[Frost__2001]

Pontiac Is Dead
4.23.2009
Source: Insideline.com

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."

The one-time "Excitement" division and creator of legends such as the GTO and Firebird was relegated to "niche" or "specialty" brand status by General Motors in its first viability plan in December of last year.

The company toyed with competing proposals to either turn the brand into GM's version of Scion or to make Pontiac a very focused purveyor of performance cars based around the critically well-received G8. But ultimately, Pontiac was chosen as the easiest to kill since it was cut from GM's self-defined herd of four "core brands," Chevrolet, Cadillac, GMC and Buick. Most Pontiac franchises have already been combined with Buick and GMC.

If true, Pontiac will join Saab, Saturn and Hummer as brands that will not survive GM's current troubles — at least not as a component of General Motors.

Inside Line says: Just as the G8 reawakened our interest in 83-year-old Pontiac, the brand falls victim to bad times and old mistakes. — Daniel Pund, Senior Editor, Detroit

[mo_focus]

With all these new companies going down, my dad's used car dealership is doing well. I guess ppl just gave up on the idea of new car if they can't get any sort of warranty with it.

You have probably seen the price diff as well in the auction. 2yrs ago i bought my freestyle and now its 2K more in the auction. :D

RIP pointiac, but now i can afford a nice used one. Maybe in couple of years we can buy the GTo for less then 5K :)

[Drivesthebeast]

If this IS the case, that's most unfortunate, as vehicles like the G8 were absolutely fantastic...

[Oscar The Grouch]

Good riddance. They should have included GMC in the firing squad.

[hardk0re]

Oscar The Grouch,Apr 23 2009, 07:07 PM Wrote:Good riddance.  They should have included GMC in the firing squad.
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Man your full of hate for everything....


Me, I always thought that Pontiac was a step up from regular GM lineup. At least the vehicles always had more of an appeal to me than the GM counterparts.

And yes the G8 is a very nice car.

I do however agree, putting that engineering into just one car makes more sense than building two pretty much the same cars with a facelift.

[Frost__2001]

the thing I don't get is why GM wants to keep Buick in it's american line up? I know the only success it's had has been in China only... other wise it's only currently has 3 cars here with the buick badge, I mean honestly would anyone buy a Buick Astra? or a Buick Insigna?

[mo_focus]

Pointiac should just bring the Aussie cars over. Like the G8 and GTO. they have lot more options over there.

They could have done that easily. Keep the brand name, bring cars over. Just like how saturn is Opel of europe, pontiac could have been the GM of Aussie. Ohh well. :(

[NefCanuck]

I'm wondering if they're keeping the death of Buick mum in N. America b/c in Canada it will be lawsuit city with the way the brands shook out (Chev/Cadillac vs. Pontiac/Buick/GMC)

Think about it, a Buick/GMC dealership? Old people and truckheads dumb enough to pay extra for a badge engineered Chevy? Nope, can't see it...

NefCanuck

[ZTWsquared]

mo_focus,Apr 23 2009, 07:48 PM Wrote:Pointiac should just bring the Aussie cars over. Like the G8 and GTO. they have lot more options over there.

They could have done that easily. Keep the brand name, bring cars over. Just like how saturn is Opel of europe, pontiac could have been the GM of Aussie. Ohh well. :(
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Yeah they could ... but there's a real cost to keeping a brand alive - and just like the Mercury brand in Canada had to go to help Ford here reduce costs - same with Pontiac ... there's a whole sales and marketing organization that can now be made redundant, not to mention the engineering and design types dedicated to making the Pontiac brand different than the other GM brands --- and then there's the advertising, marketing and promotion budgets that can be done away with.

The thing is that any of the current Pontiac models could easily be rolled into one of the remaining GM brands if they wanted to ... personally I think the G8 would do just as well in the Chevy or even Cadillac lineup.

[Oscar The Grouch]

hardk0re,Apr 23 2009, 07:52 PM Wrote:

Oscar The Grouch,Apr 23 2009, 07:07 PM Wrote:Good riddance.  They should have included GMC in the firing squad.
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Man your full of hate for everything....

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Not everything. I like pussy and turbos. :)

Yes the G8 is cool, so was the GTO (to which I would still buy one), and the old firebird, but the rest were redundant. I am sad tho that Saturn is being cut, they have good style, good vehicles, and design that is very appealing.

[2001 ZTS]

Sad as it may be Pontiac would have been my last choice to drop and first to keep. At least they try.

GM would have been better off keeping Chevy's for people who buy cars as an "appliance" and Pontiac for those who like to pretend they are enthusiasts.

The GMC trucks could SO easily be rebranded Chevy. Buick just has no place with anyone this century just by association with "old men" for the last 50 years. Their marketing people probably think I am their target market; that is how far out of touch they are and demostrated by how hard they spent and tried with Tiger to no end.

I'd even bet if they had a "euro division" with a mix of the best from Opel and Saab they'd pull that off too. Even if they just made a business of importing euro GM cars (made in Europe to world (our) specs) they'd sell. I'd buy an Opel Roadster over a Saturn Sky or Pontiac Solstice for no reason alone other than I still enjoy sex with women and know what gets them off.

Based on what I have seen recently I am going to praise Ford, it almost seems like they finally listened to my rants on FJ almost a decade ago. I'd almost forgive them. ALMOST. They need to forget the Mustang for a while but keep it simmering as there will always be a market for such things but they need a "halo car" at this time just like Subaru once did.

FORD: BRING THE MOST RIDICULOUSLY FAST FOCUS TO NORTH AMERICA ONLY AND MAKE "THE REST OF THE WORLD" JEALOUS FOR A CHANGE.

For every one you sell here, even at cost, you will sell 10,000 more base models just by association.

[2001 ZTS]

Further to my last and with regards to making Europe jealous, shove one of those fuel efficient V-8's in a RWD Focus or a FWD twin turbo 6. Bonus points for AWD. I bet you there there is more than one junior engineer in Ford North America who can tell you it's possible and knows what he is talking about.

He who dares wins and now is the time.

[Flofocus]

2001 ZTS,Apr 23 2009, 10:13 PM Wrote:He who dares wins and now is the time.
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Yup, they may win some of us back. MAY, :lol:

[ANTHONYD]

Pontiac ---->

[SVT ZX3]

Frost__2001,Apr 23 2009, 07:09 PM Wrote:the thing I don't get is why GM wants to keep Buick in it's american line up? I know the only success it's had has been in China only... other wise it's only currently has 3 cars here with the buick badge, I mean honestly would anyone buy a Buick Astra? or a Buick Insigna?
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I'm pretty sure I read last week that China either sold more cars last year then the USA or is on pace to do it this year. So even if Buick is only successful in China it is their biggest market world wide.

I looked at the G8 at the dealer ship and I liked what I saw. Never really read anything bad about it either. That's the only model I'll miss though from the Pontiac brand.

[Drivesthebeast]

I do beleive that it's GM's intent to use the G8's to replace the current model Impala. That'd be totally freakin awesome...RWD, 300-400+ Hp Impalas...Good times.

I was reading on Motortrend last night that the rumours of Pontiac being dissolved are untrue (this coming from an official response to the rumour from GM).

L8tz

[Gabriel]

Don't mean to sound ignorant but I could care less for Pontiac , I was never a GM fan anyway

[NOS2Go4Me]

Ding dong, the "we build excitement" division is dead:

http://business.theglobeandmail.com/servle...y/Business/home

So you either have a real collector's item, or a resale dud in your driveway. Enjoy!

[NefCanuck]

Okay and now the catastrophe hits the GM dealer network in Canada, 'cause I can't see Buick/GMC surviving as a stand alone dealership, meaning a whack are going to be closed / coverted to Chev / Cadillac.

Bets on when the first lawsuit is filed? My guess is two months from the date that Pontiac is declared dead.

NefCanuck

[ZTWsquared]

NefCanuck,Apr 27 2009, 09:33 AM Wrote:Okay and now the catastrophe hits the GM dealer network in Canada, 'cause I can't see Buick/GMC surviving as a stand alone dealership, meaning a whack are going to be closed / coverted to Chev / Cadillac.

Bets on when the first lawsuit is filed?  My guess is two months from the date that Pontiac is declared dead.

NefCanuck
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GM is already on record that they intend to cut their dealerships by 50% (in the US) - - it's been commonly accepted in the industry that they are heavily over-dealered in Canada - it's long overdue.

Ford in Canada at one time had over 700 dealerships ... they now have barely 400 ... the 300 went away when the Mercury franchise was cancelled and others have fallen by the wayside over the past 10 years or so.

Ford's way ahead of the curve on this one - one of the reasons Ford in Canada is still profitable and Ford US is still on their feet without government assistance.