[jbernie]

I don't disagree that GM could benefit from a more streamlined approach, that being said, the costs of maintaining multiple brands is probably alot less than trying to buyout dealerships and close dealerships etc etc. Closing Oldsmobile was hard enough.

This being said, one of the benefits of having more brands is that you don't need to design vehicles that please 90% of the people 100% of the time. I won't say all of GM's brands are at the pinnacle of automotive design, but when you look at Toyota you can see where streamlining goes wrong. Anything witha Toyota badge must appeal to the masses, Scion is that quirky brand, Lexus is luxury. For Toyota they have to have multiple models overlapping because they can't pass those models off to the other two brands they have.