GM Shrinking to 4 brands.

[bigvegan]

http://www.autoblog.com/2009/01/12/o...o-four-models/

"In an interview Sunday with Automotive News (sub. req'd), Troy Clarke, GM's North American president, said that General Motors will be able to make good on its promise to Congress to drastically cut costs. Clarke said that GM will now focus its "product and marketing resources" on Buick, Chevrolet, Cadillac and GMC. That would leave Pontiac, Saturn, Saab and HUMMER in automotive limbo. As part of that same plan presented to lawmakers, GM said it would sell or close Saturn. And since no one has yet stepped forward with cash, the future is not at all certain for the unique brand despite what GM's marketing VP Mark LaNeve says. ..."

[trapin]

I won't miss Pontiac, Saab or Hummer but I really though Saturn had come along way since the 90's. Their product line looks the best it ever has. My wife has an Outlook. Best damn vehicle we've ever owned, and the best looking. Too bad.

[dhutton]

I don't understand why they would keep GMC, the vehicles are very similar to Chevy. It seems most GMC sales would be converted to Chevy sales. At least Saturn vehicles were unique. I don't think many Saturn sales will convert to Chevy or Buick sales so they will likely be lost.

[Slow Ride]

I'll miss Pontiac and Saturn alot. The G8 and GTO were the only cars I've even thought about buying the last few years. As for Saturn, my wife and I love here '04 Vue Redline, and would probably replace it at some time with another Saturn.

[MrQuick]

This is good news, im glad they are moving to fix and not throwing $200k parties. Also they are fixing the dealer on every block bull-s***. Taking a lesson learned from Toyota.


I'll miss Pontiac. The reasoning behind the GMC line staying is due to over seas sales. I maybe wrong but GM globaly is still top seller. Please correct me if im wrong Tony.

quick

[Damn True]

The Aura, G6 and Malibu are essentially the same car, as is the Vue and a few of the other GM "crossovers". The Astra IMO is a great little car and I really think it ought to be brought into the Chevy fold as a "world-car" in the vein of the Ford Escort/Focus.

The G8 ought to become an Impala or Caprice. Throw an efficient v6 in that thing along with the V8/GXP option and you'd have a solid full-size platform.....a wagon would work here too.

[hdesign]

I hate to see any of them go but IMHO this appears to be a good move at this point. To me GM always seemed to have too many poles in the water to be at optimum effectiveness and efficiency. Now they're being forced into a decision where something should have been done long ago.

In my world....As far as American brands go.....Chevy has to stay obviously, Caddy is the premium/lux brand, GMC should be commercial/industrial only (no more overlap with Chevy) and I would have probably hung on to Saturn as green brand or Pontiac as a specialty/enthusiast brand. However, why have a sport specific brand if you can't produce anything better than the Vette anyway?

I really have no use for Buick, it's a half step towards a luxury brand I think. The only people that buy will be losing their licenses in the next couple years anyway. Good luck turning that ship around in a potential buyer's eyes. It'll take years for that to happen, can they afford the investment?

[dhutton]

Buick is big seller in China. I couldn't believe how many of them are there, it is a prestigious brand. I think that is the reason they are keeping it.

[Mike Holleman]

http://www.autoblog.com/2009/01/12/o...o-four-models/

"In an interview Sunday with Automotive News (sub. req'd), Troy Clarke, GM's North American president, said that General Motors will be able to make good on its promise to Congress to drastically cut costs. Clarke said that GM will now focus its "product and marketing resources" on Buick, Chevrolet, Cadillac and GMC. That would leave Pontiac, Saturn, Saab and HUMMER in automotive limbo. As part of that same plan presented to lawmakers, GM said it would sell or close Saturn. And since no one has yet stepped forward with cash, the future is not at all certain for the unique brand despite what GM's marketing VP Mark LaNeve says. ..."

What doesn't make sense here is Buick, Pontiac, Cadillac, GMC dealers will lose the small car product without Pontiac. Our local dealer does way more with Pontiac than the other three as far as volume.

[subtlez28]

My wife has an Outlook. Best damn vehicle we've ever owned, and the best looking. Too bad.

I'm glad to hear you like your Outlook so much, we will pick up my wife's new Chevy Traverse later this week (same platform). But, best looking... I would think your 68 would get that nod.

I also thought Pontiac was doing well, especially w the G6. On the other hand if they make the G8 a chevy, and make it a little more basic, I may grab one. I also hope they make a Chevy version of the Solstice.

[derekf]

It could be interesting if they pare down to four brands - especially given the cars in the pipeline and the ones that would get orphaned -- the possible future Pontiac Ute? It could be an El Camino after all.
G8? Chevelle.
Sky/Solstice would have to move, obviously. Not sure if there's a proper retro name to give them; it's definitely not a Corvair for the 21st century, and I don't know that the Vega was that popular.
Don't know the SUV/minivan side well enough to even guess at them.

[Steve1968LS2]

Why ditch Saturn?? It's far mor unique than some of the other "rehash" brands.

Can someone tell me why we need a Silverado AND a Sierra??

[shortrack]

Can someone tell me why we need a Silverado AND a Sierra??

traditionally GM dealers were set up as Chev,Olds,Cadillac dealers or Pontiac,Buick dealers

GMC was created to give the Pontiac, Buick dealers a truck to sell....thus Pontiac, Buick, GMC

[Randy67]

It could be interesting if they pare down to four brands - especially given the cars in the pipeline and the ones that would get orphaned -- the possible future Pontiac Ute? It could be an El Camino after all.

According to a news article (which I can't find right now), the Ute has been cancelled, at least for now. Too bad, it is pretty darn cool.

[WS6]

traditionally GM dealers were set up as Chev,Olds,Cadillac dealers or Pontiac,Buick dealers

GMC was created to give the Pontiac, Buick dealers a truck to sell....thus Pontiac, Buick, GMC

correct. GMC was designed so that non chevy dealers could sell trucks.

Ultimately this decision makes sense. I may not agree on the brands though but limiting how many brands they have is smart. Hindsight being 20/20, GM shot themselves in the foot when they went coporate. It's taking 20+ years to see the affects though. It used to be GM could own all these brands because while they were similar(ie built on the same platform) but they were all very different(different engines, different interiors, etc etc). This meant very little over lap and loyalty to say Oldsmobile first, GM second. Meanwhile, GM as a whole prospered. Sure you can argue GM made more money being corporate and I'm betting they did. However, given today's situation and possible actions, I'd say a longevity was traded for some dollars that weren't needed.

And yes, autoblog reported the Pontiac Ute is dead

[TonyHuntimer]

That would leave Pontiac, Saturn, Saab and HUMMER in automotive limbo.

I wonder if this has been coming for a while, since I have not heard much about a 2010 Pontiac Firebird/TransAm? Every year they had a Camaro, they have had a Pontiac version of the F-Body. Just a thought...

Tony Huntimer
RaceHome.com

[MuscleRodz]

I can see no reason to keep GMC brand. Just add another interior package to Chevy. Buick may be big overseas, but our local Buick dealer which is a huge Pontiac dealer, just keeps a small handful. I would dump it in the US market. I don;t understand why they would dump Saturn. its business model was setup like Toyota and Honda. think there is only 2 or 3 Saturn dealers in entire OKC area. If they would just eliminate all the overlapping models, would cut costs a bunch.

[claytonisbob]

Keeping GMC probably doesn't cost much in the grand scheme of things. If GMC was created to give brand balance to dealers, it must not have costed GM too much to create a new brand (as long as the only differences in the trucks are different grills and emblems... and toned down interiors) in the first place.

A LOT of their decision might not even have anything to do with the US. After watching "Saving General Motors" I saw how dominant GM is in China... pretty amazing.

[PonchoJohn]

I was planning on buying a G8 GXP, BUT they are going to kill the only division that ever did have balls- they tried to neuter them w/ the demise of the Pontiac V8 (but brought it's features back as an LSx wink.wink..). Then they took the RWD GP- Pontiac lobbed some GTP's out there and everybody snapped 'em up. They tested the waters w/ a "Tap Shift" then other divisions got it. Pontiac kept GM going w/ the Grand Am (say whatever you want- they flat-out sold those cars). The WS6 4th gens were AWESOME (the fact that during the last few years of production, the Firebird almost outsold the Camaro is proof of people's preference).
The GTO was cancelled before it could get a proper redesign to make it fit the Pontiac image. The deliver a hot, fun to drive sports car, the Solistice (especially the GXP), and a sedan that had my, as well as many folks, attention, and now GM says F Pontiac??!!
Fu(K You GM!!
Let's see...
1948 Clayton Leach- PONTIAC engineer from PMD Engineering (yes kids, Lil ole Pontiac had an engineering department before the days of chevrolame engines) develops the rocker ball/stud/pushrod valvetrain-- sound familiar?? Yup, you've been using them since Pontiac invented them.
1955 Pontiac V8- Reverse flow cooling, dual valvesprings, windage tray, valley pan (keeps the hot oil off the intake), "air gap" manifold (Hi Edelbrock-- gee, I wonder where you got the idea from??), cast aluminum timing cover, four 1/2" stud per cylinder, torque to spec rockers (any of you LSx boys taking notes-- gee this sounds SOOOO familiar) AND an OIL FILTER housing to FILTER the oil!
1962 PMD invents the Fiberglass reinforced timing belt-- still in use today.
1964 Pontiac INVENTS the musclecar-- GTO. 'nuff said!
1968 Pontiac GTO- The front bumper is made of this rubbery stuff called Endura-- a urethane. How many of you have urethane bumpers on your car(s)?
Pontiac kept the musclecar alive in the 1970's when wimpy Corvettes couldn't get out of their own way. In fact, ONLY the Trans Am was never out of production from beginning to end. Mustang, Camaro, Cougar? Not musclecars- they could be with the right options, but not in base versions. Corvette? 1983??
Whatever... suck it GM!

[MonzaRacer]

Why not dump Buick and Chevy trucks.
Chevy used to be only strip-o and GMC was fancy.
Here would be my take on it,
Chevrolet cars
Pontiac Cars
GMC trucks
Caddy
Saturn as the eco level, euro line(its basicly US Saab)
They could sell a proper amount of cars:
Volt ECO cars
Cobalt with low and mid level
Cobalt LS & SS
Malibu
And a big car line for real families
get it small mid large.
Same line in Pontiac except Volt and Corvette
Colorado and truck lines
What good are Buicks now
See it used to be GM sold the lines in order
Chevy in different sizes
Pontiac
Oldsmobile
Buick
Caddilac except Caddy never had small cars till late 70s/80s remember Cimmarron ?
Hummer should be let go back to Military/law enforcement/civil defense line.
Saturn should be its own line like it used to be.