50 Cent introduces the new Pontiac Ute

Music artist 50-Cent unveiled the 2010 Pontiac G8 Sport Truck at the New York Auto Show today, as well as other new Pontiac models in New York. A sports truck combines the handling of a sports coupe with the carrying capacity of a light truck. It delivers both automotive fuel economy and a 0-60 acceleration time of 5.4 seconds. It can also carry a payload of over 1,074 pounds. The sports truck is expected to hit dealer showrooms in late 2009.

To learn more about the Pontiac Sport truck, read Kevin Hepworth's full story below.

The Australian "workers' sports car" has conquered the world's largest new car market with the announcement that Pontiac will sell the Holden Ute in the US.

Since General Motors is already marketing the Commodore SS as the Pontiac G8, news from New York that the ute model will be added to the lineup from next year has lifted local spirits.

"It's not every day that a manufacturer announces a vehicle that creates an entirely new market segment, but with this first ute export to North America in the form of the G8 sports truck, that's exactly what Pontiac is doing," said GM Holden Chairman and Managing Director Mark Reuss.

"The design, performance and performance of the G8 sedan has already been praised by the American media and Pontiac fans, and we are confident that the sports truck and GXP sedan will be equally well received."

Speculation about the possibility of exporting Aussie Ute to North America first appeared at the Detroit Auto Show in 2002.

GM product boss Bob Lutz, the man who later that year promoted the Monaro in North America as the Pontiac GTO, suggested it as a replacement for the classic Chevrolet El Camino.

This plan never came to fruition, but with a free trade agreement removing the 20 percent tariff that Ute had previously discouraged, GM decided to give the green light to Pontiac's program.

“The FTA situation certainly made it viable,” said John Lindsay of GM Holden. “The numbers aren’t expected to be huge, but this is great news for us.”

The G8 sports truck is based on the new V8 SS Ute with the same level of performance and the same redesigned front end as the G8 sedan.

Buick-Pontiac-GMC General Manager Jim Bunnell said, “Pontiac has never shied away from offering segment-defining cars. There is simply nothing better on the road today than the G8 sports truck and we definitely believe there will be customers who will love its distinctive design, performance and payload.”

The sports truck will be officially unveiled at the New York Auto Show on Wednesday, alongside a fourth Holden model with a Pontiac badge.

A new flagship, the G8 GXP high-performance sedan joins the G8 and G8 GT as the Commodore-based Pontiac.

The GXP sedan, which will begin production in Adelaide later this year, and a sports truck due next year, mean Holden's Elizabeth plant will produce 45 models from six variants.

The G8 GXP uses the new LS3 small-block 6.2-liter V8 engine with 300kW and 546Nm. It will be the first Australian-built Pontiac to offer both a six-speed manual and a six-speed automatic.

"Two countries separated by a common language."

It's unlikely that George Bernard Shaw had the classic Australian ute in mind when he made his famous observation about America... but it's still relevant.

For North Americans, the Utes are the original people after whom the state of Utah is named.

This language barrier has prompted Pontiac to go public in search of a name for its new Holden Ute-based G8 sports truck unveiled at the New York Auto Show on Wednesday.

Pontiac has launched a website where you can post proposals for a suitable name for the new car that broke the segment.

Pontiac marketing director Craig Birley said the company is aware that a simple sports truck moniker doesn't fully describe a car's ability to blur the line between a sports car and a truck (the description of any line of SUVs and pickup trucks in the US).