Pontiac's Quality Grades

Possible Quality Grades, from best to worst, are: Excellent, Better, Good, Middling, Poor, Worse, and Worst.

The Pontiac brand is among the bottom 5 on the Quality Grade spectrum for the overall model-year period 1985 to 2006 and is now defunct. The Quality Grades of General Motors' Pontiac brand are worse than those of GM's Buick brand, which is not (yet) defunct, although the Buick line had lost 86% of its U.S. new car market share from 1985 to 2009.

For contrast and comparison, the Quality Grades of the Toyota brand (with the best record) are all Excellent and the Quality Grades of the Chevrolet brand (with the worst record) are all Worst.

The criteria for each grade for each model-year period are given near the bottom of this page.

Pontiac's U.S. New Car Market Shares

Pontiac's U.S. new car market shares for calendar years 1989, 1994, 1999, 2004, and 2009, together with its changes in market share from 1985 to these years and its changes in market share from 2000 to 2004 and 2009, are given next. Market shares are rounded to the nearest hundredth.

The Pontiac line lost only 57% of its U.S. new car market share from 1985 to 2009, while the Buick line lost 86%. This suggests that (1) Pontiac brand consumers had far fewer information acquisition skills and likely a much lower aptitude than Buick brand consumers, both very desirable consumer traits for brands at the bottom end of the Quality Grade spectrum, and consequently (2) it would have been far smarter of GM executives to have killed the Buick brand than the Pontiac brand, if their interest was to benefit shareholders.

For contrast and comparison, from 1985 to 2009 Toyota's U.S. new car market share grew 189% and Chevrolet's fell 34%, and from 2000 to 2009 Toyota's grew 65% and Chevrolet's fell 1%.

A chart of Pontiac's U.S. new car market shares expressed in percent for calendar years 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, and 2009 is given below. For contrast and comparison, Toyota's and Chevrolet's U.S. new car market shares are plotted as well.

Pontiac's U.S. New Light Vehicle Market Shares

Pontiac's U.S. new light vehicle market shares for calendar years 1989, 1994, 1999, 2004, and 2009, together with its changes in market share from 1985 to these years and its changes in market share from 2000 to 2004 and 2009, are given next. Market shares are rounded to the nearest hundredth.

A chart of Pontiac's U.S. new light vehicle market shares expressed in percent for calendar years 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, and 2009 is given below. For contrast and comparison, Toyota's and Chevrolet's U.S. new light vehicle market shares are plotted as well.

Reference Info

By convention, cars include sedans, coupes, convertibles, hatchbacks, and wagons, light trucks include SUVs (including crossover), minivans, and pickup trucks, and light vehicles include cars and light trucks.

The requirements for a Quality Grade are given below. In listing the requirements, the following abbreviations are used:

CA = a 6-year-old model entry in CR's Cars to Avoid, also termed Vehicles to Avoid
RT = a 6-year-old model entry in CR's Reliability Tables.

Grades for the 5-model-year groups 1985-1989, 1990-1994, 1995-1999, and 2000-2004 are earned as follows:

Excellent: 0 CAs and at least 21 RTs
Better: 0 CAs and 11 to 20 RTs
Good: 0 CAs and 5 to 10 RTs
Middling: 1 or 2 CAs and 10 or more RTs
Poor: 3 to 5 CAs
Worse: 6 to 8 CAs
Worst: 9 or more CAs

Some brands have many more CAs than are required for a grade of Worst. For example, Chevrolet has 59 CAs.

Grades for model years 2005-2006 are earned as follows:

Excellent: 0 CAs and at least 9 RTs
Better: 0 CAs and 5 to 8 RTs
Good: 0 CAs and 3 or 4 RTs
Middling: 1 CA and 4 or more RTs
Poor: 2 CAs
Worse: 3 or 4 CAs
Worst: 5 or more CAs

Some brands have many more CAs than are required for a grade of Worst. For example, Chevrolet has 28 CAs.

Grades for model years 1985-2006 are earned as follows:

Excellent: 0 CAs and at least 21 RTs
Better: 0 CAs and 11 to 20 RTs
Good: 0 CAs and 5 to 10 RTs
Middling: 1 to 8 CAs and 40 or more RTs
Poor: 9 to 26 CAs
Worse: 27 or 39 CAs
Worst: 40 or more CAs

Some brands have many more CAs than are required for a grade of Worst. For example, Chevrolet has 234 CAs.

This page was created in November of 2012.

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