Pontiac

Pontiac was a division of General Motors that slotted just above Chevrolet in the automaker's brand hierarchy. Early Pontiacs weren't all that different from their Chevy counterparts. GM hoped the Pontiac lineup's more stylish design language would be enough to convince buyers at the lower end of the spectrum to make the jump up from a less prestigious Chevy.

By the 1960s, GM's other brands began encroaching on Pontiac's turf with several models overlapping one another. Under division head John Z. DeLorean, Pontiac reinvented itself as an exciting performance brand with products like the Pontiac GTO muscle car and Chevy Camaro -based Pontiac Firebird pony car. DeLorean wanted to push the envelope further, showing off a concept sports car called the Pontiac Banshee in 1966. But fears that the car would cannibalize sales of the Chevy Corvette led to GM halting development. Pontiac continued to focus on performance even through the oil crisis of the 1970s, producing such classics as the second-generation Pontiac Trans Am .

During the 1980s and '90s, Pontiac struggled to maintain its identity amidst GM's badge engineering spree, but it did manage to produce some unique offerings like the mid-engine Pontiac Fiero . The brand's struggle to differentiate itself from its corporate siblings persisted through the 2000s, but niche products like the ahead-of-its-time Pontiac Aztek crossover and a revived Pontiac GTO (a rebadge of the Australian-market Holden Monaro) helped preserve Pontiac's sporty image. The final blow for Pontiac came in 2009, when GM filed for bankruptcy. The brand was discontinued after the 2010 model year.