The Laurentian was the first in line in the export range of full-size Pontiacs. Like most full-size Pontiacs offered in Europe it hailed from Canada rather than the US.  The Pontiac executives in the US figured that the Canadian adaptations of the US full-size models would appeal more to the European taste and circumstances.
The European ad agencies found it hard to position the big Pontiacs on the market, and it was even harder for them to make the distinctions between the different model lines clear to the potential customers. Most of Europe's important car makes had rationalized their range of offerings on the market since the second World War and usually had a limited range of three mass production series: a lower middle-class range of small compact cars, a middle-class range of somewhat bigger family sedans and an upper-class range of big expensive cars. For each series there was one specific name or number and distinctions within the series were made by adding extra numbers, letters or names to the standard name. In the US however it had become customary to name cars within a series differently according to engine specification and/or trim levels. This confused (and still confuses) the Europeans, who found it hard to tell the one model from the other. It made comparing the offerings of US car manufacturers to the ones of the European manufacturers difficult and gave US makes a serious drawback at competing for customers in Europe. That, added to the slightly arrogant way the US manufacturers approached the European market and the incompatible desires and expectations of American and European car buyers, made American cars unsuccessful on the European car market up to now.
By browsing through the Dutch 1966 Pontiac brochure this becomes evident: all full-size models are praised as being luxurious, big, roomy and representative. Almost no effort has been made to distinguish between the different full-size lines on offer, making it virtually impossible for the customer who wasn't already familiar with American cars to see what the advantages were of one model line compared to the other. An amazing waste of effort really...

The Laurentian was based on the American Pontiac Star Chief Executive. Specific features that distinguished the Laurentian from its American counterpart were the tree horizontal chrome ornaments on the rear fenders just above the chrome rub strip, the name "Laurentian" in places where the American car stated "Executive" (on the front fenders for example) and the lack of chrome trim around the side windows. The interior trim and upholstery resembled that of the Chevrolet Bel Air rather than that of the Star Chief Executive.

In Europe the Laurentian came as a 4-door sedan or as a 6 person "Safari" wagon (not available in the Star Chief Executive range). A full-size Pontiac meant a length of 548 cm, a width of 202 cm and a height of 141 cm. On the European market it was only available with a straight 6 cylinder, 4100 cc engine that produced 152 hp @ 4200 rpm. The Laurentian was fitted with a manual 3-speed transmission and lacked power steering and power assisted brakes.
In Canada there was also 2-door sedan model available, and all Laurentians could be had with V8 engines from 195 up to 425 hp.

Odd and confusing in this respect is that while the Laurentian was the base model in Europe, the Star Chief Executive was a step up from the entry-level Catalina in the US. And the Catalina body styling resembled that of the Canadian Parisienne model, which was ranked above the Laurentian (see the next page)

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