The death of Pontiac

After 84 years, the GM brand has died of indifference, according to the NYT:

The G.M. brand that was advertised for "driving excitement," Pontiac brought Americans the Bonneville, GTO, Firebird and other venerable nameplates. Sportier than a Chevrolet but less uppity than an Oldsmobile or Buick, the best Pontiacs, recognizable by their split grille and red arrowhead emblem in the middle, were stylish yet affordable cars with big, macho engines. Its biggest triumph was the GTO, developed by [John] DeLorean, the brand's rebellious chief engineer, in violation of a G.M. policy dictating the maximum size of a car's engine. The GTO was a hit, and the age of the muscle car had begun.

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For most of the 1960s, Pontiac ranked third in sales behind Chevy and Ford -- a position now held by Toyota. But in the decades since, Pontiac's edge and high-powered image wore off. Repeated efforts in the 1990s and 2000s to revive the brand failed. Drivers too young to remember the GTO came to associate Pontiac with models like the DustBuster-shaped Trans Sport minivan or the Aztek, a bloated-looking crossover widely regarded as one of the ugliest vehicles of all time.