[djo165]

If you are only going to keep one other US brand in addition to Chevy and Cadillac, it should probably be Buick, not Pontiac. I say this even though I personally would like Pontiac more. The Buick reputation is far better than Pontiac's.

My suggestion would be to keep Buick, GMC, and Pontiac. Then kill the Saturn brand, and divert the Astra and upcoming new Aura to Pontiac to replace the aging G6. The Astra is the only current Saturn offering that doesn't have a very similar sibling currently being sold by either GMC or Pontiac (if you count GMC's upcoming Terrain built off the Vue.)

This plan leverages the numerically superior BGP dealership channel and allows for the killing off of the smaller dealership channel, which would be cheaper than the reverse.

In effect, Saturn has become the new Oldsmobile. It's a good brand, with good offerings. But without the proper advertising push behind it, Saturn isn't going to grow or improve.

It's not nice, but it is logical.