Christmahanikwanzikah
25-04-2009, 00:17
Sorry, Cubs fans, I don't mean the particular animal that has "cursed" your team to mediocrity for the past century... I mean the GTO and the Pontiac brand name.
http://money.cnn.com/2009/04/24/autos/pontiac_obit/index.htm?postversion=2009042414
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- General Motors is preparing to announce that the Pontiac car brand, once marketed as GM's "Excitement division," will be killed off, according to a source familiar with the decision.
An official announcement is expected Monday. GM spokesman Jim Hopson declined to comment on Pontiac's fate, saying the automaker has no announcements to make at this time.
In its most recent "viability plan" - which will be updated to reflect this new brand cut - Pontiac was not named as one of GM's four "core brands." Those are Chevrolet, Buick, GMC and Cadillac. But Pontiac was also not to be killed or sold off, as were Saturn, Saab and Hummer.
Instead Pontiac was to continue on as a "niche brand" focusing on just a few models.
That was already a step down for Pontiac which in 2008 was the third-best selling brand behind Chevrolet and GMC. That year the brand sold more than Cadillac and twice as many vehicles as Buick. Cadillac is a high-profile - and high profit - luxury brand while Buick is a hugely popular brand in China and is seen as resurgent in the United States.
In 2005, GM (GM, Fortune 500) vice-chairman Bob Lutz referred to Buick and Pontiac as "damaged brands" during a conference at the New York Auto Show. That set off speculation that one or both of these brands was doomed.
With a focus on affordable luxury, Buick's hopes have been revived by models like the popular Enclave crossover SUV. Improvements in Buick Quality, which earned a top ranking in a recent J.D. Power dependability survey and a public acknowledgement by President Obama, have also helped Buick keep its place in the shrinking pantheon of GM names.
It seemed inevitable that, after GM planned piss-poor offerings of classic and new Pontiac cars, including the Solstice, the G8 and the famous GTO (the last two based entirely off of GM's Holden division in Australia), GM would axe the once-famous muscle car manufacturer. As the GTO goes, so does the Firebird, another of Pontiac's famous front-engined, rear-drive pavement mashers that wasn't remade. Succumbing to major power losses due to the Clean Air Act, and slow to pick up their old performance numbers after the introduction of pollutant-reducing exhaust management systems, I thought they would resurge after producing a couple of good cars based off of solid chassis, but a much-more-than-lackluster showing from the GTO (let's just forget they even remade it, much less that it was a sedan that looked nothing like a muscle car), they now look to be ready to be lowered into the grave.
On one hand, GM is going to drop a company that it has let drag down its profits. On the other, the Pontiac name brought more performance excitement to the GM name than any other offering not named Corvette or Cobalt.
What are your feelings about the likely dissolution of this brand?
http://money.cnn.com/2009/04/24/autos/pontiac_obit/index.htm?postversion=2009042414
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- General Motors is preparing to announce that the Pontiac car brand, once marketed as GM's "Excitement division," will be killed off, according to a source familiar with the decision.
An official announcement is expected Monday. GM spokesman Jim Hopson declined to comment on Pontiac's fate, saying the automaker has no announcements to make at this time.
In its most recent "viability plan" - which will be updated to reflect this new brand cut - Pontiac was not named as one of GM's four "core brands." Those are Chevrolet, Buick, GMC and Cadillac. But Pontiac was also not to be killed or sold off, as were Saturn, Saab and Hummer.
Instead Pontiac was to continue on as a "niche brand" focusing on just a few models.
That was already a step down for Pontiac which in 2008 was the third-best selling brand behind Chevrolet and GMC. That year the brand sold more than Cadillac and twice as many vehicles as Buick. Cadillac is a high-profile - and high profit - luxury brand while Buick is a hugely popular brand in China and is seen as resurgent in the United States.
In 2005, GM (GM, Fortune 500) vice-chairman Bob Lutz referred to Buick and Pontiac as "damaged brands" during a conference at the New York Auto Show. That set off speculation that one or both of these brands was doomed.
With a focus on affordable luxury, Buick's hopes have been revived by models like the popular Enclave crossover SUV. Improvements in Buick Quality, which earned a top ranking in a recent J.D. Power dependability survey and a public acknowledgement by President Obama, have also helped Buick keep its place in the shrinking pantheon of GM names.
It seemed inevitable that, after GM planned piss-poor offerings of classic and new Pontiac cars, including the Solstice, the G8 and the famous GTO (the last two based entirely off of GM's Holden division in Australia), GM would axe the once-famous muscle car manufacturer. As the GTO goes, so does the Firebird, another of Pontiac's famous front-engined, rear-drive pavement mashers that wasn't remade. Succumbing to major power losses due to the Clean Air Act, and slow to pick up their old performance numbers after the introduction of pollutant-reducing exhaust management systems, I thought they would resurge after producing a couple of good cars based off of solid chassis, but a much-more-than-lackluster showing from the GTO (let's just forget they even remade it, much less that it was a sedan that looked nothing like a muscle car), they now look to be ready to be lowered into the grave.
On one hand, GM is going to drop a company that it has let drag down its profits. On the other, the Pontiac name brought more performance excitement to the GM name than any other offering not named Corvette or Cobalt.
What are your feelings about the likely dissolution of this brand?