How ‘Breaking Bad’ Reignited Interest in the Pontiac Aztek
The Pontiac Aztek represents transformation in the hit show Breaking Bad, and fans of the show wanted a part of it.
Written by Alexandra Maloney
Reviewed by Kathleen Flear
Before the hit
TV show
“Breaking Bad,” the Pontiac Aztek was a car many chose to forget. It was a failed attempt by General Motors and represented poor decisions throughout the company as a whole. Not to mention, it wasn’t the nicest car to look at and didn’t have any standout features. For those reasons, sales of the Pontiac Aztek were always historically low.That is, until Walter White started driving it around the set of “Breaking Bad.” Fans of the show felt the Pontiac Aztek was the perfect car for White, and consequently skyrocketed sales of the car so they could drive an Aztek themselves. “Breaking Bad” quite literally revived the Pontiac Aztek.
What is the Pontiac Aztek?
The Pontiac Aztek is a generic, five-seat SUV sold by General Motors. It has a standard 3.4-liter, V6 engine with a four-speed automatic transmission. The car was sold by General Motors in the early 2000s, and doesn’t really have many features or perks to write home about.
According to
Top Gear
, the highlights in the Pontiac Aztek are the massive amount of cargo space and sunroof the car supports. While the sunroof is a nice benefit, the reason the car has so much cargo space is because of a particularly unfavorable design. The Pontiac Aztek has been named one of the ugliest cars ever made by multiple car sources. It has a long hood and a cargo space that sort of slips in with the rest of the car that makes for a lot of space, but an ugly appearance. Based on this design, it’s no surprise sales were down for the car.
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How did ‘Breaking Bad’ reignite interest in the Aztek?
When Walter White appeared in the pilot of “Breaking Bad” driving Walt Jr. to school in a 2004 Pontiac Aztek, it suddenly transformed into an iconic TV show car. Viewers began to love the show and love the beat up, ugly car Walter White drove. And, they wanted in on the Pontiac Aztek action.
MotorBiscuit
reports sales of the Aztek started rising as soon as the show premiered, and only continued every year as the show grew and grew in popularity. According to Edmunds
, sales for the Pontiac Aztek were up 25.5% by 2015 after “Breaking Bad” had been on the air for a few years, and it ranks sixth among used cars bought by the 18- to 34-year-old age demographic. Why did fans love the Pontiac Aztek in the show so much?
What made the Pontiac Aztek so popular after it appeared on the show? Evidently, it wasn’t the car’s looks, or even the fact that the polarizing Walter White drove the vehicle. Instead, fans loved the Pontiac Aztek for what it represented, and the fact that it was a metaphor for the larger themes within the “Breaking Bad” plot line.
Inverse
explains that “Breaking Bad” isn’t just a show about drugs, it’s about the moral decline of a once loveable Walter White into a total unrecognizable person. The Pontiac Aztek, broken and beaten down, going with Walter on his character journey, is a representation of that spiral. When Walter sells his Pontiac Aztek for just $50 and upgrades to a Chrysler 300C SRT8, it further demonstrates that the old Walter White is gone. Just like his car, he’s been replaced. The unspoken metaphor resonated with fans of the show, and in turn, skyrocketed sales of the Pontiac Aztek.
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