Among the corporate reshuffling that is taking place at the new GM is the retention of Bob Lutz, the product czar that is largely responsible for the lack of suckiness in the company’s most recent offerings.
Staying on as vice chairman responsible for all creative elements of products and customer relationships, Lutz has made his first proclamation: According to Automobile Magazine, the much-loved (but little-bought) Pontiac G8 will live on as the Chevrolet Caprice. Since this is a car that’s already sold as a Chevy in the Middle East (see photo), this is a pretty obvious move, but one that was recently denied by CEO Fritz Henderson, who said that he wasn’t a fan of rebadging. Hey, left hand, check out what the right’s doing!
Anyhow, no timetable was given, but the only real question is whether we’ll get the actual Caprice that’s sold in the Middle East with its longer wheelbase, or will the Middle East’s Chevy Lumina simply be rebadged as a Caprice for the States? I’m just glad we’ll have this platform around a while longer. Now, if GM can upgrade the interior a bit, that’d just be icing on the cake.
