Pontiac Montana
American minivan built by Pontiac / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Pontiac Montana was a minivan sold by the Pontiac Motor Division of General Motors. Before the 1999 model year, it was known as The Pontiac Trans Sport. Since 1997, its most popular trim package had been the 'Montana sport package'.[1] It gave the minivan more SUV-like features. In 1999 Pontiac changed the name of the car line to the 'Pontiac Montana'.[2] Pontiac wanted to change to a more sporty performance image. But the change put it in direct competition with the Oldsmobile Silhouette and the Chevrolet Venture.[2] For 2005, the van was redesigned. It had a higher, less aerodynamic nose to resemble an SUV. The Montana name was changed to Montana SV6 in 2006.[3]
No more improvements were made to the Montana models after the 2005 model year.[4] Pontiac stopped selling them after the 2006 model year in the United States. They continued to be sold in Canada and Mexico until the 2009 model year. GM discontinued the Pontiac division after the 2010 model year.[5] The Pontiac minivans were General Motors' most popular minivans in Canada. The Doraville, Georgia assembly plant which produced the Montana closed on September 26, 2009.[3] The Montana was replaced by GM's Lambda crossover SUVS . Strangely it wasn't replaced by a Pontiac version of the crossovers.