The Pontiac Montana is a minivan that was sold by General Motors under the Pontiac brand for model years 1997 to 2009. Its badge-engineered variants were the Chevrolet Venture and the Oldsmobile Silhouette in the first generation, and the Chevrolet Uplander, Saturn Relay, and Buick Terraza in the second generation. Prior to the 1997 model year, it was known as the Pontiac Trans Sport. In 1996 for the 1997 model year, the Trans Sport added the Montana moniker as part of an available trim package. This package proved so popular the line was renamed Montana in 1998 for the 1999 model year in the United States and 1999 for the 2000 model year in Canada. When the van was redesigned in 2004 for the 2005 model year, the name was changed to Montana SV6. It was discontinued after the 2006 model year in the United States because of slow sales, but continued to be sold in Canada and Mexico until 2009. Since their introduction, the Pontiac minivans were GM's most popular minivans among consumers in Canada. The Doraville, Georgia assembly plant which produced the Montana and its siblings closed on September 26, 2008. Sales of the Montana SV6 continued for Canada and Mexico until 2009, a year before the Pontiac brand was discontinued in 2010. First generation (1997) The Montana nameplate was used as a trim level of the Pontiac Trans Sport van from 1997 to 1998. GM dropped the Trans Sport name for MY1999 (2000 in Canada) and the van simply became Montana. This generation was related to the first generation Buick GL8, the Chevrolet Venture, the Oldsmobile Silhouette, the Opel Sintra and the Vauxhall Sintra. The Opel and Vauxhall were only sold in Europe, although they were made in the same factory in the U.S. as the other U-body minivans. Chevrolet also introduced a nearly identical twin to Pontiac save for its badging for European consumers, named the Chevrolet Trans Sport. The 2000-2005 GL8 is similar to the first-generation Pontiac Montana, and the 2005-2016 GL8 is similar to the Pontiac Montana SV6. Both generations of the Buick GL8 minivans were only sold in China. The Pontiac Montana came in both short- and long-wheelbase models. The Pontiac Montana was one of the few minivans which provided seating for eight. New for this generation were cabin air filters, and the filters can be accessed from behind an access panel easily