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.