The shortcomings of General Motors’ product development efforts were exposed yet again last week when the automaker confirmed that it was dropping the Pontiac GTO this summer. GM has rolled out the GTO as kind of an off-the-shelf answer to the complaints that the automaker’s cars weren’t exciting or muscular enough.

The Australian-made GTO, with its 400-horsepower, 6.0-liter V-8 engine could accelerate from 0 to 60 mph in six seconds. But sales, despite some hefty discounts and some heavy-duty personal lobbying of the press by GM Vice Chairman Robert Lutz, never lived up to the hype.

Thus, GM decided to pull the plug on GTO without even bothering to find a replacement for the car. At the same, time GM plans to shut down an assembly plant in Oklahoma City that builds mid-size sport-utility vehicles. GM is ostensibly working on a replacement for the current mid-sized SUVs, which are also being supplanted by a new generation of crossover vehicles. However, GM’s crossover replacements won’t be ready until later this year when the company opens a new assembly plant outside of Lansing, Mich.

The start-up of the new Lansing plant has been pushed back by years as GM has wrestled with decisions on what to build in the new plant. Consequently, the new crossover from Lansing will be rolling out months after competitors have managed to introduce a new generation of crossovers to the public.

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