On April 27, 2009, the struggling American auto giant General
Motors (GM) said it plans to discontinue production of its more
than 80-year-old Pontiac brand.
Pontiac’s origins date back to the Oakland Motor Car, which
was founded in 1907 in Pontiac, Michigan, by Edward Murphy,
a horse-drawn carriage manufacturer. In 1909, Oakland became
part of General Motors, a conglomerate formed the previous
year by another former buggy company executive, William
Durant. The first Pontiac model made its debut as part of the
Oakland line in the 1920s.
The car, which featured a six-cylinder engine, proved so popular
that the Oakland name was eventually dropped and Pontiac
became its own GM division by the early 1930s.
The first Pontiac joined GM’s lineup in 1932. It became so popular that it replaced the Oakland name.
One of the final 2010 Pontiac G6 sedans moves down the
line at General Motors Orion assembly plant in Michigan.
The production marked the end of the line for the venerable Pontiac nameplate.
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