Remember the Sunfire? The replacement for the Sunbird rolled out in 1994 for the 1995 model year on the J platform for transverse applications. It was Pontiac’s take on the Chevrolet Cavalier, with both siblings discontinued after model year 2005 for the G5 and Cobalt.
Like the Cavalier, the Sunfire was a budget-oriented compact. Folded after the Chapter 11 reorganization of General Motors in the wake of the financial crisis, Pontiac targeted frugal buyers with three variants of the Sunfire, namely a two-door coupe, two-door ragtop, and a good ol’ sedan.
The convertible was exclusively produced in Lansing, Michigan. A front-wheel-drive compact offered with a five-speed manual, a three-speed automatic transmission, or a four-speed automatic, the Sunfire could be specified with no fewer than four powerplants, all of them four-pot mills.
Regular production order code LN2 stood for an overhead-valve 2.2 with anything between 115 and 120 horsepower on deck. The LD2 leveled up to 2.3 liters and 150 horsepower. The L61 was offered between 2002 and 2005 with a displacement of 2.2 liters and 140 horsepower. Last but certainly not least, LD9 means 2.4 liters and the same ponies as the LD2.
The Sunfire originally retailed at $11,074 for the 1995 model year, which means $21,835 adjusted for inflation. Pontiac facelifted its budget-friendly car twice. The first update saw the adoption of way too much plastic cladding even by 2000s standards, but Pontiac redeemed itself with the more streamlined design of the second facelift. Sales of the Sunfire would continually drop starting in 2000, which isn’t exactly surprising. More specifically, the cheap credit and lax lending standards that fueled the financial crisis also increased the demand for larger and fancier vehicles.
Slowly but steadily, all of the Big Three in Detroit discontinued cars from their U.S. lineups in favor of utility vehicles and trucks. General Motors, for example, currently offers the Chevrolet Corvette, Camaro, Malibu, Spark, Bolt EV, Cadillac CT5, and CT4. That’s it, and it’s a bit of a shame considering that crossovers sell at a premium over similarly-sized cars.
Had there been more demand for cars in 2022, and had Pontiac survived the Chapter 11 reorganization that saw the Saturn brand kick the bucket as well, the Sunfire might have made a comeback as a domestic rival to the Honda Civic and Toyota Corolla. The Sketch Monkey fired up his Adobe Photoshop suite to reimagine the Sunfire with contemporary design cues, and some might say that it doesn’t look half bad. On the other hand, that front styling could be further refined into something easier on the eyes.
On that note, what do you think about Marouane Bembli’s rendering? Would this modernized Sunfire be a hit in today’s automotive realm?
After a 1:43 scale model of a Ferrari 250 GTO sparked Mircea's interest for cars when he was a kid, an early internship at Top Gear sealed his career path. He's most interested in muscle cars and American trucks, but he takes a passing interest in quirky kei cars as well. Full profile
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