Oprah Winfrey reveals how she came up with 'You get a car' in the iconic Pontiac G6 giveaway moment

Among other things, Oprah Winfrey gave the world one of the most ‘memeable’ moments when she came up with the tagline ‘you get a car‘, after giving each member of the audience a Pontiac G6.

The whole thing had been carefully planned and arranged, except for the tagline.

This legendary TV moment apparently cost GM a fortune because the company provided all the cars.

But there’s a reason why audience members were genuinely surprised.

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This is why Oprah came up with the tagline on the spot

In 2004, during Season 19 of The Oprah Winfrey Show, the TV star came up with a tagline that’s still a memeable moment to this day.

“You get a car! Everybody gets a car!” she exclaimed.

The whole thing had been thoroughly arranged, of course, but the tagline wasn’t.

It was something Oprah came up with on the spot.

Audience members initially thought one of them would go home with a Pontiac G6 – worth about $28,500 at the time – because that’s what they’d been told.

Each member was given a box and was told that only one of them would contain the keys to a brand-new Pontiac.

But then the audience quickly realized all the boxes had car keys in them, which is when Oprah came up with the iconic catchphrase, and that’s also why they were genuinely surprised.

So instead of just one audience member getting a brand new car, they all did.

The car was free, but it cost GM a fortune

The whole thing had been in part sponsored by GM, because the American automaker was trying to promote the Pontiac brand and the new Pontiac G6.

It was certainly good news to the audience, maybe not so much for the manufacturer.

The audience was specially selected – many were struggling with old or unreliable vehicles – and each member was given a cash option as an alternative because they’d have to pay for federal taxes on the vehicle.

However, everything else was paid.

GM invested around $7-$8 million into the cars, and the show covered sales tax and registration.

The problem is, with hindsight, this probably didn’t help GM as much as the company hoped, considering Pontiac no longer exists.

GM is bringing back the namesake for accessories and spare parts, but as an automaker, Pontiac is now defunct.