[Tufast]

Official: GM shrinking to four brands; Pontiac to four models

Filed under: Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, GM, GMC, HUMMER, Pontiac, Saab, Saturn
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.

In a separate interview, Bob Lutz told AN that Pontiac will also have to get by with only four models: the G8, G5, Vibe and Solstice. Or five models if you count the Solstice coupe separately as Lutz does. Shrinking the brand would complete yet another promise GM made to Congress to make Pontiac a niche brand.

 

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Wow thats nuts!

 

[Veritas]

Be interesting to see what happens to the other lines. Hopefully we wont have to see any more hummers driving soccer moms on the road. lol

 

[dboz1]

Seems crazy to keep Buick and Caddy, while soon to be ditching Pontiac. I guess we could go back and dredge up the GS, GSX and GNX nameplates and put Buick back on the performance map. The solstice would just move over to Chevy. The G8 will be dead as soon as this run is over.

 

[Tufast]

Wow thats nuts!

But, necessary. 'Bout time. The American car manufacturers are just stretched too thin IMO. GM, Chevy, Pontiac, etc, etc etc all make the same vehicles basically with different badges. Seems like a waste to me.:dunno:

 

[DayDreamer]

I agree. I mean, look at the Tahoe or Suburban. You can buy them branded as Chevrolet and spend a little, as GMC and spend a little more, or throw down nearly 60k dollars on the Cadillac version, yet still have the same exact vehicle whichever way you go. It's all basically the same except for the badging, and the front and rear exterior.

Same with the cars. The Pontiac G5 and the Cobalt are the same car. Why? That's twice as much expense, just to have a choice as to which badge you want on your Cobalt? It goes on and on: the Torrent and the Equinox; the Uplander, Terraza and Montana SV6; the Avalanche and the Escalade EXT. I mean, come on... GM has been over-inflated like this for years, I'm surprised it's taken this long for them to end up in dire straits.

 

[dboz1]

The only good thing about the cross branding is that they can tweak the styling to appeal to different types of buyers. I agree though, the Chevy/GMC is ridiculous.