GM will dump Pontiac brand

http://blogs.usatoday.com/ondeadline/2009/04/report-gm-will-dump-pontiac-brand.html

This is all over the news but OMG. This is a definate sign of the changing times. I am very sad about this.:frown:

I'd rather see GMC get dumped and the product line merged with Chevrolet weeding out any duplications. Then GM can go back to it's roots offering Chevrolet as the "starter" brand with a line of vehicles aimed at young people starting out , and families looking for affordable transportation. Then above that Pontiac could fill the need of those who have owned Chevy and are looking for something sportier, and a few more options than Chevys. This line could be aimed at the mid to late 20's up to the mid to late 40's. Buick could fill the need above Pontiac offering a higher "luxury" line of options to meet the needs of those from the late 40s on up. They could offer some models aimed at the lower end of the age demographic and some models aimed at those over 65. Cadillac would be the top of the line for those who want something more than a Buick and those who want a combo of sport and luxury. Their demographics could be those aged 45 and up with a lot of disposable income, and offer a few models spread across the age divisions.
The thing to debate is about which lines would have niche vehicles. I'm talking vehicles like SUVs ,crossovers, trucks, etc. I think we could relegate the trucks to the Chevy line along with SUVs, and offer crossover vehicles ( those that replaced minivans ) to the Chevy and Pontiac lines.It could be that Buick and Cadillac could see one "non car" vehicle, but I think it might be in GM's best interest to keep it simple and cost effective and not try to have too many models or clones spread across all divisions.
Paring down the model count and getting rid of excess duplication could help them save money and use that money toward development of vehicles that the public wants/needs.

They shouldn't nix GMC. They should make it the commercial truck line. Cab and Chassis, medium duty, cutoff vans etc.

You'll still be able to buy pontiacs, but you'll have to special order them, you wont be able to just go to the dealer and buy one off the lot. Unless something has changed in the last month or two and i wasn't told...

You'll still be able to buy pontiacs, but you'll have to special order them, you wont be able to just go to the dealer and buy one off the lot. Unless something has changed in the last month or two and i wasn't told...

How would this be possible? Do you have an article you can link to concerning this? I was under the assumption that GM will do to Pontiac what it did to Oldsmobile a few yeas back in discontinuing the line altogether. Owners would still be able to get parts and service through GM dealers.

They shouldn't nix GMC. They should make it the commercial truck line. Cab and Chassis, medium duty, cutoff vans etc
Why keep a division that just duplicates what Chevy does? Just move everything over to Chevy and they can have two separate subdivisions under the Chevrolet brand, a car division and a light truck/HD Truck division. There is so much similarities between GMC and Chevy and money could be saved by eliminating one, and GMC would be the logical choice.
The dealer network could be setup to have dealers selling the Chevy/Pontiac lines, and others selling Buick/Cadillacs. The dealers selling Chevys would be larger to contain the truck division,( some of the Chevy dealers in my area are already set up in this fashion , selling HD and other types of trucks.)

How would this be possible? Do you have an article you can link to concerning this? I was under the assumption that GM will do to Pontiac what it did to Oldsmobile a few yeas back in discontinuing the line altogether. Owners would still be able to get parts and service through GM dealers.


Why keep a division that just duplicates what Chevy does? Just move everything over to Chevy and they can have two separate subdivisions under the Chevrolet brand, a car division and a light truck/HD Truck division. There is so much similarities between GMC and Chevy and money could be saved by eliminating one, and GMC would be the logical choice.
The dealer network could be setup to have dealers selling the Chevy/Pontiac lines, and others selling Buick/Cadillacs. The dealers selling Chevys would be larger to contain the truck division,( some of the Chevy dealers in my area are already set up in this fashion , selling HD and other types of trucks.)

I see more GMC HD(above class 3 trucks), cutoffs, and cab chassis then I do chevy. Let Chevy do the SUVs and GMC nix the SUVs and only do trucks. That was their niche in GM before they even made minivans and sorts. They should've kept it that way. If they do that, they really won't be crossing lines. Chevy should should stop making trucks at 1/2 tons.

The market has shifted in the past few years away from minivans, as evidenced by the lack of any in GM's US lineup. Crossovers have taken their place. And SUVs have also seen declining sales from both high gas prices of recent years and the fear they may go up again, and the fact that crossovers have entered the market, siphoning some of their sales. GM needs to streamline their truck lines in a way to keep them profitable as it offers too many models and sub models of each.
If they must keep the GMC brand then perhaps move the commercial line like you stated entirely to GMC and include the full sized vans, leaving the crossovers, SUVs, and smaller pickups to Chevy. That could save space at the dealership and spinoff the GMC division to separate locations in cities and towns where they set up shop. GMC is usually paired with Pontiac or another brand at the dealer, but by moving it into a separate location, the staff at the dealer can focus entirely on the GMC brand which can be helpful to their commercial customers as their facilities could be setup entirely to sell and service these vehicles with no "non-truck" vehicles present.
To save even more money ,GM could determine which areas would receive a GMC dealer as not all areas could support a GMC-only dealership. Keep it to larger urban areas where there are a lot of business customers, or between two large population areas, rather than have one in each nearby town, duplicating services. This could work well with GM's current plan of cutting back on dealerships, and placing them more strategically in population centers.

GMC has all the govt and Construction contracts, it's always been more of a commercial brand than a public brand, besides the quality of GMC's is excellent so there's no need to end it.

It's been well known by dealers for a while now that this is what's going to happen to pontiac. Also look forward in the future to several lines getting dropped by GM such as Saturn and Saab. And i believe hummer is going to be dropped, which wont be a huge impact on their military contracts cause the govt doesn't have a high demand of humvee's anymore.

If I had to go buy a pickup tomorrow, it would be either a Dodge or GMC in that order both with diesel.

RIP G8 GT I had high hopes for you. couldn't care less about the rest of GM.

Pontiac is gone for good, they're not even gonna special produce them, so long Pontiac...

Not surprised, all the G8's and GTO's in the world could never pop the pimple on Pontiacs ass that was the Aztek.

It's not like their last *lame* attempt at the GTO was even worthwhile. How hard is it to rebadge a Holden? Exactly. :(

Still a sad day, all things considered.

I'm sure whatever was in the works or on the drawing board before any thought of dumping Pontiac could be transferred over to another division like Chevrolet or Buick. All the brands left may have to re-image themselves to pick up the customers that Pontiac serviced, probably with Chevrolet picking up the bulk of them and Buick going after the "higher" age bracket of customers. To do that they would probably incorporate some of the designs and/or ideas left behind from Pontiac that were successful or hadn't yet been put to use.

Why don't they start a new brand? This is the perfect time. They could probably salvage much of there infrastructure and create a scionesque company based on economy and the environment and they could keep making the G8(for me of course(screw the environment lol)) under the new badge

Why don't they start a new brand? This is the perfect time. They could probably salvage much of there infrastructure and create a scionesque company based on economy and the environment and they could keep making the G8(for me of course(screw the environment lol)) under the new badge

It is extremely expensive to establish a new brand, in terms or setting up distribution channels and promoting and establishing the brand identity in the marketplace.

FWIW, the GM hierarchy of brands became obsolete 60 years ago. When the GM divisions developed multiple models in the early 1960's (compact, intermediate, full-size) covering wide, overlapping markets and price ranges, the GM brands began to compete too much among themselves. The GM organization became progressively less efficient.

It is only the demand created by so many Pontiac dealers that has kept the brand going in recent years.

BTW it is expensive for GM to dump a brand. The demise of Oldsmobile required GM to pay a total of $1 billion in compensation to Olds dealers (according to The Economist magazine. )

It is extremely expensive to establish a new brand, in terms or setting up distribution channels and promoting and establishing the brand identity in the marketplace.

FWIW, the GM hierarchy of brands became obsolete 60 years ago. When the GM divisions developed multiple models in the early 1960's (compact, intermediate, full-size) covering wide, overlapping markets and price ranges, the GM brands began to compete too much among themselves. The GM organization became progressively less efficient.

It is only the demand created by so many Pontiac dealers that has kept the brand going in recent years.

BTW it is expensive for GM to dump a brand. The demise of Oldsmobile required GM to pay a total of $1 billion in compensation to Olds dealers (according to The Economist magazine. )
It is expensive, but maybe the creditors would be easier to convince if they actually came up with a new idea for once.

Why don't they start a new brand? This is the perfect time. They could probably salvage much of there infrastructure and create a scionesque company based on economy and the environment and they could keep making the G8(for me of course(screw the environment lol)) under the new badge

They're getting rid of Pontiac for the same reason Chrysler got rid of the Plymouth division:

$$$