Pontiac will not be bringing the 2004 GTO, a nameplate as revered there as it is south of the border, to Canada, the Winnipeg Free Press reported.
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General Motors of Canada president Michael Grimaldi told the paper that the GTO — based on the Australian-built Holden Monaro model — grew out of a desire to capitalise on excess capacity on the Monaro assembly line.
“That capacity is 18,000 units,” he said. “All of that will be consumed by the US. Anything for Canada would have to come out of that 18,000.”
Grimaldi said GM would study consumer reaction to the GTO and could bring it to production as a model in its own right, at which time it would be possible to sell it in Canada.
“We think there is a market for the GTO in Canada,” Grimaldi said during an interview after the North American International Auto Show in Detroit. But with a stronger US dollar and what would be extremely limited availability in Canada, a business case for selling the GTO there could not be made, he said, according to the newspaper.
