By Tim Plouff

Lost in the fusillade of negative press surrounding General Motor’s current financial position and its shrinking market share is the perspective of what does the future really hold. Much of the commentary has been feeding a frenzy that apparently wants GM to suffer and wants GM to fail. If that were to occur, would these same pundits cheer the ascension of Toyota to the throne of the world’s largest automaker? Or, by the nature of their acts, would these critics then make Toyota the target for their venom?

Without question General Motors is a complex corporation and a big focus for people in and out of the industry. GM builds and sells more cars and trucks than any other manufacturer in the world. GM supports the largest dealer network in the world, too. And, GM is responsible for more employees, pensioners and derivative companies than any other manufacturer.

GM is in small towns and big cities all across America and the world, and most people are darn thankful for their presence.

Despite the existing criticism (some deserved), General Motors is busy developing innovative models that will invigorate sales. Several new crossover wagons for Chevrolet, Buick and Saturn are gestating; some with the aid of Daewoo, the Korean builder acquired three years ago.

An all-new compact sports car called Solstice is coming this fall from Pontiac while several new sedans with European roots will soon hit showrooms. Plus, there are new mid-size and full-size SUVs in the pipeline and new diesel engines and more fuel-efficient gas engines coming for trucks, vans and SUVs.

GM’s Chevrolet Division is gaining sales ground in Europe, South America and Asia, thanks to some of those Daewoo-built vehicles, while GM continues to be the largest seller of trucks and SUVs in America. Car sales are on the rebound with the new Chevy Cobalt, Pontiac G6 and Buick LaCrosse finally meeting sales expectations. The future looks bright — more than we have been led to believe.

Some models are indeed getting a little long in the tooth so a little ingenuity is needed to help maintain sales levels through a vehicle’s life cycle.

This is true with our Pontiac Grand Prix. With a long and storied history, the Grand Prix has been a mainstay of the Pontiac lineup for decades. Once a bold, proud, powerful two-door coupe, the current rendition is a four-door sedan and one of the division’s best sellers. After a 5-percent sales gain last year, Grand Prix sales have slipped some this year as the new G6 sedan appears to be reaching more new car buyers. Due for replacement next year, Pontiac has added some excitement in the form of V-8-powered edition for 2005, the new GXP.

As Bonneville sales have slowed, Pontiac’s performance mantel has shifted to the Grand Prix if you need four doors. The GTO, with more power this year, is still the halo car for Pontiac. The new Solstice promises to draw a lot of crowds to showrooms, but the brand needs something like the former Firebird to truly ignite performance sales.

Built in Oshawa, Ontario at one of the industry’s best new-car quality plants, the Grand Prix GXP takes a tried-and-true 5.3-liter GM V-8 motor and shoehorns it into the front-drive-engine bay where a V-6 used to reside. With this 303-hp/323-lb./ft. of torque engine, the GXP displaces the supercharged 260-hp GTP as the most powerful Grand Prix.

Mated to a beefed-up four-speed automatic with steering wheel mounted TapShift controls, the GXP’s prodigious power gives new meaning to the term “front-wheel-drive torque steer.”

Actually, the Pontiac engineers did a very good job of quelling much of the excesses that plaque powerful/high torque front-drive cars. Cadillac’s former Seville and Nissan’s new Maxima are two torquey front drivers that come to mind, two cars that experienced some driving shortcomings because of their power output. The GXP seems to have harnessed some, not all, of the torque steer’s gremlins.

Torque steer is the tugging you feel on the steering wheel as you eagerly apply power in a front-drive car. In the winter, torque steer pulls you to the right on slippery surfaces. In a car with abundant power, torque steer can tax the steering wheels with more power than you can manage, pulling the car right and left even as traction control systems work to limit wheelspin.

The Pontiac’s traction control and stability assist electronic systems assist a great deal but if you plant your right foot deep into the carpet, the GXP can challenge your reflexes in a soulful manner.

A modest tickle of the GXP’s throttle delivers effortless acceleration. Low revs still equal big power as the displacement on demand V-8 makes good old-fashioned American grunt whenever you need it, seamlessly running on fewer cylinders when loads are low. Finesse the gas pedal and you might reach the EPA mileage estimates: 18-mpg city/27-mpg highway. But if you are attracted to this car’s performance potential and like the throaty baritone of a V-8 behind your ear, then your fuel economy will typically hover around the 21-22-mpg range as mine did.

The GXP’s sport-oriented suspension did not distinguish itself in any particular area, yet neither did it embarrass this sedan with any bad manners. The Magnasteer steering could communicate more feel to the driver and be less vague, but overall, the Grand Prix’s ride and handling dynamics were perfectly acceptable for a four-door sedan masquerading as a hot-rod grocery-getter.

The TapShift manual shift feature (two thumb switches on the interior of the steering wheel rim) is well integrated into the car’s portfolio. The wide ratio four-speed automatic makes first and second gear your primary selections when running around town as redline in first gear is a healthy 50 mph. Shifts are smooth and precise and the TapShift remembers to shift down a gear or two for stop signs or traffic lights when you forget. TapShift will not improve your fuel economy. It will increase your driving fun and remind you that GM still builds pretty good transmissions even if this one is a dated four-speed when the competition has moved on to five- and six-speed automatic gearboxes.

TapShift also appears in the Heads-up display at the base of the windshield, a standard and welcome feature on the GXP. Three large dials behind the leather-clad steering wheel (speedometer, tachometer and fuel gauge) greet the Grand Prix driver. All other lights and instruments are located to the right in the center dash with a lot of info reporting through a driver-information panel. Speed, gear choice and audio system changes all show up in the adjustable Heads-up display.

While most of the Pontiac’s controls are simple and convenient to use, it is hard to find the symmetry in an interior that appears to be a parts-bin mish-mash of shapes, textures and materials that don’t flow together all that well. Pontiac has long made extraneous exterior body cladding and jet-fighter interiors a staple of its designs. The cladding is thankfully gone here so there is hope that the stylists and designers will some day visit an Audi or Honda showroom for better interior layouts.

My GXP sample arrived wearing an attractive blue/green crystal paint finish. As the day’s light changed, so did the car’s exterior hue. It was a pleasing presentation.

Other hits and misses: the trunk opening is snug but you have integrated struts operating the lid rather than c-hinges that crush your cargo; the rear passenger doors open a full 90-degrees for excellent access although tall riders might scrub their noggin against the sloped rear window, and the G-meter (measuring lateral, braking and acceleration g-forces) plus the big red brake calipers hugging drilled disc brakes behind Alcoa Aluminum wheels are nice additions on a sports sedan.

If you just gotta have the thrum of a V-8, then the GXP is a fun family car. Its subtle composure won me over.

Next week: BMW X3.