sedans. There have been upper market imports from brands like Mercedes and BMW, but there was a long period where rapid family transport was not for the masses.

 

Then General Motors had a revelation. Turns out the whole time moms and dads of North America were stuck in stale four-door cars; our wild Australian cousins never stopped making muscle sedans. In 2008, the Holden Commodore was rebadged as the Pontiac G8 for the U.S.

 

This wasn’t the first time Pontiac reached into its Holden bag of tricks.   In 2004 the Commodore’s coupe stablemate was brought over as the Pontiac GTO. That car had all the right moves, but unfortunately did not sell very well. The main problem was the public didn’t believe sedate styling belonged on a 350/400 hp sports car.

 

Then in 2008, the Pontiac G8 hit the U.S. shores, and the understated styling worked in its favor. The car is only a mild styling evolution from its GTO cousin, but the extra two doors changed the personality from sedate coupe to sleeper sports car. The chassis was superb, and the available horsepower eventually topped out at 415 -- Mr. Responsible’s super sedan was back!

 

The unfortunate Achilles’ heel for the G8 was Pontiac’s reputation. GM’s excitement division had lost its fun image. Years of producing cars with ribbed sides had ruined Pontiac’s public standing, and made it a tough market for this shear-sided sedan.

 

When GM was financially knocked down in 2009, the whole Pontiac division was not strong enough to get up off the floor.   No matter how exceptional the Commodore/G8 was, it was tough for any other GM division to justify the thin margins that come on a car that has to be imported from another hemisphere. The G8 was dead in the U.S.

 

After only two years on the market, there were less than 40,000 Pontiac G8s sold. A powerful sedan with low of production figures is the perfect recipe for a future classic. The G8 will likely appreciate in price and be coveted by collectors well before this car turns 25 -- especially every one of the 1,829 examples of the 415 hp GXP model.