GM Shrinking to 4 Brands, Pontiac to 4 Models

According to an interview with Automotive News, Troy Clarke, GM’s North American president, General Motors will keep its promise to Congress to drastically cut costs AND brands. Clarke said that GM will now focus its “product and marketing resources” on Buick, Chevrolet, Cadillac and GMC.

That means Pontiac, Saturn, Saab and HUMMER face an uncertain future at best, or the chopping block for sure. HUMMER will most likely be sold off or cut entirely (a 60+% drop in sales can do that for a division). Saab probably faces the same fate. GM said it would sell or close Saturn. Since no one has yet stepped forward with cash, or even interest in Saturn, their future is not at all certain. So the rumors that Saturn would be folded in with Chevy or possibly Pontiac seem to be untrue.

Speaking of Pontiac, Bob Lutz said to Automotive News that Pontiac will shrink to offering only four models: the G8, G5, Vibe and Solstice. This news jives with what GM said to congress about making Pontiac a niche brand.

So, it looks like severe times are indeed ahead for what was once the largest, greatest car company on the planet. But let’s get serious for a second … after the jump.

For starters, GM never should have acquired Saab in the first place. They should have left HUMMER to AM General (the military contractor) and never tried to sell a truck like that to the general car buying public. Saturn? GM was doing with Saturn what they should have been doing in their own factories to begin with, manufacturing and process-wise. And if they were smart, Saturn would have started as a test factory, and then pulled into GM whole.

And Pontiac? Sadly, Pontiac is making less & less sense as time goes along. I’m surprised that GM didn’t fuse Buick and Pontiac into one brand, but maybe that would make too much sense.

Source: AutoBlog

GM ruined Saab. It used to be a quirkly, loveable company that competed with Volvo. Now, as Volvo has begun to travel upmarket with better and newer products, GM basically turned Saab into “Warmed-over Opel-Land”. They took away that charm and funkiness Saab was known for.

Hummer was profitable for them during the low-priced gas escapades where they can sell the huge, useless piece of machinery we call the H2. Now, with no one buying anything and nothing necessarily cheap in their brand, no one is buying them.

Pontiac merging with Buick would make sense, but I don’t know how that would work long-term seeing as how Pontiac has always had a sport-motif about them while Buick was aimed more for the AARP members of the world. They should keep Pontiac, but take it back to the sporty brand it was once recognized.

Here’s my idea:
-Keep Chevrolet as the “every man” company.
-Keep Buick as a mid-luxury brand for up-and-comings and old people. Make a nicer version of the Lacrosse for younger people and bring back the Park Avenue for the grandparents.
-Pontiac will be the fun-to-drive RWD branch. Keep the G8 and Solstice, and turn the G5 or G6 into a economical RWD sedan.
-Cadillac will be around for the doctors, lawyers, and “gangsters”.
-Roll GMC into Chevrolet and use the Denali name for the tarted-up models. Or roll all SUVs and trucks into GMC and leave Chevrolet as a car-only brand.
-Cut Saab and Hummer. Both names have been ruined.
-Keep Saturn as a basement bargain company and move cars like the Aveo and G5/Cobalt under that branch. Or just cut it all together and put all the cheap cars under Chevrolet.

There! You have every segment filled and GM can cut a lot of overlap.

GM’s problem is that it is hurting important and coveted brands. they are selling major portions of their brands and business model to foreign competitors giving them well established dealership networks and entry into well established automotive markets.

Pontiac could be successful at importing the entire Holden line up under the Pontiac Brand.

Saturn could continue importing all of Opel’s international vehicles. I would suggest saturn take the opel name and logo, but even minus that suggestion it seems a good fit.

Saturn and Pontiac would lead little to no investment from GM and will be able to import stylish international vehicles imported. cutting R&D Costs and other expensive costs.

Buick can succeed with 4-5 models and has a refreshed line up and purpose. I think they can survive.

I have stated in the past GMC should be merged with Chevrolet, retaining the chevrolet brand name to cut duplicative services.

Vauxhall could be folded into, and renamed Opel.

Daewoo could be folded into either Pontiac or Holden, drastically reducing brands and duplicative services.

I would not condone selling any of their brands or dealership networks to a foreign automaker or private equity group.

The only brand I could see GM selling is SAAB. I would prefer the company completely shutter Hummer rather than give that brand and dealer-network to another automotive group.

GM must be focused on the future and long term. strengthening these international automakers and giving them access to U.S market and dealerships they are putting themselves at a competitive disadvantage in the near future.

they are nuts getting rid of pontiac best cars ever made

GM’s corporate dinosaur business model, their aging infrastusture, their pension liabilities and their tunnel vision have given them a competitive disadvantage in the market place. The part that really hurts them though is interdivisional competition for the same customers coupled with their mistaken belief that consumers are brand loyal. There was a time when their Customers were Brand loyal… but that was before they got stung with the myriad of terrible cars GM produced from 1974 through the mid 1990’s. Don’t blame the assembly-line guys, blame the accountants and engineers and corporate “visionaries”.

While Chrysler was going from the drawing board to production in 9 months, it was taking GM 5 years. That may explain why almost all their model changeovers looked about 5 years behind everyone else’s cars.

GM needed to … and still needs to redefine the brands they have left. Getting rid of the Pontiac Brand was short-sighted in my opinion. If they branded according to Market segment it would make more sense. What that would mean is that Pontiac would remain a sportier “Driver’s car brand” Buick would remain a luxurios geriatric brand. Chevrolet would be a tough reliable working man’s car. Cadillac would be more like Lexus-Infinity-Acura. All trucks and Mid to Full-Size SUV’s would be GMC.
Product strategy within the lines would be as follows: Chevrolet 3 cars Compact-Mid-Large only 2 trim levels … Good… and Better. Pontiac… 3 cars Compact CUV, Mid size AWD Sedan, Sport Coupe/roadster. These cars would also only have 2 trim levels … Well equipped and well equiped with Leather, nicer rims, sunroof and a sportier fascia. Buick would also have 3 cars
a versatile CUV with soft luxurious elements and superior geritric appealing features such as ease of entryy/exit, better visibility,enhanced safety.. one mid sized car and a full sized car both well equipped with one option.. Leather or Cloth
Cadillac would offer a similar CUV to a lexus RX 350 or 400, a Midsized car around 50k and a luxury sedan. Their sedan would create a new standard in luxury and quality.
GMC Truck would build all the SUV’s, Pickups and similar vehicles. They could also partner with one of their European companies to create a new truck segment not unlike the Ram Sprinter which is ideal for contactors and delivery companies.
They should keep Saturn and let young, innovative executives, engineers and designers have free reign on running the show.
Who knows… it could blossom into what it almost became… a great car company with good product and a car-family feeling. Kinda like owning a saturn meant something special.

Having said all this, I have little faith that GM can do this because their culture won’t allow it.