When General Motors announced that some models were going to be postponed, I thought for sure the niche market G8 ST would be on the short list. It’s just such an oddball vehicle in the grand scheme of things, cool, but not a mainstream model like the Chevy Cruze that was pushed back a year due to cost cutting restraints. Fortunately for car-based pickup truck fans, or utes as they’re known in Australia where GM’s Holden division makes a version of this very truck, it’s on schedule for a 2010 model year launch later in 2009.
“There are no efforts to delay the truck,” commented Pontiac spokesman Jim Hopson to PickupTrucks.com. “Construction is scheduled to start in July 2009, and the first G8 STs are expected to go on sale here in the fall of 2009.”
The point of its origins is the main reason why it’s not being held back. After all, Holden has done all the ground work for a vehicle that will sell in massive quantities, so why not revise it and rebrand it for the North American market? A sort of reborn El Camino, of sorts.
El Camino in mind, GM had a little marketing fun coming up with the new pickup’s name, creating some buzz about the product in the process. It only took 18,000 submissions, with most playing the “Tame the Name” game wanting the new sport truck to be dubbed El Camino, despite it being a Pontiac rather than a Chevy, and the winning submission was… ST. Yes, that’s the same name GM used when introducing the truck at the New York International Auto Show last March, and to be fair, it was popular among nominators too.
