Pontiac Aztek
When GM's panopoly of brands was in full swing during the 1950s, the goal was to create a natural progression for customers to climb through to preserve brand loyalty. The theory, so it went, was that a young buyer would start with an inexpensive Chevrolet, then work up to a slightly sportier Pontiac, migrate to a more reserved Oldsmobile, follow that with a more luxurious Buick, then retire to a nice Cadillac. Owing to its early postwar success for GM, this model was adopted by both Ford and Chrysler--for Ford, it was supposed to be Ford to Mercury to Edsel to Lincoln, while Chrysler pushed a Plymouth to Dodge to DeSoto to Chrysler to Imperial progression.
As both Ford and Chrysler learned the hard way, maintaining a fine-grained approach to the market, with separate brands, bodies, engines, vehicles and dealers for each conceivable market segment, only makes sense when you're selling enough volume to make it worthwhile. For Ford, it didn't take long for Edsel to disappear. Chrysler's DeSoto, meanwhile, disintegrated by 1961, having been killed off by the same market economics that led to sales declines for Buick and Oldsmobile while rendering Ford's poorly executed efforts at establishing the Edsel brand moot. By 1970, GM, which controlled nearly 50 percent of the market by itself, appeared to be the only car company large enough to pull off such a strategy profitably.
Of course, GM was, emphasis on the past tense, the only car company large enough to maintain over a half-dozen different dealer networks, with the associated fixed costs involved in such a strategy, which is why we're writing about the demise of Pontiac this week and why it's been impossible to buy a new Oldsmobile since 2004. In fact, GM realized it was in "was" territory all the way back in the late '70s. After losing market share at the bottom of the market to the Japanese and losing profits on the high end of the market to the Europeans, GM, like every other domestic manufacturer of the time, was steadily getting squeezed. In an effort to control costs, GM decided to abandon brand-specific engineering and instead push GM-wide body and engine types, which, with some modifications, could provide full product lineups to each brand at a fraction of the cost. Thus, with that spirit in mind, badge engineering and its associated horrors was born. It didn't take long before this accounting abomination coagulated into the twin boxen bodies of brand-death and brand-destruction--the A-bodies and J-bodies. These twin stars of darkness and annihilation very nearly killed Cadillac, set Oldsmobile on its path to final destruction, and rendered Buick and Pontiac nearly irrelevant. (Chris: Don't forget the X-bodies' role in this wanton decimation of GM's once-proud brand name!)
By 1990, GM began to realize the error of its ways. Yes, it needed to cut costs, but creating cookie-cutter boxes with second-grade aluminum siding and mediocre V-6s was not the answer, especially if it planned on maintaining any real separation between its brands. By 2000, it even started to act on this realization and started to allow its brands a small amount of autonomy, with the hopes that doing so might allow each brand to engender some faint glimmer of brand recognition (if not loyalty) yet again.
It was in this environment that the Pontiac Aztek, the last truly unique Pontiac ever built, was born. Inspired, no doubt, by the astounding successes and sales numbers of the Moskvitch 410 and the AMC Eagle, its mission was as audacious as it was bold: Save the world (of GM) by creating an entirely new market segment from scratch. The Aztek would combine the best features of an SUV--cargo capacity, an elevated seat height, plus a certain "active" image that you just can't get with a van--with the space, superior handling, and economy of a minivan. To accomplish this, Pontiac grabbed a Montana and proceeded to let the people behind "Stuff White People Like" pimp it right out.
This translated roughly into offering a full-time four-wheel-drive system, cup holders as far as the eye could see (including in the tailgate!), a tent and inflatable mattress, an optional 10-speaker Pioneer sound system, a seatback-mounted backpack, and racks of every shape and size for every conceivable outdoor activity they could think of.
Oh, did I mention the "Xtreme" styling? Yeah. There was some of that, too.
Unfortunately, as Pontiac learned the hard way, there is one small problem with catering to a youthful audience: They're broke. Well, maybe not "broke," exactly, but certainly not doing so well that they can readily afford to buy tens of thousands of quirky-looking status symbols at over $30,000 (in today's dollars--$24,995 in 2001) a pop. Adding insult to injury, the few Gen-Xers with money going into 2001 would have lost a fair chunk of it when the dotcom bubble burst that same year. It certainly didn't help that, in the end, the Aztek really was nothing more than a Montana with a facelift and more cup holders than sense. This gave it a certain slow and ponderous feel that was, quite frankly, not youthful at all.
After an ignominous five-year run, Pontiac was finally forced to retire the Aztek. In retrospect, this was unfortunate, for it marked the last time that Pontiac would ever truly reach for anything ever again. Proving that I'm not the only one with a faint whiff of nostalgia for these otherwise over-styled beasts of yore, there's actually an Aztek Fan Club. The top picture, coincidentally, came from their Flickr feed. The yellow one, meanwhile, came from Flickr's Martin Taylor.
--David Colborne
little bill on May 23, 2009 at 07:50 AM
yo i like this car
Benny on May 28, 2009 at 12:21 AM
I think they are really ugly, but I like it. I tend to like ugly cars. I'm not sure why. The later ones looked better especially in black or that orange color. I don't think I would buy one because its a minivan and I like to be able to go around corners properly.
Bronx Bomber on June 08, 2009 at 04:27 PM
GM was ahead of the curve with the Aztec, but they didn't and continue to not understand that a vehicle has got to look good to get people to buy in. Think of the Infiniti FX-series they look like demented pumpkins rolling down the road, but they are elegant and sound pretty cool while also being able to blow your doors off.... I can't figure out what they were thinking with the Aztec.
Cthulhu Lord of the Sluggoths on August 18, 2009 at 05:14 PM
I used to just hate Aztek's, loathed them. Then they made it on most of the 20 worst looking cars lists. I love about 90% of the designs on the ugly car lists. Then I bought an Aztek. It's a worthy replacement for my Vanagons. But then, maybe I just a loon who shouldn't be allowed to comment on these things...
...m... on September 29, 2009 at 08:21 PM
...okay, i'll stand up for the aztek, in all sincerity...
...in its day, amidst a sea of burgeoning psuedo-offroad luxury SUVs, the aztec boldly eschewed the disingenuous trappings of contemporary fashion to honestly portray itself as exactly what all that class of vehicles are: a minivan-stationwagon fusion suburban utility vehicle, no apologies, born and bred for pavement and domesticated recreation...
...maybe because i'm a design professional i'm a bit more sensitive to this sort of thing than the general public, but i respect that sort of honesty in a design conceit - and honestly, the aztek succeeded in doing exactly what it set out to, perhaps a year or two behind the extreme sports fashion trends of the day, but again, it was an honest styling choice...anyone who actually owns an aztek raves about its real-world utility, convenience, and pragmatic feature set (even the tent) and they're right to do so...
...i posit that those compelled to mock its legacy suffer a failure of imagination, a sense of vision saddled by fashion, or are blinded by herd instinct to pile on general motors' commercial failure out of a misplaced contempt for bungled management...the aztek is no less-successfully executed than the very best minivans of the late eighties, brilliantly-conceived purposeful vehicles in their own right, and in fact laid the template for today's purposefully-evolved fusion of the minivan-SUV-hatchback-sedan vehicle class; to deny the success of today's car-of-the-future in ideally addressing the needs of contemporary lifestyle patterns is willful ignorance indeed...
...i ask you this: is the classic europa any less hideous to the uninitiated, nor any less exquisitely sublime to those who understand its purposeful beauty?..as you answer, so too is the aztek...
greg on April 19, 2010 at 05:38 PM
there's no reason to bash an ugly car/whatever. My kids love this thing I call the ugly uck. It was definately the ugliest in the early 2000,s but look what is trying to out ugly the poncho for about $60,000 now, all your imports !!!!
Mib_211 on August 03, 2010 at 11:13 PM
I can tell none of you guys have owned an Aztek...
I did, and let me tell you... back in 2001 there was no vehicle in that range of price with the features that my Aztek had...
Air pump, tent, computer data projected in the windshield, separate zone air conditioner, icebox between the front seats (MAN! I MISS THOSE ALWAYS-FROZEN BEVERAGES ON THE ROADTRIPS), and a long going etcetera...
So the look (wich I found interesting) was the less important thing...
I really miss It, the best vehicle I had.
Reelcheeper on September 05, 2010 at 08:54 PM
One thing I do not understand about people is why they think the Pontiac Aztek is ugly. Sure, they may have overused the ribbed plastic at first, but I think the huge jellybean crossovers of today (Chevy Traverse and Buick Enclave) are 800,000 times uglier than the Aztek. I actually liked that weird glass-roof hatchback idea until Toyota ruined it by slapping it on the back of their Prius. Probably my favorite part of the Aztek is how you could set up a tent on the back end. No need to camp on the ground anymore!
The Aztek marked the beginning of the modern crossover SUV, and I wish it would have marked the end, too. Almost every crossover made after the Aztek looked like a turd on oversized wheels and there is no end in sight. I really wish car companies would stop trying to conform to each others' crossovers and start making their cars unique again. If someone would make a car almost exactly like the Aztek (and no, I'm not going to buy that "I'm Better than You Because I Have a Hybrid" Toyota Prius), I would without a doubt buy it.
Pam on October 01, 2010 at 07:22 AM
I am looking for a cup holder for the 2004 Pontiac Aztek..Would like some info on where I can purchase one