A merger of equals is not necessarily such a bad thing, GM can get rid of a couple of brands if this deal goes down and consolidate vehicle line ups.
As most people are saying, get rid of pontiac in favor for dodge vehicles, which would be mostly logical as it is the 'affordable' brand with performance oriented vehicles as well (SRTs anyone?)
Pontiac can easily shoot off the G8 as a new RWD impala, send the solstice and G3 to dodge (to get their B class car and their hornet), and throw the torrent to GMC (which I believe its already on task to do so for next gen). What other products would need saving for pontiac anyways? I am a pontiac fan as well, but the neglect of the brand over the years has demolished any love I had for it.
A crazy idea of mine, would be to spin off saturn into chrysler vehicles. Chrysler has a far richer history than saturn, and GM is trying to move saturn towards the 'upscale' market. This gives competitive products to chrysler, which will compete below Buick but above chevy. It is hard to push a newer brand AMERICAN brand through the market, even if they are made overseas.
It is a very hard decision to shut down buick or GMC, as both brands have a major prescence for GM history and sales respectively. Buick is getting refreshed with the new lacrosse, but does have the least product to offer of all GM brands. Hummer is done.
So this will allow for the chrysler dealers to consolidate their 3 brands (CDJ's) which they already do in canada, while GM can cut out pontiac in favour for saab or another upscale brand (caddilac-buick-GMC) and keep saab and chevy alone. I never did understand having your sports brand mixed in with working trucks and lower luxury vehicles.
All of this doesnt include what vehicles would be cut, but this would help both companies with R&D and their dealer issues. As for cutting out LY platforms, they're already been developed and would at least stick around until the next refresh. Its not exactly easy to just put sheet metal over a different platform, they arent BOF cars anymore. Worst comes to worse, GM has more liquidity if the B word comes up, they can always sell chrysler to a foreign company for some cash.
On a side note, chrysler LH cars are awesome. When my father needed to get a new vehicle it came between a GP GT or intrepid ES. The intrepid won him over the GP, and this is someone who has owned 1 ford and 4 GM vehicles over his lifetime. He was far more impressed with the entire vehicle; interior, exterior, ride and handling, a little more horsepower on tap as well.
And this is what I drive to compare the stock LHS posted:
