The Auto Writer

The Season 8 debut of the action drama "24" featured a familiar sedan in an early chase scene. Might we see a Chevy variation of this muscular Australian-built sedan soon?

The season debut of the Emmy award winning Fox action drama “24” aired last night with several familiar characters returning: agent Jack Bauer; his devoted daughter, Kim; and Chloe O’Brian, the scowling techno-geek ally of our hero. President Alison Taylor and special agent Renee Walker are also back along with various new characters who have been seen on other shows recently including Battlestar Galatica.

G8 to the Rescue

But it was the use of one particular car that got my attention, a hot-wired magnetic gray metallic Pontiac G8 GT (Holden Commodore) featured in an early chase scene. That sedan made all the right moves as its escaping driver zig-zagged his way out of trouble, absorbing several gunshots wounds before losing his pursuers.

In a succeeding scene the G8 is observed pulling up across from Bauer’s West 18th Street apartment in Manhattan where the driver gets out of the car and heads off to see Bauer.

The very last time we see the Pontiac is when a Chevrolet Impala NYC police car pulls up in front of it, responding to a stolen vehicle 9-1-1 call made by the driver’s assailant. As it turns out the man who had stolen the G8 had critical information to share with Bauer regarding a pending assassination plot at the United Nations building.

That plot involved targeting the president of the Islamic Republic, who was in New York negotiating with President Taylor about deactivating his country’s nuclear program. Thus, the Pontiac played a key role in helping eventually thwart an assassination attempt which most certainly would have had global ramifications had it succeeded.

And to think that General Motors killed off the Pontiac brand and the G8 model just months earlier!

Internet Users Take Note

I had considered logging on last night to see who else noticed the Pontiac, but waited until this morning to search for that information. As expected the chatter was noticeable: a Pontiac G8 message board and my Twitter stream noted the use of the sedan in “24” with people sharing similar thoughts as mine: why did GM place the G8 when the model has been killed off?

Yes, automakers routinely work with top shows and movies to get their cars in front of cameras. Last year, the Hyundai Genesis sedan got plenty of “24” face time and will do so again this year.

Chevrolet Caprice PPV

Well, here is my thinking: the Pontiac G8 is gone, but it will be back and not just as the Chevrolet Caprice PPV I reported about here earlier. I doubt that we will see a Buick version of this hot Aussie sedan, but GM has got to be thinking that public consumption of the Caprice will eventually happen.

That may mean that the Impala will be deep-sixed in order to make the Caprice Chevy’s flagship sedan or it could mean that GM feels confident that both models could be sold along with the Malibu to give shoppers a choice of three family sedans to buy when visiting Chevy showrooms.

If GM has no such plans, then the placement of the Pontiac G8 GT in “24” was cruel and heartless. I like to think that certain members of GM brass has something else in mind as do many other rear wheel drive sedan enthusiasts, people who want the “thunder from down under” kept alive in North America.

Photo: GM Corp.