Eliminate Pontiac? Good Earth How Stupid of GM

Yes, they are talking about it. Read about the implosion at GM on our main blog. Meanwhile, a stunning Pontiac. Thank goodness for the car collectors.

Visit our main site www.brandlandusa.com/ for in depth stories, including a discussion of the Tiger Woods/Buick divorce.

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2 Comments

  1. Yes, and they are dumb enough to do it too! Garland, here is a quote from NPR’s “Morning Edition” from December 3rd.

    “…Of course, lower prices mean lower profits and fewer dollars for dealers to reinvest. Corey Porter, who runs a Chevy dealership in Newark, Del., says the result can be shabby-looking facilities that further hurt the brand.

    “I mean, who wants to go into an old, rundown showroom that looks like it’s something out of 1960 to buy a car?” Porter says.

    GM has reduced the number of dealers over the years, but it’s tough and expensive. Many are protected by strong state franchise laws, and when GM got rid of Oldsmobile, it had to pay dealers more than $2 billion.

    And dealers aren’t volunteering to close. Many are family businesses that have employed generations and play important roles in communities, sponsoring little league teams and donating to charity.

    Porter, whose family dealership dates to 1925, says the problem isn’t just too many dealers, but too many different vehicles to sell. He says certain divisions just don’t resonate with customers or make economic sense. Some, he says, should be shelved.

    “I think GMC truck definitely needs to go away,” Porter says. “I think Pontiac is another one that has … an identity problem. They don’t have any products that are exciting. I don’t think Pontiac needs to be there.”

    GM says it is looking to either sell or cut divisions such as Saab and Saturn. But it plans to keep GMC and reduce Pontiac to a specialty brand…”

    Can you believe the dealer says Pontiac has an identity problem? Pontiac has always had an identity, it is just that GM has ignored it for decades. They are good at bad marketing and have been for decades. It took them decades to get Buick out of the doldrums with a few new models that resonated with customers.

    Why on earth they want to hang onto GMC and Hummer is beyond me! Saab should go to, where it belongs as a Swedish brand. Saturn has been a failure also. GM just confounds me. They would rather push the very low end with dull Chevys or the high end with mutations of things that they call Cadillacs. Sad, very sad.

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