When General Motors first showed off the Pontiac Solstice, the low-slung, head-turning roadster,
it seemed the perfect antidote for the brand, whose flagship sedan had become known as the “Bland Am.”

People who wanted the Solstice had to wait months for one to arrive, and they paid as much as $6,000 above the sticker
price to be among the first in their neighborhood to have one. The waiting lists swelled after the Solstice appeared in an
episode of Donald Trump’s reality TV show, “The Apprentice,” and Mr. Trump promised one to that season’s winner.

But the car, while a hit, did not generate much more interest in the Pontiac brand over all, and as a result even the Solstice
itself appears to be hurting, just two years into its lifespan.

Sales of the Solstice are down 19 percent this year through July, and G.M., which apologized for not building enough
Solstices initially, now has nearly a five months’ supply in inventory, double the carmaker’s average.
Sales of Pontiac-branded cars and trucks are off 17 percent, compared with 9 percent for all eight G.M. nameplates,
according to Autodata, which tracks industry statistics.

“It was such a radical departure from what people expected out of Pontiac that it created a tremendous buzz when it first
hit the market,” said Wes Brown, an automotive consultant and a partner in the Los Angeles marketing firm Iceology.
“It looks pretty cool, but ultimately it’s not able to overcome some of those barriers people have within their mind with
regard to the brand image.”

Meanwhile, demand for the Solstice’s fraternal twin, the costlier and more angular Saturn Sky, has shown signs of subsiding.
G.M. has about one month’s worth of the Sky available, but many buyers still have to wait for their Sky to arrive.

Each of Pontiac’s 2,700 dealers sells, on average, just over one Solstice every two months, while each of Saturn’s 440
dealers sells about two of the Sky, which is produced in more limited numbers, every month.
Pontiac plans to build 20,000 Solstices this year and is on pace to sell 18,000.

It is evidence not only of how quickly the luster on stylish cars can fade but also how difficult it is for an automotive brand
to win back customers once they have been put off.

“They’re very much fashion statements,” Mr. Brown said of cars like the Solstice.
“The newest one that arrives is the hottest one, and that bloom can last from 6 to 18 months, depending on what else comes out.”

Both the Sky and the Solstice are low-production, niche vehicles that are worth more to G.M. in the traffic they bring to
showrooms than for the actual profits they generate. (Sticker prices start at C$28,115 for the Solstice and C$31,325 for the Sky.)

The Sky is among the vehicles that have helped revitalize the Saturn brand this year.
Saturn sales are up 15 percent, the most among G.M.’s brands, and G.M. is spending considerably more money promoting
Saturn than Pontiac. Sales at G.M.C., which shares dealerships with Pontiac and Buick, have climbed 2 percent, while sales
are down at the other six brands.

A spokesman for Pontiac, Jim Hopson, said the company was “not terribly concerned” by the size of its Solstice inventory
or by the vehicle’s lower sales numbers this year. Inventories began to build last summer, when Pontiac introduced the
turbo-charged Solstice GXP, reducing demand for the base model and giving dealers a reason to have an additional
Solstice on their lots, he said.

Mr. Hopson said some dealers still have only one Solstice, making them reluctant to sell it and risk losing whatever
customers that “showroom trophy” may draw inside.

But other dealers have 10 or more in stock, and some have been trying to push them out the door by cutting as much as
$1,000 off the sticker price. Edmunds.com, a Web site that gives car-buying advice to consumers, reports that Solstice
buyers are getting an average discount of $475, while the Sky is selling at sticker price.
(Saturn dealers have a no-haggle pricing policy.)

Hal Waldrop, a Solstice owner, said he recently saw six of the roadsters lined up at the Pontiac dealership near his
home in Frisco, Tex., just north of Dallas.

“I had never seen more than two there previously,” he said.

Mr. Waldrop, 49, was told he was 45th on the dealer’s waiting list for a Solstice and would have to wait up to a year to
receive one when he ordered one in November 2005. The dealer called two months later to offer a green one
— a color known as “envious” in the Solstice’s list of emotionally named color options drawn from “The Apprentice”
— when its intended buyer’s financing fell through.

“The car is just a joy,” Mr. Waldrop said. “When the top’s down and you’re on a twisty road, I can’t imagine anything would
be more fun. Even today, I cannot stop at a gas station without someone walking up and telling me how much they like it.
Almost everybody guesses it would be a $40,000 car if they don’t know what it is.”

But the Solstice’s design and low sticker price relative to many competing models might not be enough when it is sold
under a brand name that G.M. neglected for years. Robert A. Lutz, the G.M. vice chairman who conceived the Solstice,
called Pontiac and Buick “damaged brands” during a 2005 speech at the New York auto show.

Pontiac has several other new models on the horizon, including the full-size G8 sedan, that the company hopes will shore
up the intended identity of the 81-year-old brand as a producer of performance-oriented cars.

“Saturn, although it had been struggling, has nowhere near the type of negative baggage that the Pontiac brand does,”
Mr. Brown, the auto consultant, said. “That brand is damaged. If you ask the average person, I don’t think they could tell
you what the brand’s supposed to be.”

Note: lack of sales for Solstice may not be as much of a surprise as you might think - click here.