It's heartbreaking really. Just when Pontiac finally builds the ultimate American rear drive V8-powered performance sedan, economic factors combined with GM's horrendous financial mess killed the Pontiac division. Without a doubt, the G8 was the best car Pontiac had built since the GTO and represented what could have been a Pontiac renaissance. It was never meant to be, but Pontiac did manage to launch the GXP trim before their untimely death.

Its 6.2 liter LS3 V8 (taken from the Corvette) has 402 horsepower and coupled with a six-speed manual, it can go from zero to 60 mph in a blistering 4.5 seconds. But if Pontiac had lived to see another day, who knows what else could have been done to improve the G8 even more. America, for a short time, finally had its true BMW 5 Series fighter and Pontiac may have had finally found out how to build cars that weren't rebadged Chevrolets. It's all a thing of the past now.