GM to pull the plug on Pontiac.

snipped-for-privacy@webtv.net wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@storefull-3171.bay.webtv.net:

Too many brands anyways. The result of buying another car company, giving their execs a division repeated several times. A good start. Although I'd prefer to see John Delorean do the reorganization myself .

Pull the plug is a relative word compared to whats coming.

My prediction:

GM will be in chapter 11 by fall.

That will allow them to cancel dealer franchise agreements at will. dealer network to be reduced 1/3 to 1/2 of current numbers

There won't be a name franchise like in the past.

there will be two levels of dealers.

Premium will be Cadillac,GMC, Buick

general will be Chevy,Pontiac,Saturn

there won't be three brand versions of the same car

There will be a new rear drive car platform based on truck modular hydroformed frame technology to allow GM to compete in the police and public fleet market. They will have Fuel cell APU's to save energy in police applications.

Hummer will be sold to whomever dismembers Chrysler and combined with jeep and dodge trucks.

UAW contracts will go out the window retirements will be 401K's , no GM pension wages in line with other US built imports. Its that or be in the soup line The workers left will be there because of abilities and not seniority.

plants will stay open or shut down by negotiated concession with local taxing authorities.

GM might be looking at other markets for idled plants such as airframe fuselage subcontracting. That new airforce tanker contract could be a good start.

Some parts suppliers will be brought back into the fold to avoid supplier disruption

It will take 10 years to pay off debts and get back into the black

bob

I think Saturn is gone, as well as Pontiac.

Okay, now the combination of these would be interesting, and I think it would be a really good thing. It may reduce the total number of dealers but I think it makes for a better deal for the remaining dealers in that they have a wider variety to show.

Saturn is gone. Pontiac is gone. If you're going to split into two levels, it'll be Cadillac+Buic and Chevy+GMC, maybe.

Thank God. I think that would be the best thing to come out of it.

THIS would be a brilliant move, and my worry is that they won't be able to do it since they have already laid off the whole performance group already. Doing something like this would really show the world that GM has something viable to offer, but I don't think they'd be able to make it at this point. Six months ago, maybe. Some things would have to change.

If it were me, I'd dump Hummer since the thing no longer bears any connection to the military HMMV and shares no common parts any longer. There's really no reason to have it, except maybe as a niche vehicle if you can afford to build it on its own line. And if you can do that, hell, you can probably sell the real thing (like the Civilian H1) for less.

Yes, I don't see any way around this.

Again, if they could do it, I'd be impressed. Too much has fallen too far behind the technology curve that it's a huge effort to bring it back to a state where anyone would want to subcontract precision work to them.

Again, a smart idea.

I think that's a little optimistic too.

--scott

Stupid idea. Of course, GM is chock full of stupid ideas. Why is it a stupid idea? Because I like driving Japanese cars! Of all the brands of cars GM makes, the FIRST one I would go look at is a Pontiac! Screw Chevy. I know there are die-hard Chevy fanatics out there, but face it: the current crop of Chevy cars have absolutely NOTHING in common with the cars you guys love.

Once again, GM is thinking more of the Shareholders than the Customers. Chevy's are inexpensive to build and have a higher profit margin. So GM makes more money per car. But if nobody's BUYING your cars, you're not making any money!

As long as they continue this pattern of thought that has kept them in trouble since the 70's, there isn't much hope that GM will still be in the car business.

You say that as though it's a bad thing. Personally, I think it's *LONG* past time for this to happen.

Beg to differ. Chevy has always been the GM sales leader. Mass sales is what makes money and instills brand loyalty. The Camry/Corolla/Accord/Civic is what put Toy/Honda ahead. Quality appliances. The biggest knocks against GM is building too many dog models. And when they built a dog it usually sullied all their marques. There are fans of every brand, but in the end it's how many trips to the mechanic that sway most people to brand loyalty. Maybe concentrating on building quality in fewer brands will work. If they can get themselves back in the game they can bring back some of the "exotics."

--Vic

1) GM's is in business to make money for its shareholders. 2) If GM doesn't make money, it won't be in business 3) GM sold about 18,000 Pontiacs last month vs. about 95 Chevies. 4) GM has not made any final decisions about any of its brands.

Jeff

On Monday, GM will announce they are dropping Pontiac.

No doubt natives will protest over this politically incorrect move.

OK, but as of now, they haven't. And, according to the reports that I have heard and seen, they are still going to have it around as a niche brand.

Jeff

Problem is that the current range of Pontiacs have nothing in common with the cars that people associate with the name. If you ask the man on the street about Pontiac, he'll remember an old GTO he had years ago. This is not a progressive brand.

As far as the cars currently sold under the Pontiac name... odds are they will continue to be sold under some different name. It's only a label on the grille these days.

Problem is that there's no real difference between the cars that they are selling under different brand names. So eliminating a few of the brands is a good step. And Chevy has good name recognition and people think about it in terms of modern vehicles.

--scott

Pontiac Is Dead

Date posted: 04-23-2009

DETROIT ? According to a source at General Motors, the company will announce next Monday its new "faster, deeper" reorganization plan, which will likely include a death sentence for the Pontiac brand.

Inside Line called Tom Wilkinson, news relations PR man for General Motors, who said: "There's nothing I can share with you at this time. Keep your eyes on our media site. Officially, nothing has changed with Pontiac's niche-brand status, until you hear differently."

Not a lot is said about the duplication of dealers. There are way to many for GM. High volume dealers can sell with less overhead so consolidation of dealerships is also a priority and a sticking point in negations for cost reduction. A lot of dealers have gone out of business but a lot more need to close.

The problem is that there hasn't been a difference in quite a long time - not since GM went from having divisions to having brands, which was in the late '90s, IIRC.

n-on-monday/

So we don't know. But, logically, it makes to me to get rid of the brand. GM effectively has other niche brands, namely the Corvette and Camaro (both of which are Chevy's). I think they should hold on to the European companies, but, I don't think that will happen. Long term, it will be good for the company. They can do what they did with the Geo brand when they dumped that - merge the cars and trucks with Chevy.

Jeff

The problem is that there is an agreement governed by state laws that GM will continue to supply the dealers with cars of a particular brand. It cost GM over $1,000,000,000 to get out of the agreements when it killed Olds In addition, it costs lots of money to end a dealership contract for a brand that will continue. Bankruptcy laws will help with both of these if needs be. However, Saturn has already lots of dealerships close.

Jeff

It's doing so at the cost of customers. No customers, no money for the shareholders. Toyota and Honda learned that a long time ago.

But currently Pontiac is the one brand that's most differentiated from the ChevrobuickGMC borg, save for Cadillac. I'd say kill Buick and let Pontiac live. Kill off the clone cars and keep the G8 and Solstice.

nate