Autoworld.com - David Lee - Pontiac: It’s a name that stands for excitement and performance. With bold, athletic styling that provides an expression of individuality, Pontiac reflects the active lifestyles of its customers while providing high levels of comfort and convenience.

The word "piranha" evokes the image of a creature that’s nimble, aggressive, and extremely efficient. Like its namesake, the Pontiac Piranha is "a small package with a big bite." Piranha reiterates the bold, purposeful Pontiac personality for the 21st century, offering simplicity of operation and low-cost performance coupled with unprecedented innovation. "The Piranha concept combines new levels of functionality and versatility with the traditional Pontiac elements of performance, styling, ride and handling," says Pontiac General Manager Lynn Myers.

Influenced by the active lifestyles of young drivers, Piranha provides the versatility required by people in pursuit of extreme fun. From its athletic exterior to the highly customizable interior, it’s a vehicle that’s full of surprises. What comes as no surprise is the excitement produced by Piranha’s performance, ride and handling — after all, it’s
a Pontiac.


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The surprises start with Piranha’s exterior. Although it’s a coupe, it comes with back doors that open rearward to provide easy access to the entire interior. An innovative roof rack system pops up when needed, and disassembles easily when not in use. Features such as these, plus Piranha’s distinctive athletic stance and dual-colored exterior, immediately telegraph Pontiac styling excitement.

Piranha’s interior sets a new standard in flexible interior design. Athletic forms, colors and textures emphasize the vehicle’s durable, functional character. The interior is highly customizable. Fabric panels on the doors and instrument panel can be changed by zipping them on and off, allowing the driver to change color schemes easily. All four seats are designed to be foldable, lightweight and removable — once outside the vehicle, they do double duty as beach chairs. A lightweight tub in the cargo area serves as a trunk or a cooler, and can be removed to provide storage or seating outside the vehicle. Removing the tub creates a flat bed, effectively converting the Piranha into a "mini-pickup" complete with fold-up tailgate.

Even though the emphasis is on flexibility and utility, there’s no shortage of traditional Pontiac performance. A supercharged version of the 2.2 liter 16-valve 4-cylinder Ecotec engine provides plenty of fuel-efficient power. There’s plenty of stability, too, with the Grand Prix-derived wide track design, 19-inch rear wheels, and 18-inch front wheels. Front wheel drive and an AISIN 5-speed automatic transmission with paddle shift controls mounted on the steering wheel keep the driver in command and enhance Piranha’s fun-to-drive character.

The Piranha concept was developed with young people and young attitudes in mind. So Pontiac went to the source, visiting a college campus and an indoor rock climbing facility and talking at length to consumers in the 18 to 26 age range. These young drivers talked about what they want in a vehicle, what they use it for, what hobbies and other activities they engage in. They gave feedback on Piranha’s overall philosophy and specific design elements.

The result is a highly customizable vehicle that allows drivers to express themselves and their individuality. Athletic forms and materials reflect the active lifestyles of these consumers. The design team drew inspiration from items such as sports tents, athletic shoes and biking head gear and mountain bike components. Because young drivers are looking for affordable driving excitement, Piranha’s designers explored low-cost manufacturing strategies. The resulting lightweight construction and visible structure make Piranha inexpensive both to buy and maintain.

The Piranha concept introduces a new generation of drivers to unsurpassed driving excitement. Says Pontiac Design Manager John Mack, "The Piranha concept can offer young consumers the opportunity to buy new, not used; expressive, not traditional; in a quality performance that meets their very active lifestyle needs."- Autoworld.com

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