On September 13, 2004, The Oprah Winfrey Show made history during its 19th season. Oprah gave away 276 brand-new 2005 Pontiac G6 sedans — one for each member of the audience. The phrase, “You get a car! You get a car! Everybody gets a car!” became an indelible part of pop culture. Memes are still circulating about it almost 22 years later.
Oprah’s website discusses in greater detail how the day played out (as well as the preparation it took to make it happen).
We’ve talked in the past about individual cars being awarded as prize winnings, but Oprah’s (and GM’s) promotional stunt took things to a whole new level. It became a hot topic for many reasons, and one of them was the aftermath involving tax implications. The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) treated the cars as taxable income, so audience members were responsible for taxes on the vehicles’ values. The tax liability was estimated to be around $6,000 per recipient/car at that time.
Of course, audience members had the opportunity to refuse the prize. Some decided to pay the taxes and keep the car, while others sold the car right away to pay the taxes and keep the profit.
So, what exactly did everyone drive away with? The midsize G6 shared the General Motors Epsilon platform with the Chevrolet Malibu. It went on sale in September 2004 (the same month of the Oprah episode) for the 2005 model year. The entry-level G6 sedan had a base price of $21,300, with the GT coming in at $23,925. Both cars had a 200-horsepower 3.5-liter V-6 mated to a four-speed automatic transmission, but the GT had “TAPshift,” which allowed for manual gear selection.
One of the G6’s noteworthy features (which it appears the “prize cars” had) was a four-panel panoramic sunroof. A G6 coupe and a retractable-hardtop variant would debut the following year, as well as additional trim levels and a new inline-four engine for base models.
Here’s a look at a G6 sedan interior from 2008, courtesy of the 2008 Pontiac full-line brochure.
2008 G6 drop-top:
Pontiac’s marketing materials for the G6 made it sound as if the brand pushed a lot of boundaries, when in reality, it was a relatively run-of-the mill sedan to replace the Grand Am. The brochure said, “Phrases like ‘it can’t be done’ were not tolerated during G6’s development. Instead, every bold stroke of the designer’s pen was preserved in the G6 production vehicle.”
And that production, as it turned out, only lasted about five more years. Pontiac production ended in January 2010, when the Pontiac brand was phased out as a result of General Motors’ Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization. The last Pontiac ever built, incidentally, was a 2010 G6 in Summit White with a 2.4-liter VVT inline-four. As of 2022, based on VIN research, that specific car was determined to have been totaled — an unfortunate demise for the car and for the Pontiac brand as a whole.
Credit to People and to The Oprah Winfrey Show for these stills from the show.
All this makes me wonder how many of the 276 Oprah-gifted G6s are still on the road 22 years later. Or even better yet, how many are still with the original owner/recipient? Maybe you or someone you know happened to be in the studio audience that day. If so, let me know in the Comments section below.
