Pontiac Vibe

[Morpheus XIII]

OK, so some of us know that GM has made an agreement with Toyota to share the Matrix/Vibe chassis. The question is why? Toyota is showing exceptional growth with it's current/future SUV outline, so why should they allow GM to take advantage of this design with the Pontiac division to allow sales of the "Vibe" (built on the AWD Corolla platform) which probably hurt Toyota sales? Perhaps they owe something to the States' market, but in any case, I believe they should round up their engineers for an attempt to dominate the international automotive industry. They may not have the power, but hell, if it's TOYOTA, they will put up a hellava fight, once again allowing the rest of the world to acknowledge the fact that they are a competent corporation.

[Lizard King]

I know nothing about this but maybe they both designed it together. I'd prefer to see it as a Pontiac than a Toyota.

[Morpheus XIII]

Actually, in the case of the Vibe, it's originated from Toyota. This design has been used before in other Toys. However, I enjoy and applaud specific Pontiacs. The thing is, I like the cars that they DESIGN and BUILD themselves (within GM, that is). Therefore in this Vibe situation, I'd rather see it as a Toyota, simply because it was originally a Toyota. Stateside domestic cars that have roots outside of the country generally lack spirit. For example, the Cadillac Catera's chassis is of Opel origin. It just doesn't seem right.

Thread "Cars in General - Concept cars - Pontiac Aztec version 2.0 (Vibe)" for more information...

[Lizard King]

Good point. I don't even see cars such as the Catera as real Cadillacs.

[Hudson]

The Vibe is being produced by GM and Toyota. NUMMI is a joint-venture established between the two companies to produce cars in California. Their first product was the Chevrolet Nova, a rebadged Toyota Sprinter. The Geo Prizm replaced that which was followed by the Chevrolet Prizm.

With the Prizm going out of production, they needed another product for the plant. GM is not good at making small cars profitably in North America so Toyota was given the control to design much of the car themselves. Interior and exterior styling was GM.

Toyota knows not to compete with itself. Few Pontiac buyers would go into a Toyota dealership, and even fewer Toyota buyers would step foot near a Pontiac dealer.

While they share quite a bit mechanically, the Vibe will be produced in Fremont, California, and the Toyota Matrix will be built in Cambridge, Ontario, Canada.

[Morpheus XIII]

Hey, that's some great data! Thanks for the informative response, it clarified a heck of a lot of confusion in my cluttered psyche. I can see your logic behind Toyota's alliance with the Pontiac department; it's nearly impossible to picture a Toyota loyalist in a Pontiac showroom floor.

[2001 AE]

I was SHOCKED to see an AMERICAN car I actually thought was great looking besides the Ford Mustang and the Chrysler Sebring convertible, and I'm not talking about the standard Vibe either although it is sweet, but I'm referring to the Vibe SEMA special GTR shown on the cover of this weeks Autoweek magazine. This car is incredible, but the inside sucks as usual for the US auto industry. Sorry to knock US made cars but they still have to improve to get back many crossover customers.

[TriStateGuy]

Is anyone actually going to get this? I prefer the Vibe over the Matrix based on looks alone. The only problem I can see is that the AWD version comes with the auto only even worse is that it goes with the weaker of the two engines.

Maybe its time to consider the WRX wagon

[Morpheus XIII]

Originally posted by 2001 AE
I was SHOCKED to see an AMERICAN car I actually thought was great looking besides the Ford Mustang and the Chrysler Sebring convertible, and I'm not talking about the standard Vibe either although it is sweet, but I'm referring to the Vibe SEMA special GTR shown on the cover of this weeks Autoweek magazine. This car is incredible, but the inside sucks as usual for the US auto industry. Sorry to knock US made cars but they still have to improve to get back many crossover customers.

You mean this thing?

[TriStateGuy]

Sweet!

[Euro19]

I like better the Vibe than the Matrix, even though the Toyota has a nice front-end too and it looks roomier? Do they have the same dimensions? Appears not. It´s funny that having a greatly differenciated exterior styling the interior is the same (?) :o

[TriStateGuy]

Euro19

I believe that the 2 share the same platform and powertrains but thats it. None of the sheetmetal is shared, but exterior and interior dimensions are the same. The latest car rags have reviewed (no driving impressions) the twins and from the pictures with the rear bench folded down its hard to tell which car your looking at.

I'd like to get my hands on one but the predicted price is a bit high right now (GT just under 20k)

TSG

[NB8CT]

Originally posted by 2001 AE
...but I'm referring to the Vibe SEMA special GTR...

I just got my March issue of Sport Compact Car and read the following in the Technobabble column entitiled "Inside the Geek Mind" by Dave Coleman:
"-THE GEEK MIND GETS ANGRY-
Being constantly burdened with such wasteful and complex thought processes, the geek mind is easily agitated and prone to bouts of rage when properly provoked. Lets look at what happens when the geek sees a Pontiac at the SEMA show. The Pontiac is really a Toyota, but that just amuses the geek mind; what enrages it is far more complex. The Pontiac is a Vibe (twin to Toyota's Matrix) decorated in a fascinating Detroit interpretation od modern import garb. GM is trying to send a message; Gm wants us to think it has it's corporate finger on the pulse of the Modern performance market. The Geek mind gets the message all right; the message is, GM still has its head so far up its corporte ass it still doesn't know what the import performance market actually is.
The Geek Mind figures this out simply by reading the three letters on the side of the car. "GT-R".
Is Detroit an island? Do these people know there's a world outside their drab, fluorencent corporate prison? Do they have any idea what GT-R means? In the modern performance world, the Skyline GT-R is a performnace icon without parallel. It is respected, no, worshiped by the same crowd that Pontiac thinks they're going to impress. How impressed would Detroit be if Mitsubishi tried to sell them a sports car called a GTO? Pontiac lovers would flow from their trailer parks, baseball bats in hand, until the last one had been destroyed.
But Mitsubishi was too smart for that. It had a sports car called the GTO in Japan, but the company opened its eyes. Its executives traveled and read books. They observed the world beyond their cubicles walls and saw that 'Murricans revered the Pontiac GTO. They renamed the GTO the 3000GT VR4, and even disguised some as the Dodge Stealth.
Had Pontiac done its research, it would know the Skyline GT-R has been an icon almost as long as the GTO has. It would know modern performance doesn't mean body kits and wheel, it means horsepower, just like it always has. Anybody who looks past the laughably insulting GT-R badge will notice tat Pontiac did virtually nothing to increase power on its Vibe.
Lesson learned? Never isult a geek."

This man speaks nothing but the truth!!

[sleeperguy]

One of the main reasons why gm has parternered with a smaller company to produce the vibe/matrix is due to something called economies of scale, rather gm is suffering from diseconomies of scale meaning that gm has grown in size to the point that the company is not very efficient which results in high production costs for vehicles (think of it as too paperwork, or bureacracy). Consequently, partnering with a smaller company, such as toyota in this case, allows gm to lower production costs for creating a new marketable vehicle.

[Morpheus XIII]

Originally posted by NB8CT
This man speaks nothing but the truth!!

I second the statement.