Built to compete against the light-coupe import market, the Sunfire arrived in 1995 as a replacement for the Pontiac Sunbird.
In 2002 it went through a major facelift.

The budget sport-coupe market in the U.S. was dominated by the Honda Civic coupe and Toyota Celica. Their high-revving engines, but with low torque, increased their market share. The GM launched the Sunfire as a countermeasure for them, with bigger engines.

The 2002 model-year featured a completely new front end design. The wider, sleek-looking, headlights, and the specific Pontiac grille were the most important visible upgrades over the 1995 model. A more aggressive bumper with three air-intakes and the fog-lights on the outer side, made the car look like it went through a custom-car shop. The Sunfire was available as a sedan, coupe, and convertible. The coupe was the sportiest looking one and it featured raised beltline on the quarter panels. A small wing was installed at the base of the rear windscreen. Three-spoke specific light-alloy wheels were installed.

Inside, a four-spoke steering wheel was installed. The instrument cluster was rounded on a bulge in the front of the driver and featured four analog dials. On the center stack, there was a low-spec stereo and the controls for the air-conditioning unit. The front bucket-seats were built to offer good stability during high-speed cornering, even though the car was not as fast as it looked.

From 2003 to 2005, when the car was retired, the Sunfire was offered with only one engine: a 2.2-liter that offered 140 hp, which was less than what the import-cars offered.

The first model of Pontiac Sunfire came out in 1995 and was especially designed to replaced the popular Pontiac Sunbird.
The Sunfire was developed on the General Motors J platform, together with the Chevrolet Cavalier, Buick Skyhawk and Pontiac Sunbird. The 2000 variant of Sunfire had a choice of three engines, a 2.2, a 2.2 Ecotec and a 2.4, which produced 116, 140 and 152 horsepower respectively. Even if the Sunfire recorded pretty high sales, with approximately 36,000 units sold in the United States and more than 33,000 units exported to Canada, the US manufacturer decided to discontinue the whole project in 2005, replacing it with Pontiac G5.