GM to pull the plug on Pontiac.

I disagree re: Hummer. The only unique product they ever offered was the now-discontinued H1. The other Hummers are just Chevy/GMCs in drag, and ugly ones at that (and while we're on the subject, what's the point of maintaining both Chevy and GMC as two different brands selling the exact same product?) No wonder they're in the crapper. Saab really should be spun off, as it's more associated with other Euro brands than GM anyway. Not sure why they bought it in the first place.

Of course they're selling fewer cars. That doesn't mean they can't fill niche markets. They will never sell as many cars as Chevy, because Chevy is GM's bread and butter line. All of their differentiated cars are niche cars, and those that aren't can likely be bought less expensively with Chevy badges on the trunk lid. That's the whole problem. There's no reason they can't continue selling the niche cars though.

Possible. I'd still leave them labeled as Pontiacs though, just for the sake of continuity. Now whether that justifies a whole different division or if they should be treated at a corporate/design/engineering level as just a different flavor of GM passenger car, I couldn't say. The latter would actually make sense, on the face of it.

nate

they need to get rid of their duplicate models any way.. Chevrolet & Pontiac doesn't need the same cars with different names on them.

That's true. How many Buick dealers does GM have, vs. Pontiac?

--scott

They _will_ remain, but they won't stay under the GM umbrella. I think both are actually salable commodities (in spite of GM's best efforts to destroy Saab and turn the Hummer from an adapted military vehicle into an overpriced minivan). People will buy them, and I think they might be worth enough that GM could actually make something splitting them off. Since GM is desperate for short-term profits right now, that would seem like a good plan.

The Pontiac brand has become so diluted that I don't think the average person on the street even knows it still exists. This is very bad if you're trying to sell them.

I bet a dollar that GM does just that.

--scott

Can't be done. Makes too much sense.

I see a lot of G6s running around. They cost too much to make for the profit returned. To hell with the customers!

Corrected...

Every Hummer I have seen before are as Ugly as hell.I can't see why some people buy those Ugly things. cuhulin

Only $1000? The Sierra is a full-size truck and the S-10 is a small truck. Only $1000 is pretty good.

You get similar differences when you compare similar Audis and VWs, Fords and Mercuries, Lexi and Toyotae, etc.

Jeff

GMC also sold a S-15 which was essentially a S-10 with GMC badging. Maybe they called it a Sierra, or had a Sierra trim level on the S-15 platform for a few years, I don't know.

nate

The Sierra is the full size pickup, similar to the Chevy Silverardo. The Silverardo replaced the C10/K10 trucks. The Colorado replaced the S10. And the GMC Canyon replaced the S15.

If he said the Sierra, I am sure he meant the Sierra.

Jeff

Uh, you do know that Pontiacs and Chevys are basically the same cars, right? Same platforms, same engines (at least in recent years), built in the same factories? No significant difference in manufacturing costs. That is one of the things that got GM into trouble, and why they had to kill Oldsmobile a few years back. Badge engineering- everyone KNEW they were the same damn cars, no matter what the nameplate said. So why pay

(Suckers are still out there- paying 15 grand extra for a loaded Chevy Tahoe with a Cadillac nose stuck on it, and some plastic cladding on the sides. Idiots.)

Lordy. We all know what he meant- he looked at th GMC mini-pickup for whatever year he bought his S-10, and the same truck was a grand more expensive. Chevy and GMC have been selling the same trucks pretty much since they bought the brand name 80-some years ago.

Look around at all the companies in trouble and you will see example after example of management more concerned with next quarter's incentive bonus than the future health of their company.

Newspapers who are working hard to eliminate, as cost control measures, the reason why we buy newspapers (in-depth news articles written by local reporters).

Car companies reducing the choices they give their customers (GM dropping Oldsmobile and Pontiac, Chrysler dropping Plymouth).

Radio stations "centralizing" their news rooms to locations that are

Then management can't understand why subscribers cancel their newspaper deliveries and get their news from the Internet. Buy cars from manufacturers who make what they want to buy and not from those who only produce what looks to be the most profitable.

I fear for my grandchildren! I don't even want to try to imagine what this country will be like when they are my age.

Jack j

I think you got it Jack!!

Your grandkids will have a very long row to hoe, thanks to us.

I hope somehow they will be able to get themselves out of socialism.

I hate to see America down that path, but that's where it's going.

I won't be here to *enjoy it*, thankfully.

Yup. Saab if you can't get a Hummer.

Fewer choices? When I was a kid, there were four networks (abc, NBC, CBS, PBS). Now with cable tv, there are 100s. There two local newspapers. Now there's one, but I can read the nytimes, wall street journal, San jose mercury news and 100s if others. and there were about six car makers selling cars in my area ( diamler-benz, gm, Amc, chyrsler, be and peugeot). Peugeot, chrysler and amc are almost all gone, but there is also toyota, honda, volvo, mazda, subaru, hyundai, KIA, Suzuki, land rover, nissan, bmw and a few others. More choices, not less. The two big things kids seem to be missing out on are reading books and doing things forbthemselves (e.g. Walking to the store instead of riding).

My father had 1989 chevy s-10 that is still going. It lasted far longer than a toyota sr-5.

Actually toyotas, honda and other cars just get bigger, too. That's why we have a yaris and fit now.

There are only about 5 or 6 networks. ABC, NBC, CBS, Viacom (which I believe is owned by CBS?) the company that runs Bravo, AMC and some other cable channels, owned by NBC.