Semon Knudsen

Semon Emil "Bunkie" Knudsen, (October 2, 1912 in Buffalo, New York – July 6, 1998 in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan), was a prominent American automobile executive.

Knudsen was the son of former General Motors President William S. Knudsen. Although close with his father, he was not spoiled. He was interested in mechanical things, particularly automobiles. When he asked for a car as a teenager, his father gave him one in pieces, which he had to assemble. He pursued an engineering education, graduating from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1936.

Knudsen began working for General Motors in 1939 with Pontiac Division and rose to management quickly, becoming general manager of the Detroit Diesel Division in 1955, a vice-president of the company and general manager of Pontiac Division in 1956.

When appointed head of Pontiac, he was given the mission to improve the marque's sales. At that time Pontiac had a reliable but stodgy image. Knudsen brought in Pete Estes from Oldsmobile as chief engineer and hired John DeLorean away from Packard to be his assistant, with the assignment to create high performance versions of Pontiac's existing models. The Pontiac Bonneville and the "wide-track Pontiacs" came from this effort. Pontiac became heavily involved in NASCAR racing under Knudsen. Pontiac's new-found performance image eventually led to a dramatic rise in new car sales with the division reaching to third place in industry standings by 1962. In 1961, Knudsen submitted a request to add a new personal-luxury car to his division's lineup to better compete with the Ford Thunderbird but was turned down as the car was assigned to Buick, which introduced it as the 1963 Riviera. Knudsen then ordered his division to fancy up the full-sized Catalina hardtop coupe with sporty and luxurious appointments, which became a reality as the Pontiac Grand Prix for 1962.

Knudsen's success at Pontiac led to his promotion to general manager of Chevrolet Division in 1961. While at Pontiac he was noted for his interest in performance, and this continued with the introduction of the Chevrolet Super Sport models. He also insisted on changes to improve the safety of the Chevrolet Corvair, which was not reported publicly until it was revealed by John DeLorean in his book On a Clear Day You Can See General Motors. Knudsen also reportedly rejected an idea to offer a Pontiac version of the revolutionary Corvair in favor a front-engine compact car to be offered by Oldsmobile (as the F-85) and Buick (as the Special) for 1961. Pontiac introduced its version of the Buick-Olds-Pontiac compact as the Tempest for 1961, but gave that car some unique engineering features such as a slanted four-cylinder engine (which was really half of a Pontiac 389 V8), rear swing axles and a rear transaxle (both derived from the Corvair) driven by a flexing shaft to eliminate the driveshaft hump for increased interior space.

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