GM May Reduce Pontiac Line-Up to Just One Model - Which One Should it be?

Thursday, December 18, 2008 | 16 comments » Categories | , , , | Bookmark and Share

When it comes to survival, then nothing's absurd. In order for General Motors to stay afloat in these tough economic times, the U.S. automaker has to revaluate its entire strategy and make decisions that were unthinkable up until now - including the shrinkage of Pontiac which currently sells six-model (G8, G6, G5, Solstice, Vibe, and Torrent). "It might be just one model," Mark LaNeve, GM's North American sales chief, said in an interview. The firm that was supposed to build exciting cars has seen drop in sales every year since 1999. In the first 11 months of 2008, sales of the Pontiac brand are down 23 percent from a year earlier to 250,902 units.

"The one remaining Pontiac model would be sold alongside Buicks and GMCs, on a scale similar to its Corvette available in Chevrolet showrooms", LaNeve told Bloomberg. The question is, if GM decided to keep the Pontiac nameplate alive and not can the brand entirely, which car should remain?

According to John Wolkonowicz, an analyst from IHS Global Insight in Lexington, Massachusetts, that model will most likely be the Holden Commodore based G8 sedan which was introduced this year in the U.S. market.

But honestly now, is there a point of GM holding onto the Pontiac brand with a one-model range when it is facing such serious problems that threaten the company's existence?

If the General believes -for whatever reasons- that it needs the G8, why not just sell it under the Chevy nameplate? Yes, once upon a time Pontiac made cars that stood out from the competition and filled GM's pockets with money, but times change and if you can't support a brand with its own unique line-up then we find no reason to keep it alive for sentimental's sake.

Source: Bloomberg


16 comments

  1. kjb434 // December 18, 2008  

    Eliminate the Chevy car closest to the Pontiac that is kept.

    Then the Pontiac will be under the chevy name.

    The should also eliminate the cross models from GMC and Chevy.

  2. Anonymous // December 18, 2008  

    Keep making G8, Solstice, and Vibe because they are not repeats of other GM vehicles. I would say Solstice to Saturn Sky doesn't count because the bodies are so different. Also the Vibe to the Toyota Matrix doesn't count because they also are so different looking and, obviously, one is a Toyota.

  3. Jenny // December 18, 2008  

    "GM has many smaller dealerships spread across its eight brands compared to Toyota, which has three. Dealerships are protected by state laws that make them difficult to close without paying large fees. This makes dealership reform challenging without bankruptcy protection... However, reducing the number of brands requires closing or consolidation of dealerships, which due to state franchise laws is very expensive. For example, GM's retirement of the Oldsmobile brand cost nearly $2 billion."

    So, something to think about the next time someone comes up with the idea to just "can" GMC, Pontiac, Buick, or whatever GM brand you can think of. To be quite honest, GM got themselves into this complicated mess, and they have to think of an even more complicated method of getting themselves out of this.

  4. Tom // December 18, 2008  

    You forgot the ugly G3 Wave ! lol

  5. Anonymous // December 18, 2008  

    GM under bankruptcy will spend much less closing out brands; they should have filed for bankruptcy months ago. Unwinding brands when you essentially have no funds is not that hard to do.

  6. Anonymous // December 18, 2008  

    Keep the G8 and Solstice, or whichever models from that whole range has been selling the best? I don't see the quandary here. Theres truth in numbers and GM should learn from that. Survive now, thrive later.

  7. Anonymous // December 18, 2008  

    G8 is the best. Love the ST especially.

  8. Anonymous // December 18, 2008  

    they should keep the torrent -- what a necessary non-redundant vehicle

  9. Chris // December 19, 2008  

    GM should look across the pond and remember what happened to Rover. Rover a great British brand, but unfortunately they made cars that were not of the times and hardly innovated. people voted with their wallets not to save them. Sadly I think the expression quitting while you're ahead would be sore to mention. I honestly can't see this panning out any different of GM and it's even more apparent when you look at the large variety of special edition v8 monsters, hardly cars for the times........

    http://www.two-sixties.com/260s_2.jpg


    p.s Jenny. its called Propaganda . . .

  10. Anonymous // December 19, 2008  

    What don't they just reduce themselves to two or three divisions (Cadillac & Chevrolet), keep the best cars of all of the other divisions, without redundancy, and create a new THIRD BRAND name, that all the other best fall under?

  11. Anonymous // December 20, 2008  

    Jenny... your comment makes the demise of GM, and/or its dying brands, look like the end of days and near impossible, when it is just the end of a dinosaur that is long over due and whatever needs to happen will.
    If GM files for bankruptcy, or can use that as a case for severely reducing production (or cancelling pontiac, buick or hummer), there is no way the Feds will let the state regulators hold GM over the coals and pay the franchise break-fees. What happened to Olds was a special case; GM looked solvent but sales were slowing, therefore a huge lawsuit with dealers would be totally bad for business. This is a 'worst case scenario' and I assume it will be fully supported by all lawmakers...

  12. Tachyonic-SR71 // December 21, 2008  

    Thank whoever told them that the G8 is still worth keeping! I love the G8, and of course, they have to keep the Vibe because otherwise, Toyota will eat up their customers with the Matrix. Yes, once upon a time, the Vibe was Toyota's hence the Toyota engine under the hood.

  13. Anonymous // December 29, 2008  

    I somewhat agree with on of the anonymous posts.
    GM should be down to 2 or 3 brands. Have chevy as the brand for genereal cars, Cadiallac for luxury and GM keeps referring back to the "sentimental" excuse so get rid of all the "Chevy Trucks" (express, silverado, tahoe, suburbam, etc) and have all of the trucks/truck-based SUVs/commercial cars as GMC models.
    Another way to keep the Pontiac name around would be to replace all the Chevy SS badging with Pontiac badging for the sporty models.

    Heres an Overview:
    Buick: GONE (only has 3 cars which are all rebadged versions of other GM models, why does GM need three "luxury" brands?

    Cadillac: LUXURY BRAND (leave as is, Escalade is OK as having ONE overlapping model between 3 brands is just fine. Ditch XLR.)

    Chevrolet: KEEP THE SAME, DITCH CHEVY "TRUCKS" (by getting rid of trucks they could allow GMC to survive while eliminating duplicate models. bring the G8 over as the new Impala)

    GMC: SOLE PRODUCER OF TRUCKS/COMMERCIAL VEHICLES AT GM (they would this way become a niche brand, have NO overlapping models as opposed to all of them. Eliminate the Acadia and never let GMC have a crossover again.)

    Hummer: GONE ('nuff said. will be gone regardless of GM consolidating or not)

    Pontiac: GONE (to keep the name around replace SS with Pontiac on chevy's sporty cars, give Solstice and G8 to chevy)

    Saab: GONE (serves no purpose, does not sell, no one will be upset)

    Saturn: GONE (another useless brand without any unique cars unless you count Astra but that still isn't Saturns own creation.)

  14. Anonymous // January 02, 2009  

    The entire problem with GM begins at the top. Bob Lutz is the worst automaker CEO in history. His track record is laughable. Aside from the Dodge Viper, and taking partial credit for the BMW 3 Series, he hasn't done anything in his career to inherit the keys to the GM office. The decision to 'kill' the Firebird and Camaro in 2002, his first move as GM, was a complete mistake. The Mustang took over in the market as the only Muscle car available for the cheaper 'best bang for the buck' consumer. Dodge, seeing this hole in the market decided to build the Charger and Challenger, a little late, but still able to capitalize on Lutzs' ignorance. Lutz then brings in an Australian car, the Holden Monaro, and thinks that it would be a great 'American Icon' that could be forged as a GTO. However, the design was horrible and looked just like a Grand Prix, it had no wow factor like it's predecessors, Firebird or Former great GTO. Even today I hardly notice when a new GTO drives by, but I notice every single Camaro, Firebird, and Mustang that passes by in either direction. After realizing his flop, he decides to kill the GTO again, instead of listening to consumers and just fixing the exterior, and creates a 'New' vehicle called the G8. This 'New' vehicle looks strikingly like the vehicle he just axed, except it has no credibilty or brand name to fuel itself like the GTO or Firebird brands.
    Which brings us back to the question of why the Pontiac brand is failing. When consumers walk into a Pontiac dealership to upgrade from their previous Pontiac vehicle, which they were happy with or they wouldn't be back, they don't recognize any of the names or cars available. The styling of the vehicles all look the same, as do the names which have been replaced by letters and numbers, which often confuse customers from identifying one vehicle from another. The lack of a brandname, and by name I mean a physical name of the vehicle not just a number, hinders a buyer from identifying with the car, which is often an example of a person's personality. I like fast and mean sports cars, so the name Firebird/Trans Am fits my personality due to it's inherent masculinity. Customers don't identify with any of the current Pontiac vehicles and the styling is basically all the same. Chevy vehicles are much more stylish and sleek, while the 'sporty' Pontiacs are bland and uninspiring. The Vibe was a good move, as was the Solstice. The G6 is a decent car as well, but the name should be unique to itself, not shared with the G8, G5, and new G3 names. At some point it just becomes ridculous, which it probably already has. In a poor economic market and virtually no curb appeal, why would you spend your last remaining dollars on a Pontiac? Go to the website and just try to tell me that the G6 to the left doesn't look better than the 'high performance' G8. I'll stick with the G6 GXP personally, but then again, isn't that car made for 16 year old girls? The GXP doesn't look like it, but the basic model does. I don't know about you, but I still don't know why Pontiac is dying...?

  15. Anonymous // January 06, 2009  

    well said.

  16. Anonymous // February 18, 2009  

    KEEP THE VIBE.

Post a Comment