For every GTO or G8 GXP, there were half a dozen Pontiac Phoenix or '88 Pontiac LeMans to make you want to throw up in your mouth. As much as we loved the idea of the Pontiac brand, it just hasn't delivered for too long. Here are the seven cars from recent history which poisoned the well at Pontiac, forcing it to the grave.

7) 2005-2009 Pontiac G6

The Pontiac G6 was leaps and bounds ahead of the Grand Am it replaced, but all that shows is just how far behind Pontiac was in the mid-size segment. It's headline feature — the trick-sliding sky-view sunroof was pretty neat, but way too expensive and it made the car something of a one-trick pony. In base, four-cylinder form, it clogs the lots of airport rental companies and never really had the stuff to go head-to-head with competitors. And don't even get us started on the interior.

6) 2000-2005 Pontiac Bonneville

The ninth generation Pontiac Bonneville debuted to universal shoulder shrugs, it did little to justify its higher price over the better packaged Grand Prix, which it borrowed too much styling from. A series of refreshes made the car sportier but it never really caught on with buyers. Funny how indifferent styling, high price and strong competition will do that.

5) 2005 Pontiac Montana

When Pontiac added the SUV-inspired "Montana" package to the newly designed Transport minivan, soccer moms went ape for the vehicle. You couldn't chuck a rock at a little league game without hitting one. That ended when GM half-assed the redesign and stuck a long goofy nose onto a slightly restyled van in order to meet crash requirements. The horrendous result was a massive failure in the marketplace, as it should have been.

4) 2009 Pontiac G3

GM's former Vice Chairman of Global Product Development Bob Lutz stood on the New York Auto Show stage and noted Pontiac had long been known for the tag-line "We build excitement" even though they'd been delivering it with front wheel drive cars covered in stuck-on plastic. He claimed now they were going to change, introducing two vehicles — the Pontiac G8 ST and the Pontiac Solstice GXP Coupe, the former is now dead, and the latter is selling like candied dog poop. Half a year after Lutz made those statements, gas was $4.30 a gallon and Pontiac dealers were flipping out for an economy car on their floors. GM bowed to the pressure and green-lit the Pontiac G3 for US distribution. The stark contrast in message signaled a floundering purpose for the brand, and definitely not one which would interest enthusiasts.

3) 1985-2005 Pontiac Grand Am

There are a great many people who've owned Grand Ams, they're a cheap source of transportation, and while there are a few which made it a couple hundred thousand miles, they're by and large terrible, terrible cars. Unless you got the GT models, styling was yawn-inducing, the interiors were committee designed with Fisher-Price grade materials, and the awful suspensions and automatic transmissions sucked the entertainment value out of even the most enjoyable roads.

2) 1995-2005 Pontiac Sunfire

It's pretty rare for a nameplate to suck so hard for its entire existence, if something is bad, it usually gets killed, but the Sunfire got at least three refreshes. The Pontiac Sunfire was an impossibly ugly reskin of the Chevy Cavalier, and while the Cavalier was a perfectly good cheap beater, the Sunfire got the crushingly bad interior baubles that was tossed at all Pontiacs at the time. Chintzy materials, poorly engineered HVAC system, and rotten colors made it a terrible place to spend time.

1) 2001-2005 Pontiac Aztek

No matter how long Pontiac would have survived, the commercial disaster of the Pontiac Aztek would have always hung around its neck. It was incredibly functional, but the chintzy interior materials were only outmatched by the laughably bad styling and equally chintzy-looking exterior plastic cladding. Projected sales were placed at 50,000 to 70,000, but only ever topped 27,000 a year. It got a quickie refresh which saw sportier wheels and painted body cladding, but the damage was done.

PONTIAC ANNOUNCES NEW SMALL CAR FOR U.S. MARKET

2009 G3 Offers Sporty Functionality, Fuel Efficiency, Value

Detroit - Expanding its portfolio in the rapidly growing small car segment, Pontiac announced plans to bring the sporty, five-door hatchback G3 to U.S. showrooms early next year. When it arrives, the G3 will provide Pontiac with a total of four vehicles capable of more than 30 miles per gallon on the highway.

Already successful in Canada (as the Pontiac G3 Wave) and Mexico (as a sedan model), the G3 offers an EPA estimated 27 mpg in the city and 34 mpg on the highway while providing the best shoulder and hip room in the segment for seating five adults.

“The small car segment has literally exploded in recent months, with sales up nearly 33 percent in the first six months of 2008 alone,” said Susan Docherty, vice president of Buick-Pontiac-GMC. “With its proven success in other markets, we felt the time was right to bring the G3 into the BPG portfolio for our U.S. customers.”

The 2009 G3 will join the all-new 2009 Vibe (32 mpg) and recently enhanced 2009 versions of the G6 sedan (33 mpg) and G5 coupe (37 mpg) in Pontiac’s “Over 30” club.

“More than ever, fuel economy is an important factor in Pontiac’s formula of style and performance,” said Docherty. “The Vibe, G3, G5, and G6 prove that you don’t have to sacrifice sporty design and responsive driving to achieve impressive fuel economy.”

Generating 106 horsepower (79 kW), the G3’s 1.6L Ecotec four-cylinder engine is mated to a five-speed manual or optional four-speed automatic transmission. It will also feature an unusually rich mix of standard features for an entry-level car, including air conditioning, a CD/MP3 audio system with auxiliary input jack, fog lamps, rear spoiler, OnStar, and a host of standard safety features, including four airbags, that gain the G3 a five-star frontal crash rating.

Interior space is optimized to comfortably seat five adults, including “theater”-style seating for rear seat passengers. The rear seats also feature a 60/40 split to offer up to 42 cubic feet of cargo space.

The Pontiac G3 will arrive in U.S. showrooms in spring 2009 as a 2009 model and will be backed by GM’s five-year 100,000 mile powertrain warranty. Pricing will be announced closer to introduction.

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With the Pontiac G6 in refresh limbo and a probable Pontiac G5 based on the Chevy Cruze, it's a hard to argue the case for an all-rear-wheel-drive lineup at the moment. MotorAuthority contradicts an earlier GM statement saying we wouldn't be seeing the Pontiac G3 in the US. They go one step further and imagine a car between the G3 and the G5 — we're no rocket scientists, but "G4" is a good bet for a name. So, lets count it all up: No rear-wheel-drive lineup and a rebadged Aveo? We don't like this story; put it back. [MotorAuthority]

...is a rebadged Korean Daewoo Kalos) in Montreal as a Pontiac Wave, but do these EPA numbers mean we'll be getting them stateside as some kind of "Driving Un-Excitement?" Or will they be forced to stay on the Canadian (or Mexican, where they'll begin to be built starting at GM's new San Lois Potosi plant in June of 2009) sides of the border like other riff-raff? We've sent out an e-mail to Pontiac PR with the hopes of getting to the bottom of this before the platform prostitution starts to go totally insane. We mean, what's next — a re-badged Silverado called the Pontiac G10? We shudder at the thought. [via GMInsideNews, Motive]