AandW

"I saw this crazy car today, it was a Grand Am or somethin', but with a pickup-bed!"
"Like an El Camino? Crazy. Must have been custom. What would you call it anyway, a Grand Amino?"
"It's too bad Chevy doesn't make El Caminos anymore."
"Yeah!"

or

"Check out my new car!"
"What the hell is that?"
"It's an El Camino."
"No it's not. It's a Pontiac."
"Well, it's not called an El Camino, it's a G8ST. But it's just like an El Camino."
"G8ST? What sort of name is that? Why don't they just call it the El Camino?"
"Well, they can't. Kind of a pickle. Actually, they had so much trouble finding a name for it, they put up a website where people could suggest their own."
"Oh. That's really sad."

Why isn't there an option to vote yes or no here on the site? Put it on there, see what the Jalops really think.

@beercheck: Great points. Finally somebody calls the editors out. Put er there, pal.

@danio3834: Le Camion. Ha! That's a great idea, on many levels. Besides being an anagram, a Camion is a truck, and the LE is reminiscent of not only the Le Mans but many other Pontiacs that use LE as a trim level. Bravo!

carless

If you showed a group of people, ANY group of people, a collection of photos of Holden Utes, Ford Rancheros, and Subaru BRATS, they'd say, "Look at all the El Caminos!" Why would you mess with that? And if you're offering the only coupe utility in the market (also a good idea), why would you rather name it the G8 ST, which means nothing to anyone?

It's obvious that these companies don't understand ANY kind of sustainability of limited resources, even names. If there were any good names left, we'd be seeing them. All Mercury cars with M names? Confuse your customer! Letters and numbers? Fine when just a few brands did it. Now it's a copout. Same goes for fabricated names like Azera, Altima, Tiguan...wait, there are probably already horribly mutated Tiguans in the jungle. Sign of the times.

Barracuda, Grand Prix, Eldorado: names have equity. They are the piece of the car that people carry around in their heads. The organizations should realize that (because they learned it in their FIRST marketing class!) Some do: BMW didn't make its small, high-performance coupe the "M4" because "M3" is known around the world. Even Chevrolet itself won't touch "Corvette."

There is no substitute for a car name with a [good, at least non-Pinto] heritage. Ruling a name out because it's been used before, or under a different division's label, is shortsighted and foolish...oh, wait....

GreasyKnuckles

I'm holding out for La Calle or G8 Caja (Box).

deus ex wagon

turbo zero

JHJVJR

HoldenSSV

K5ING

G8 ST
G8 XT
G8 GXT
G8 XGT
G8 TGX

etc. If the Ute Crewman is federalized, then two additional letters, at least one of them "X", will be needed to denote that variant.

ranwhenparked

Why not call it something like the Pontiac El Ocho?

gotsmart

Nope can't think of anything...

hoontastic

Number_Six

It had a useless bed too.

Not much power on top of that.

This.. well.. It has a useful bed, it has loads of power, it has no chance to me compared, or marketed as a truck.

Plus, it looks pretty badass, unlike the Baja.

SSR? Was meant to be a limited production truck from the start, so it's not worth bringing up.

TexanIdiot25

suzq044

But wait, the Chevy car-truck sold in Brazil is named "Montana". Chevy can have Montana, and Pontiac can have "El Camino"!

JONNRG

Simple and to the point for people / dealers to say, write and remember.

KingRoyale

mytdawg

On the upside, lovers of these silly car/truck things will be able to pick them up CHEAP once the dealers can't get them off their lots.

JoeWoodsprite

But, could piss off the Aussies that their god-of-camino, the Maloo (which holds the worlds fastest pick-up record) being called our base El'Co

TexanIdiot25

Yeah I've got it: the Pontiac G8 sport ute could be called the "El Camino [not so] Real"

[en.wikipedia.org])

Mark Miller

that being said
call it the Pontiac Maloo
and then hopefully later we get a Chevrolet version, a proper El Camino....

clashtastic

Mark Miller

(does it hurt to be el camino'd?)

Martt

What bugs me is the Pontiac "G8" name, because all I can think of when I hear it is the "Group of Eight". So "Pontiac G8 NWO" (New World Order) is the first thing that comes to mind, and "G8 Summit" might seem to follow. The earlier suggestion of "G8 Chieftain" evokes the same.

Pontiac G8 Keggster?
Pontiac G8 Habanero? (HOT! "press 1 for English")
Pontiac G8 Badgenero?
How about Pontiac G8 Jalopamino?!

Whatever it's named, without bags of cement in the bed how can this be named anything else but The Pontiac G8 "SmokyBurnout"?

+ Watch video

Mark Miller

racebeer

If they name it something else, you know that we'll all still call it the El Camino.

TheTooth

beercheck

But seriously, not El Camino. G8 Ute sounds better than G8 El Camino and a true El Camino is an old Chevy. This thing is a Ute, so it should be called a Ute.

mwoeber

NovaloadMissesPolar

MILESPX

beercheck

TexanIdiot25

Ray Wert

mytdawg

skyln95

i'm pretty sure i've got a winner here, y'all should just give in (said while teetering on self built pedestal)

Martt

cadjockey

Pontiac "THIS is a knife"

I guarantee at least 1 in 1000 person you meet will get the joke. And every 1/5 Jalopnik reader.

Better yet, I want a "THIS is a knife", Jalopnik edition: with hand-crank everything, no a/c, no radio, 3-speed slant six, bench seat, cherry bombs and bondo-ed flat black paint, all stock.

Internal name shall be OPTION PACK 666.

Accept no subsitute.

ET had a Cartruckgasm

LT1

DoctorNineTenths

Being that it's a Pontiac, I favor a name that invokes the El Camino Heritage, but not the name "El Camino" itself, as an El Camino is a Chevrolet.

My idea was to call it the Pontiac La Catalina. That was actually the name of a car-truck prototype that GM considered building based on the Catalina:
[www.jaylenosgarage.com]

I also like Pontiac Vaquero, which someone mentioned earlier.

That said, I don't oppose "Pontiac El Camino". It is 10,000 times better than "Pontiac G8 ST".

JHJVJR

DoctorNineTenths

om nom de plume

El Camino, of course. The name conjures images of a dusty Mexican balladeer siting on the porch of a decrepit roadside bar, plucking a tale of heartache and woe from a battered six-string. Every so often he spits a stream of tobacco juice past his immaculate ostrich skin boots. Chimes sound as a stray breeze temporarily relieves the stifling heat; inside, a young girl prepares a mole. "Yours?", he says, his coal-black eyes gesturing towards the Pontiac. You see equal parts mercy and murder in his beaten face.
How are you going to answer?
Now you tellin' me that it should be named anything but El Camino?

LT1

That's putting it into pretty clear perspective folks!

After thought and since it's now being asked: I really think my preferences are against it. Partially due to the hope that they'll be greenlighting a CHEVROLET version.

I mentioned in the announcement post, I got my automotive ownership started with a 77 El Camino Classic, that belonged to my Grandfather. It IS an iconic and recognizable name. That car was the best time I've had behind the wheel, short of my current 65 Impala (and no one would blame me for my opinion of that I am sure). I feel when thinking and reading the very well explained opinion for both sides that it would most likely cause the world to be torn assunder to have a Pontiac G8 and as mentioned in the contest rules it will be a Pontiac G8 ______. So thinking of Pontiac G8 El Camino as the name... moreso I'm not in favor.

May my lashings be swift.

om nom de plume

With that kind of motive power, and the bed's utility, we could get a bit of a double meaning thing going and call it...

Pontiac G8 Hauler.

Regardless of what it is named, it will always be refered to as Pontiac's El Camino. Just like the Rampage was Dodge's El Camino, the Ranchero was Ford's El camino, and the Caballero was GMC's.

El Camino MEANS Car/Truck.

smalleyxb122

wyatt_1st

Martt

Pays homage to its mother. Doesn't offend the El Camino purists (now there's an odd thought). Leaves the badge-engineering profiteering Chevy ElCo name available.

Does it really matter what it's called? If you like the car, you'll buy it. If you hate the name, you can scrape the badge off.

FЯeeMan

Call it a Fire Chief or something but El Camino? If buy some bizarre chance it really does sell, won't they need that name for the Chevy version that will undoubtedly follow?

mytdawg

wookie1901

I think I can end my print run at 3...

FЯeeMan

Interesting. Maybe my perspective is off. I deal with a lot of people who simply don't care about cars and are clueless about seemingly obvious car things.

Tell ya what, I'm gonna print a pic of an El Camino, just a pic, no text, and ask the car ambivalent's what it is. I'll be shocked if many say "El Camino" but we'll see.

Bucket UncleBo Head

TexanIdiot25

Taurus was ground breaking in it's 1st gen... but then ford slowly ruined it to what people remember it when it died. When the El Camino died, it didn't go down the same sorry path as the Taurus.

As far as those names, purely from SUVs right? Besides the ones that have stuck wth GM since it's early days (Sierra was a trim level of the late 60s, early 70s C/K trucks. Same with Silverado. Blazer/Jimmy being the shorty 2-door hard tops). Now days used to convay the same excuse most the buyers who truly don't need it's excuse (because it can do it)

But, when I was drawing this, the 1st question I got at school from kids (freshmen included), was "Is that an El Camino?"

My idea of a future el Camino... Pulling some off the last SS.

TexanIdiot25

Pontiac G8 Sprint has a nice ring to it.

I'm still not sure why they gave this thing to Pontiac, especially in light of their new 'Pontiac is car' campaign. I guess 'Pontiac is car except when it has a pickup bed then it's half car' is a little long as far as slogans go.

salguod

TurboBrick

Eleven year old kids walk up to me when I'm changing the brakes, uttering "El Camino.." underneath their breath. It's a powerful brand; some people hate my car, mumbling "mullet mobile" as I cruise by, others scream out (mostly children) "EL CAMINO!" as a roar past.

This new Ute must be christened the "El Camino" for the same reason the Aussies call it "Ute": it's a damn powerful badge.

skaz

Okay, I promise that is the last one.

Though, seriously I do kinda like "Boomerang", but I do not think it would actually work. Who knows what hey will call the damn thing. This would have been easier had they just brought it over as a Chevy.

wookie1901

sos10

POLAЯBEEЯ

THIS....

exactly what I submitted to the site they have up... would be better if it were a wagon....

fresnel

P161911

At the end of the day, just as long as the damn thing shows up in the showroom,
I really don't care what they name it.

Maybe they should break away from names and letters and numbers and just put a big question mark on the tailgate.

The Pontiac ?

POLAЯBEEЯ

ranwhenparked

Having seen (2) El Caminos used as keg transporters/mobile beer dispensers... it'll always be party in the back to me.

Evil J

I kid, I kid...

In all seriousness... we all know it'll end up as a string of arcane numbers and letters that 99% of the general public will ignore and just refer to as "That one car with the thing".

But, no, it should NOT be the Pontiac El Camino... Think about how the car guys' heads would have exploded if they would have introduced the GTO as the "Pontiac Camaro".

Nope. The name is too iconic, and too tied to the Bowtie.

Evil J

Go easy, bro. No offense intended. I didn't single out "youngin's" in my post, only the masses who either never knew the El Camino or who've long forgotten it in a 15 year blur of CamCordTima-ness. Hell, virtually all the non-car people I know only think of the Ford Taurus as a nasty rental car, completely forgetting the impact the car had when it hit the market in the mid 80s. People have short memories.

I hope your 20-something croo puts their money where their turned heads are looking. Frankly, most of the guys I know in that age bracket talk "WRX", "STI", "Evo" and "SRT", with a few talking Camaro and Mustang. If I took a survey I'm sure I'd find their aspirational vehicle would be something like a BMW M3. If you and your buds aspire to a retro-new El Camino, I salute y'all.

As for names, let me add Explorer, Expedition, Excursion, Navigator, Sequoia, Pathfinder, Denali, Highlander, Acadia, Sonoma, Rainier, Mountaineer, Durango..... see the theme? IMO, it needs to end or at least not be extended to the new "El Camino" or whatever it'll be called. That's all I'm sayin'.

Bucket UncleBo Head

Martt

wookie1901

P161911

smokeydog001

Plus, we have to hold out for a legitimate Chevy El Camino. I'd settle for a limited production special edition - bring over 500 Chevy front ends from South Africa or the Middle East, and drop in an LS9. Throw some paint stripes on the car, use it to throw some tire stripes on the road, and repeat.

Maymar - now with 37% less anonymity

beercheck

wookie1901

wookie1901

If they must have the G8, lose the "El" and it becomes the "G8 Camino" (I will accept "G8 Caballero" as well)

It's a shame that they can't give a nod to Pontiac heritage at the same time, by maybe calling it "El Jefe" (the chief) "El Jefe" just doesn't sound much like a vehicle name.

They should at least give it a trim package called "Chieftain". Then we could buy a "Pontiac G8 El Camino Chieftain"

Screw it, just call it the Chieftain.

smalleyxb122

TexanIdiot25

Of course Id have to spend several hours with a heat gun to peel off that ridiculous badging.

danio3834

combat chuck

you get your "el" to remember and honor the past without corrupting it, and bulls are fast, strong, and always a wild ride.

somebody, please, listen to me.

Martt

Same company under GM, yes.
BUT, all the divisions are fiercely competitive. There's no way top brass will be willing to piss off their cash cow.

Mastodon

danio3834

beercheck

Too cheesy?

texan01

The El Camino was probably considered tacky, stupid, and ugly in its day, but damned if when I was in high school one of the coolest kids in the whole place didn't have one mean-ass Camino that everyone loved.

Evil J

A flip-side to that point would be the popular sentiment at Jalopnik that modern station wagons are good. And the wish that GM would find a way to bring one back to our market. Hey, wouldn't it be great if it were to be called a Roadmaster?? WOO HOO!!! But, what if the geniuses at GM decided it would be marketed only by Chevrolet.

Chevy Roadmaster?

Piss on that.

beercheck

I honestly think that if the GTO had caught any type of fire, they would have redone the body and made it a "new" Chevelle or something. This one catches fire (and it won't) I could see a new El Camino coming out... but, again, I don't see it happening.

I seriously think that Pontiac is where GM sends good ideas to die. The GTO was a fine car (with the exception of the rental-car styling)... I mean, a solid V8 with rear wheel drive? Had it been a Chevy with more aggressive styling... it'd have sold like mad.

OK, I backtrack... sometimes it's where bad ideas go to die too... (shudders thinking of the unsold Azteks sitting in lots somewhere plotting revenge on an unkind world like some crappy, CRX-on-steroids SkyNet).

Evil J

POLAЯBEEЯ

Whether its actually sold and serviced by Pontiac will just be a technicality if you use that kind of "neutral branding" (and maybe save from offending the hardcore purists)

Ash78

Hillman Avenger/Dodge Avenger
Edsel Villager/Mercury Village
Edsel Ranger/Ford Ranger
Edsel Corsair/Ford Corsair
Plymouth Voyager/Chrysler Voyager

Pretty solid argument as far as Ford and Chrysler moving names is concerned, but no real precedent for GM. If anything, Caballero would make more sense as Pontiac and GMC are now essentially the same division.

Leaving the El Camino nameplate free for a future Chevy might be a good idea in case the G8 version really takes off and inspires a round of profit-maximizing badge engineering.

ranwhenparked

vwminispeedster

Business in the front, party in the back.

In all honesty, when I first saw the shots of it on here... the phrase "horrified" doesn't really describe my thoughts.

After discussing it with a few friends...

We all want one.

Seriously.

Really.

Me personally, I'd want it to make a new "Bubba Drift" car... and because you know it'll sell like shite when it hits the market and be a cult favorite in a decade or so.

Evil J

the car will be called "The G8 _______________"

so if that name is El Camino....
it'll be The Pontiac G8 El Camino.

doesn't quite roll off the tongue as well.

plus, do you think there's a chance in hell that Chevy will give up the rights to THEIR name?

Mastodon

Jesse Mrozowski

They will find some way to fuck up this car and kill it. Well, they already are.

TPSreports

wookie1901

TexanIdiot25

CEman

El Dingo

Seriously though, it should be called the G8 Ute.

PMDGTO

2-Tahoe, Yukon, Trailblazer, Sierra, all have their names tracing back to the 60s and 70s with the GM Trucks.

TexanIdiot25

El Camino

The Way

I am in favor of the Pontiac El Camino, for I do not just look at the name El Camino as a Chevrolet identity, but as a representative of what the El Camino was. El Camino is a household name for the car/truck in North America.
The best way I can clarify this is with another household name, Hulk Hogan. Now if his doofy son Nick were to insist on being referred to as Nick Bollea, the average person would say, "Nick who?" It's what's in that name "Hogan" that carries the weight of the fame, the legacy, and the identity of Rasslin's biggest name.
Hulk Hogan was the El Camino of his "sport" whether he was in the WWF or the WCW, the name stuck! Wrestling fan or not, someone asks you to name a professional wrestler, the number one answer guaranteed, Hulk Hogan. Car fan or not, someone asks you to name that car/truck thingy that was big in the 60's through to the 80's, the number one answer guaranteed,

Ute? Nope!

Caballero? Huh?

Ranchero? Not quite!

El Camino? O yeah, now I know what you're talking about!

GM needs people to identify with the product. Not Chev! Not Pontiac!

GM.

POLAЯBEEЯ

Ash78

Ray Wert

wkiernan

*Free Astroturf bedliner through April 30th!

Ash78

Unevolved 8.04

racerx

"G8 SUT" would be in keeping with the pickup hybrid nomenclature used elswhere in the GM lineup. But, then again, the "T" is for "Truck," I think, and this is a car.

So, unfortunately and with a heavy heart, I am forced to recommend G8 SUC. I wish GM had left me with some other choice.

Wait--I was wrong! In the Hummer and Escalade, the "T" is for the bed, and the "SU" is for the Sport Utility front end. So, this would be the G8 CAT. Much better.

Preferredcustomer

sliderule

Its a a Pontiac, so its not an El Camino. and its not even really a Pontiac, its a Holden Ute...

While I like the idea of a New truck car, I am upset that Chevy didn't take some time to heritage style a new El Camino, like they did for the Camaro. This is another example of GM slapping a vintage badge on a car to sell it based on nostalgia feelings that name invokes.

No different than the Monte Carlo, Malibu, and Impala...

crazygutgut

Name G8 Ute, or something different.

albertojb

But I love it. I really do. The name doesn't matter. It could be named

Saturn-SAAB Vogue Fromage de la Concorde

I would still love it.

It is like Carmen Electra had the name Margret Thatcher....

It doesn't matter to a horny dragon.

JantheMan

Lincoln Zepher/ Mercury Zepher
Plymouth Sebring/Chrysler Sebring
Plymouth Aspen/Chrysler Aspen
AMC Concord/Chrysler Concorde

This is just off the top of my head, I'm sure there are other examples.

PolishDon

If it doesn't get named El Camino, I only hope GM doesn't continue with the current obsession of using outdoorsy/rugged names like Tahoe, Yukon, Trailblazer, Sierra, etc. That theme is played out. Find something else, and don't go Australian either. Americans needed character voices in Mad Max to be overdubbed since it was felt the Aussie accent was too foreign. "Ute" is a horrible name since no one around here uses that nickname for anything.

Bucket UncleBo Head

sliderule

Bo Darville

P161911

Ray Wert

B

Mike the Dog

But making it a Pontiac is bass-ackwards stupid in the first place, since Chevy Trucks have so much goodwill built up in the marketplace, and Pontiac Trucks have, well, zero.

lascauxcaveman

TriShield

Name it the El Camino and give hoons a righteous name they can be proud of.

Papercutninja

But WTF else will it be called?

So yeah, El Camino. The country-of-origin of everything else we treasure has been torn to shreds already.

nick2ny

Thou shalt bring no other name before me.

El Camino.

Hire me.

That is all.

POLAЯBEEЯ

danio3834

wookie1901

Paul Y. -- Now With More Sodium!

Then it hit me, why the hell don't we call it the ute like everyone else?

I'm still for EL Camino.

Or El Sexo Caliete!

TexanIdiot25

DrJeffie

In Brooklyn, it'll seem like "Youth" (thanks, My Cousin Vinny) and everywhere else it'll sound like it was just named for a Native American tribe, like Comanche or Cherokee.

Ash78

El Camino all the way.

PeteJayhawk

Unregular

JSmith53

haha

danio3834

danio3834

wookie1901