this is a horrible, horrible idea.

 

Dave,

Now I'm sorry for the massive negative reaction you gotten towards this project from this board so far, I myself am not happy with it. I think the major problem is that the Firebird Firehawk has had a long time to immortalize itself. The cars were special to begin with and now are becoming collectibles. Everyone familiar with these cars knows the Firehawk as a Firebird because we havent know anything else since the early 90's.

I remember the first time I became aware of it actually. It was 1996 and I was in second grade at a Pontiac dealership. My mom was buying my car brand new. I saw an ad or a picture for the Firehawk and it was instantly the coolest thing I have ever seen. Even now when I pass one I twist my neck and think "oooooooooo thats THE Firehawk."

The name is special to us, it probably would have been much easier to accept if a different "Firehawk" model came out in the 90's. But because it had so much time, we've all gotten attached to this name and car. In fact I bet most of us didn't know the name was owned by SLP, I know I didn't. I always thought it was the name GM gave it.

We weren't aware the "Firehawk" name was ever intended to be a "performance division" rather than a special edition car. Also, Firebird and Firehawk work well together, the car was meaner, and the hawk is seen as a bad-*** bird. It seems too specific to put on anything else.

I think the view most of us are getting is that our "legendary" car is becoming not so special with this new line. I do think the G8 was the best platform for you to build on because hey, Pontiac has nothing else. Just hurts us to see that badge on a family sedan, no matter how bad *** it may be.

Best of Luck

 

Quite honestly, reading these posts makes me ashamed to be part of the f-body community. Rather than coming across as enthusiasts, a large amount of posters here come across as elitists who feel they are owed something.

We all share a common hobby- the love of cars. SLP helps this hobby out- be it by sponsoring events or web forums, giving us another option for performance parts, or by working with manufacturers to create a more interesting end product. Dave is nice enough to answer posts in this thread, even after many outright vicious and rude attacks toward him. If he really didn't care about our opinions, he could have said "ok, F--- you", and left.

As much as some of you think that the Firehawk name should have died with the Firebird, do you know how much money and resources SLP has invested in research, development, advertising, etc etc etc on the Firehawk brand? I know many of you like to think of it as "more" than a brand, and thats fine, but to SLP, the Firehawk name represents a huge investment over the past decade and a half. In fact, probably the single largest investment in the company's history, considering it pretty much put them on the map. How could you honestly expect them to just let that go, hoping that GM will eventually make another Firebird (when it seems that Pontiac's future itself is in question every year anyway)?

 

how bout a g3 gtx while your at it?

 

The dealer response has been incredible - who woulda thunk it?? Of course the dealer response is great - the dealers love to make money on anything!

I don't know it this has been answered yet - is there any reason SLP is opposed to a name other than firehawk?? I just think its especially offensive to the people with the ultra rare and awesome 3rd gen hawks that were some of SLP's first customers.

 

Hell, G8 by SLP would have been a better bet. All kidding aside though we all know its a marketing ploy and that 90% of society doesn't know much if anything about the original Firehawk and it is supposed to garner the attention of joe public, but how many buyers are going to say "well this M5 is pretty nice but that G8 Firehawk just sounds so cool" ?

 

Until now "Firehawk" hasn't been a brand, just a car. I don't know if all of the money spent in the past will do anything towards promoting this new model. I could work because the word "Firehawk" does have a reputation as meaning fast, but it has a much larger reputation as being a Firebird. Now it could be a total success, no one knows. But does anyone think the Firehawk's fast reputation will do much for the G8? Would a name change be considered an expense? I don't think so because the cars are in no way similar, except for being LS powered, so they shouldn't have the same name. SLP has a good reputation as it is, I just can't think of a reason to put such a special name on anything but a bird.

 

Does nothing for me. Just another bastardized model from down under.

My next car will be an '09 335i Sedan

 

I figured it may help get our view point out if the following organizations were aware of this thread.....

Motortrend
Car and Driver
Gm Hightech and Perf
HighPerformance Pontiac
GM Corporate
GM Community
GM Advertising
Pontiac
Pontiac Advertising

You may want to email your local dealers with a link too...maybe they can contribute by telling us how excited they are about it!

 

First off,

hahahhahahahahha


Secondly,
I thought that Firehawk was the name used because that was the deal with Firestone using their Firehawk tires or some such nonsense. Like later done with the Comp T/A. So I really don't see a problem with naming the G8 a Firehawk as long as it comes with Firestone Firehawk tires.

 

I haven't read the thread all the way thru, but here's my predictions...

2 door version will be called a Firebird again.

V6 version (most likely heavily turbo'd) will be a Grand National model.

Thanks SLP. Let's see if I'm right

 

Great idea on the G8, Pontiac needs something these days with a good V8 in it. Pontiac also needs something with a little flair like this (for the younger crowd, although this still doesnt do it for me... Im a REAL Firehawk kinda guy ) to dig them out of the little ditch they seem to be in these days.

The car is ugly, nuff said... I am not a fan in any way of the new pontiac body styles and I really dont have to go any further than that.. But thats me... Someone will like it, and notice not once did I say anything negative about SLP or David. I have much respect, its just some of the answers that were given lead me (and a few other people here I guess) to believe that the Fbody community as a whole dident matter to Dave. When we are compared to Ford guys and Dodge guys thats fine, but when you compare us based on the amount of money we spend with SLP vs the Ford/Dodge guys.... Then I think thats where the line was crossed..

Taking the Firehawk name should do nothing for the car like others said, as it should not offend us Firehawk owners for it being used. 99% of people have no idea what a Firehawk is anyways. So what, theres a V6 Firehawk running around... Spank it and make it look bad, life goes on. Im not offended by the Firehawk name choice, sure its going to get raped sometime... Why not now?

 

I really like the idea of SLP making a performance model of the G8,but come on...Firehawk?

Could of made a better name for it at least,IMO you just bitch slapped every hawk owner out there

 

I completely agree. Those who will research the name Firehawk will find that it's exclusive to the Firebird. What's that going to tell them? The G8 IS the new Firebird? And what's to stop them from opening the door for the Firehawk G6? It might seem like a joke at this point but just think about how the SS badge was treated. Who knows what will come next?

Of course the dealer side is more than overjoyed to have the return of the Firehawk, now they can jack up the cost and drive every enthusiast away. *ahemZR1ahem*

I would have been (and I've seen that a lot of other people would as well) happy with a new name. New Car, Old Twist? If by Old Twist you ment to **** off the F-body community.

Why not New Car, New Twist? Because the G8 Firehawk buyers aren't aware of the history behind the name. Sure they can "research" it and what they'll be told is the it's Pontiac's top-o-the-line, the latest and greatest! They won't stop and ask, "Then why wasn't there a Grand Prix Firehawk, or a Bonniville Firehawk?" because they'll be Oohed and Ahhed by how wonderful the G8 Firehawk is.

I know I'm beating a dead horse here, but I'm throwing my 2 cents in the mix.

The G8 was clearly awesome up until this point. All I see is a lack of imaginiation/thought process when it came down to placing a name on a car that is more than ready to stomp the compitition.

 

This greatly disapoints me as it dilutes the Firehawk name. when I was looking for an F-body convertible i knew I had to have a Firehawk, since it was the creme de le creme of the f bodies. The fact that there is no G8 vert, means atleast I'll still have an exclusive Firehawk Vert, but I am severley dissapointed with the use of the name. I like the G8 as a great performance 4 door, but I would never buy a G8 Firehawk, just becuase of the dilusion of my real Firehawk. I must say, when buying the car SLP was a great help at verifying the build of my car as a genuine Hawk, and helping my bank understand the extra value over a Firehawk over a regular Trans Am, for this I am grateful, Very dissapointed on this decision to dillute the name SLP.

 

what i dont understand is that if you are going to try to hit a new customer base..why u cant simply use a different name..those people wont know the difference..and with you giving it a different name u would have the f body crowd looking at them as a dd and the new crowd looking at them too...the firehawk is something that died with the bird..and ur saying that when u came out with the name fireHAWK u never had fireBIRD in mind..that does not convert over to the g8..once this comes out the firehawk just wont seem like something special anymore

 

I suppose I'm the only who'd buy one. Unfortunately, it's not like the Firebird will ever see a return, but the G8 happens to be badass enough to revive one of the trim levels.

Then again a Four-Door Firehawk is... different.

 

And it was the tire put on the FIREHAWK.

 

This could be a good thing for SLP. Since there was only about (1500) 2002 Firehawks made, if they are in the market of selling these cars based off the Firehawk name then very few G8 Firehawks will be sold, and not the 100,000 + units they might expect to sell. Good Luck

 

Disagree.