ADELAIDE, Australia — General Motors' Holden subsidiary has built and shipped the final Pontiac GTO — the last one, that is, until GM resurrects the badge, probably in model-year 2009.
Based on the two-door Holden Monaro, the GTO had a surprisingly short life span in the U.S. Holden built just over 40,000 GTOs, and GM announced earlier this year that it was phasing out the nameplate because of dwindling interest by consumers.
The Adelaide plant saw the last GTO roll off the line in mid-June; it was shipped to the U.S. a week later, according to the Sydney Morning Herald. Production totaled 40,808 vehicles.
The newspaper reports that Holden's performance division, Holden Special Vehicles, is planning a special edition of the Monaro: a limited run of 50-100 individually numbered HSV cars badged as the Holden GTO.
Holden also has confirmed it will market a second-generation Monaro coupe for the Australia market, based on the new Commodore sedan. Here's the twist: The 2009 Chevrolet Camaro will share the same rear-wheel-drive architecture (known internally as Zeta) as the Commodore/Monaro, which could be assembled in North America and then shipped back to Australia.
What this means to you: No more GTOs — at least not before model year 2009.
