The word on the street is that Pontiac is having structural integrity problems as well as glitches with the hardtop on the convertible. It was noted from someone that Pontiac may scrap the convertible even before it is released (thus the date keeps getting pushed back). Of course, this is the word, not the official press release.

Hopefully none of you are waiting for the convertible.

yeah besides issues with design.. i heard that it is going to be in the upper 30's.. somewhere around 37,000.. i understand that it is a hard top drop and something like this from another manufacturer would be much more expensive.. but.. honestly.. who is going to pay near 40,000 for a pontiac convertible.. i don't see a market.. maybe it's just me..

yea the article from Autoweek was posted over on the Grand AM boards last week.
News
Top troubles plague G6 convertible; parts fail on key Pontiac product
ROBERT SHEREFKIN | Automotive News and JASON STEIN | Automotive News
Posted Date: 8/15/05

DETROIT -- General Motors' problems with the Pontiac G6 convertible continue to mount.

Engineering problems already have forced GM to delay the launch of the retractable hardtop from next month until January 2006. Now those troubles threaten to push the start of production further into next year and could lead to cancellation of the program.

The G6 convertible is important to GM because the division desperately needs exciting products. Like the Solstice roadster, the convertible is meant to be a halo vehicle for the brand.

But four supplier and industry sources familiar with the program say the car's hardtop, which is supplied by Karmann USA Inc. of Plymouth, Mich., has flunked durability tests.

The top is supposed to survive two life cycles of openings and closings, for a total of 16,000 to 20,000 cycles, supplier sources say. But a supplier close to the program says the roof has failed after fewer than 10,000 cycles.

A poor fit between the deck lid and rear fenders is another problem, the source says.

'Damaged from the start'

"The whole program has been damaged from the start," one industry analyst says. "There has been a lot that has gone wrong."

Oliver Wehage, a Karmann vice president, insists the top meets GM specifications. He would not provide details of testing, except to say that Karmann in some cases created "overloading situations" for its internal research.

GM spokesman Jim Hopson said the convertible's top "meets and exceeds" all of the automaker's current life-cycle requirements, but declined to say what those requirements are.

"I've never been involved in a vehicle program that didn't have some problems," he says. "Our intention, at this point, is to have the vehicle available in the first quarter of 2006."

That's a slight shift from GM's position of Feb. 28, when it said the convertible would launch in January. Supplier sources say the launch originally was scheduled for September 2005.

GM has thrown two dozen engineers at the problem in a bid to keep the program on track. But GM has minimal experience with the technology. The only recent examples are the retractable hardtops on the Cadillac XLR and Chevrolet SSR.

The tops for both come from outside suppliers.

March target

A GM insider says the automaker needs to begin volume production by March. If that target cannot be met, he says, the program could be shelved because GM would not be able to amortize the vehicle's cost by the time the G6 is redesigned.

The automaker has not disclosed the planned sales volume for the convertible G6, which it has touted as one of the most economical retractable hardtops in the industry. The sticker price has been targeted around $30,000.

Pontiac had planned to bring out the G6 in waves. The sedan debuted last year. A coupe came out this month, and the convertible is next.

To create the convertible, the basic G6 had to be re-engineered because it was not designed to be an open-air vehicle. The convertible needs a stiffened underbody, and the interior must be redesigned to store the hardtop.

In February, a UAW official and a supplier source confirmed that GM had delayed the launch of the convertible four months, to January 2006, because of lingering engineering problems.

Miles Thompson, sales manager at Thompson Sales Co. in Springfield, Mo., which sells GMC, Cadillac, Pontiac and Saab, says his dealership will not order any convertibles until he has a better idea when they will arrive at dealerships.

"I'm not sure when we are going to get them," Thompson says. "We have no idea on allocation."

Mike

Yes, launch was scheduled for Sept of 05 along with the coupe. However, there have been setbacks. January is now the slated release for the convertible. We'd never want to have warranty issues with customers from the start.

Has anyone got an update on when convertibles will start shipping to dealers? Will they be sent evenly through out the US, or fan out by region.
January is time to start shopping for ragtops. (altho the G6 will actually not be a ragtop)

asked my dealer about it when i went in for maintenance this week...he said they should start to arrive in about 6-8 weeks.

Dealers have begun placing orders.

There is no way in hell I'd spend 37 grand on a Pontiac convertable. Especially not a G6, no offense.

And the fact that Pontiac's website lists it as having substantially less horsepower in the GTP trim makes me say, "w.t.f..."

especially when you can get a M3 convert for about 40-41,000!!

*sigh*

I guess I'm going to have to defend GM and Pontiac ONCE AGAIN from the wrath of my friends.

Who is in charge of marketing and product planning at GM, because they need the boot and now.

I think GM has been on a downward slide ever since Rick Wagnor took over.

I'm not defending their high price, but the Saab 9-3 vert stickers at $37k. Now, this ain't no Saab, but it is a hardtop, so it's got something going for it (if you're interested in that). Also, it is the first model year, so I'm sure the price will drop next year (just like the 05 - 06 models).
But seriously, they do need that price much lower if they expect to move a lot of them. Heck, the convertible Firebird weren't that much, were they???

SimplyRed - Where did you find an M3 vert for 40k? The BMW website lists msrp at 56k. You're one hell of a negotiator if you can talk 16 grand off! :D

I acctually meant 325.... for some reason hands typed M3 LOL

There is no way in hell I'd spend 37 grand on a Pontiac convertable.
Where did you get that price from, I haven't heard any formal announcement yet.

At that price the Pontiac would be something like 10k more than a Mustang convertible. The hard convertible top would never sell at that price. That must be incorrect.

Maybe it is in Yen or something :)

We'd never want to have warranty issues with customers from the start.


HUH? when did THIS policy go into affect???? ha ha :D

people have said recently that it will start at 30,000. so i guess that would be for the GT? and then the GTP with all options will probably be pretty pricey

I haven't heard anything like 37..... try more like 29 on the high end

I can't remember where I read it, but I don't think there has been formal anything yet.

The G6's are far overpriced for the car they are as it were right now. The car is a good, if not great car, but it's not worth the near 30k price tag brand new without the incentives, not when there are better, in my personal opinion, cars out there.

Who paid 30K for a G6?? That's insane. I got it within the first few weeks it came out for 24K, no incentives. You're asking for trouble with the convertible. Not only will you be paying around 5K more, but you'll be getting less horsepower and a heavier car, as if it weren't heavy enough already.

Mike

The car itself is far heavier than I expected, and I am very disappointed the horsepower is less in the vert.

Does anyone know why that is, or perhaps if it was just a flaw in the website?

I think if Pontiac wants to do this vehicle the right way, they need to make it well, and sell it cheap enough that people aren't going to laugh in GM's face and go buy a better car for the same or less.

^ The lower HP is most likely due to exhaust system modifications to fit the convertible bracing. I bet it starts at 27,500 for the GT and about 29,500 for the GTP. Loaded I'd put it at 32,000. Those would be reasonable prices compared to the Solara convertible.

At the car show preview in detroit GM said that it will start below 30 grand. Also, this will be the cheapest hard top convertable you can get right now. As far as the horsepower in the gtp goes I think that may just be some kind of typo. It wouldn't make any sense to make changes to the powertrain.

I sat in the 'vert at the NAIAS yesterday and GM did a very good job of trimming out the car. There are no huge gaps for the convertible mechanism as there usually are. The car looks good except for the radio antenna they had to put on, but there is no way around that.

In my email today from the car connection:

G6 Convertible Gets Date With Destiny

Set your stopwatches and get ready to time how long it takes for the hardtop to retract.Pontiac promises, after a few production delays, that the G6 hardtop convertible will finally settle into U.S. showrooms in the spring of this year. When it does, the car will become one of the most expensive G6 models at $28,490, which GM says makes it the first retractable hardtop car available on the continent for less than $29,000. Pontiac also says that the G6 sports the largest retractable hardtop of any four-passenger coupe.

The convertible should be displyed at the Montreal Auto Show this week. Will sure get some informations and I saw some advertising an it is posted as a 2007 car !!!!