GM Inside News Forum - View Single Post - Is Pontiac Really The Best Partner For Holden?

tgagneguam · 03-02-2008, 08:39 AM

As usual, your visual work is impeccable, MonaroSS. Few can argue your talent there.

I do have concerns with your line of thinking, though. I think for GM's many brands to be successful-and keeping them all and having them show success is possible, if not likely or certainly easily done-they need to identify a clear identity, both in purpose and in look. GM seems to be working toward this. Pontiac seems to be trying to revive performance aspirations, which seem to be more in line with Holden's purpose in Australia. I could be wrong, and I'm aware that Holden cars cover more ground in Australia than Pontiac cars do in NA. Here in NA, Buick seems charged with fulfilling the mission of understated luxury, and I don't know that the performance characteristics of Holden meets the character of what a Buick should be. Put another way, I wonder if mildly rebadging the Coupe 60, as wonderful as it is, confuses the mission of Buick. Many on this site will argue that point, I'm sure. But I'm not really certain.

And Buick's global design may be a bit schizophrenic, with Chinese models more closely resembling Holdens, but I do think it's the NA look of the Enclave that should predominate over the Holden design theme of Chinese Buicks. Will it take more work and cost to properly align Australian Holdens to look like NA Buicks? Again, I don't know.

I also wonder about selecting a brand for NA based on present currency exchange rates and extrapolating that going forward. Again, for brands to be more successful, it's the identity and purpose that should be paramount, and slightly more pricey Pontiacs could be sold if they are true to the brand's intended purpose. I know exchange rates are important, but I don't know that it should be the deciding factor, per se.

03-02-2008, 08:39 AM	#12 (permalink)
tgagneguam 6.2 Liter LS9 Supercharged V8 Join Date: Aug 2003 Posts: 7,648	Re: Is Pontiac Really The Best Partner For Holden? As usual, your visual work is impeccable, MonaroSS. Few can argue your talent there. I do have concerns with your line of thinking, though. I think for GM's many brands to be successful-and keeping them all and having them show success is possible, if not likely or certainly easily done-they need to identify a clear identity, both in purpose and in look. GM seems to be working toward this. Pontiac seems to be trying to revive performance aspirations, which seem to be more in line with Holden's purpose in Australia. I could be wrong, and I'm aware that Holden cars cover more ground in Australia than Pontiac cars do in NA. Here in NA, Buick seems charged with fulfilling the mission of understated luxury, and I don't know that the performance characteristics of Holden meets the character of what a Buick should be. Put another way, I wonder if mildly rebadging the Coupe 60, as wonderful as it is, confuses the mission of Buick. Many on this site will argue that point, I'm sure. But I'm not really certain. And Buick's global design may be a bit schizophrenic, with Chinese models more closely resembling Holdens, but I do think it's the NA look of the Enclave that should predominate over the Holden design theme of Chinese Buicks. Will it take more work and cost to properly align Australian Holdens to look like NA Buicks? Again, I don't know. I also wonder about selecting a brand for NA based on present currency exchange rates and extrapolating that going forward. Again, for brands to be more successful, it's the identity and purpose that should be paramount, and slightly more pricey Pontiacs could be sold if they are true to the brand's intended purpose. I know exchange rates are important, but I don't know that it should be the deciding factor, per se.