1988: Fiero’s plug gets pulled
In a statement issued March 1 1988, Pontiac announced it would stop production of the Fiero. Failing sales and a recall of all 1984 Fiero’s (125,000) to correct conditions that might have resulted in engine fires contributed to the decision. But the continuing upward pricing spiral and a more crowded market segment were regarded as the major factors in the Fiero’s early retirement, which had been rumored for some time. The Fiero had a fall 1989 date to undergo the major revamp you see here.
Fiero sales figures had been in a full-dress powerslide downward since the 1984 introduction model year. A spare three years after the car debuted, annual sales dropped from 99,705 in 1984 to 42,156 in 1987. And Pontiac indicated 1988 sales were off 47.7% early on. GM often kills programs that sell fewer than 30k units per year (witness the Cadillac Cimarron; its best year was 1986 with 24,209 sales). The reason these sales figures were so life threatening was because the Fiero was designed to be a success only at volumes rather greater than the Corvette.
If the car had survived the bean-counter’s dart, this 1990 performance model would have set hearts aflutter all over again.
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I’ve never seen these sketches, very interesting!