Bob Lutz Rekindles Caprice Nameplate

Pontiac’s recent demise left a lot of questions unanswered. What would happen to the mating of GM and Toyota that resulted in the excellent Vibe and Matrix stepbrothers? Would the delectable Solstice survive as a rebranded model, and if not, would we see the end of the even tastier Saturn Sky? And finally, what would become of the recently introduced and much-lauded Pontiac G8?

Well, according to the most recent reports from none other than GM’s “new” media mogul, Bob Lutz, the Pontiac G8 will survive Pontiac’s coming closure by moving into Chevrolet showrooms wearing a familiar and long-dead badge: Caprice. Saying the G8 is “too good to waste,” the badge engineering project exposes some serious possibilities for the Australian export, with the most obvious being its potential for law enforcement use. With the Crown Victoria finally nearing the end of its production run, many police forces around North America are seeking a replacement for their large, rear-wheel drive sedans, and the new Caprice would definitely fill the bill (as Australian police forces already know). It is expected that the different variants of the G8 (V6, GT, and GXP) would roll into Chevy showrooms with nary a change excepting the badges on the back.

Also of interest was Lutz’s confirmation of a CTS-V coupe. Having enthusiasts all a-twitter, the CTS coupe’s sexy lines and compact footprint seemed a perfect match for the massive 6.2L LSA motor of the CTS-V sedan, but many critics thought the combination too wild for GM’s tastes; apparently an incorrect assumption. As if that wasn’t enough bean-spilling for one day, Lutz went on to hint at a V-spec variant of the CTS wagon!