 Both continued Knudsen's work of making Pontiac a performance-car brand.Pontiac capitalized on the emerging trend toward sportier bucket-seat coupes in 1962 by introducing the Grand Prix, taking the place of the Ventura, which now became a trim option on the Catalina.Although GM officially ended factory support for all racing activities across all of its brands in January 1963, Pontiac continued to cater to performance-car enthusiasts by making larger engines with more power available across all model lines.