Claim: General Motors is resurrecting the Pontiac Firebird Trans Am for 2015.

FALSE

Example: [Collected via e-mail, March 2015]



Is it true that GM is releasing a new Pontiac Firebird for 2016.



Origins: Despite the fact that General Motors stopped producing the Pontiac Firebird Trans Am in 2002, photographs purportedly showing new versions of the classic car have continued to pop up on the Internet ever since. The most recent photos went of this nature viral shortly after they were posted to the web site Brave New Carz on 3 March 2015:

While the vehicle displayed in the images seen above may look like a 2015 Pontiac Firebird, the pictured car was not built by General Motors and is not a true Pontiac Trans Am. The vehicle is a custom car created by a Florida based company called the Trans Am Depot:



Trans Am Depot specializes in the design, fabrication and conversion of the 2010-2015 Trans Am. Based on the Camaro platform, we offer a 6T9 version Trans Am, 6T9 Goat (GTO), 7T7 Trans Am and the limited edition Hurst Trans Am.



The Trans Am Depot, which claims to be the only company “licensed and authorized” to use the Trans Am moniker, has made several versions of the classic car over the years. When the company released the Trans Am Hurst Edition in 2013, AutoBlog wrote that despite the vehicle’s appearance there was no need to thank General Motors for it:



No, you didn’t read our title wrong. This is a 2013 model year Trans Am, and yes, that is a Pontiac logo affixed to the front of the car. But don’t bother dialing up your local General Motors dealership just yet. This is the new Hurst Edition Trans Am created by the Trans Am Depot located in Tallahassee, FL. Having spent a number of years restoring early Trans Am models, the crew at Trans Am Depot finally did what many Pontiac enthusiasts wish GM would have done … create a modern Trans Am using the fifth-generation Chevrolet Camaro.



So while General Motors is not producing a new Pontiac Firebird Trans Am for 2015, car buffs can can get something pretty close to it from the Trans Am Depot.

Last updated: 4 March 2015



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