Rumor Mill: Decision on GMC and/or Pontiac Coming in August

[ConcordeNick]

I don't see why they would touch Pontiac or GMC. If you have to do anything, dump Buick. Also, get rid of redundant products. Do away with Chevy vans, trucks, crossovers, SUVs, etc.... and give them to GMC.

Just my .02 worth.

Nick

[windvale]

Originally Posted by dederer

If GM gets rid of pontiac and GMC that leaves buick with one cuv and two vehicles to sell. That probally isn't enough to sustain a dealership.

We can hope...

[texassierradude]

Originally Posted by member12

How is shutting down GMC, Pontiac, or Saturn going to fix anything?

How is shutting down Hummer (or selling the brand name...since the trucks are all GM anyways) or selling Saab going to help?

Saab isn't worth that much, and the Hummer brand name is even less since it it's products are 100% integrated into General Motors.



So, how does killing GMC, Pontiac, or Saturn going to help? Most of their products are re-badges which are very cheap to design...and their success directly depends on their dealership's reach and quality of product.

GM manages brands that have very little control of what they sell....so, killing anything off is just plain stupid. Stop selling individual products that don't sell or individual products that lose money, but don't shut down entire brands.
Cars like the Saturn Outlook, Saturn Aura, Buick Lucerne, Pontiac G6 should either be canceled or the factory should slow down to meet demand.

Stop making so many Pontiac G6s, Saturn Auras, and Outlooks. The reason they make brands is to still make money off of selling 30,000 Saturns since it shares parts with a Chevrolet that will sell well over 150,000. Why flood the dealerships with so many products with little to no marketing support?


Am I the only one here that sees the problem with cutting brands?

Agreed

[tirediron]

Originally Posted by Rocket 88

This is why I drink on weekends.... Thanks GM!The more I think about this mess the more I realize it will take someone a lot smarter then me to figure out a good plan. Thats OK since my opinion means nothing, but I think its going to take people smarter then the folks currently steering the ship.

Amen to that Brotha! Imagine selling these, listening to a 1/2 hour video insuring no worries, and now reading this! They cant make beer enough for me to deal with this crap!!!

[GMusa]

there is no way in hell GM will ditch pontiac... GMC it the obvious choice!! GMC has all the same brands as Chevy but GMC's are "suppost" to be luxury.. Well thats what we have Cadillac and the Escalade for! GMC/HUMMER can be the ones to be sold or killed off!

[GMusa]

I wanna see pontiac to stick around so they can make a STi/Evo fighter in the next-gen G6 Sedan GXP!

[usa1]

With Buick, Pontiac, and GMC joined at the hip with increasingly common dealer networks and group advertising strategies, I'd have to say dumping Saturn, SAAB, and Hummer are much more likely and logical. Then again, GM has been known to do the stupid many times.

Mark

[Ambalanche]

You mean to tell me the replacement for the STS and DTS is not locked in by now? Are they going to replace them with another FWD car? If that's the case, Cadillac will never return to greatness, I hope I misread that!

[DaJudge]

Originally Posted by GMusa

I wanna see pontiac to stick around so they can make a STi/Evo fighter in the next-gen G6 Sedan GXP!

Yup! Just the car they should have down at the ole' Performance Dealership. I'd call it Tempest!

Kill my Pontiac don't count on me going to Chevy. I'm a "sick in the gut" Pontiac guy, not a GM man.

On the positive side if they did kill Pontiac I guess I could look at other brands without feeling like I'm cheating on my wife. :-)

[vcs2600]

Option A) Do all this amazing stuff with Pontiac that GM can't afford to do, and customers wouldn't buy anyway because they think Pontiac only makes cheap cars.

Option B) Whack Pontiac and merge the Pontiac/Buick/GMC dealership channel in with Chevrolet, to create a Chevy/Buick channel. GMC gets killed as the innocent bystander.

Buick is the only other non-lux GM brand that actually commands a (small) premium over a plain Chevrolet, so this paring would make sense. It wouldn't surprise me if the ASP of a G6 is actually lower than that of a Malibu. The Solstice and G8 could easily be rebadged as Chevys.

It's a crude plan and probably shortsighted, but desperate times require desperate measures.

[vcs2600]

Also the GM board will have all sorts of data which we do not have:

+ How many people cross-shop Pontiac/GMC against domestic brands versus imports?

+ What is the average selling price and profit a Pontiac/GMC sale versus Chevrolet?

+ What is the brand perceptions of Pontiac & GMC? Do people perceive them to be unique or just another version of a GM car?

[nadepalma]

Originally Posted by mcool

If Saturn's strategy of truly tapping into Opel and extending that brand into NA is fulfilled, then Saturn's future is relatively secure. It would suffer from very little to no product overlap/rebadging in this market and would build upon the ~2 million annual volume for Opel product.

I agree that Saab is too integrated and misdirected to be either easy to part with or very valuable on its own. Hummer could be sliced off pretty easily given its low volume and clear branding... sadly its branding is so refined, just undesireable in this market.

Thanks mcool for the feedback.

It very much may be as you say. GM has spent a ton on Saturn and it seems like the strategy is just starting to pick up steam product-wise. No doubt that if there is a true swap of product sharing between Opel/Vauxhall and Saturn, their lineup should remain fresh and appeal - but more importantly, it should be distinct from the rest of GM's US lineup.

However, we have also seen very little uptick in Saturn sales regardless of all that great product of late. The Outlook isn't selling well. Neither is the Aura or the Astra despite huge investments by GM. GM has some quality cars here, but the only product selling well is the Vue. Otherwise, all that fantastic investment hasn't amounted to very much.

One could surmise that part of the problem is that there are too few advertising/marketing dollars allocated to Saturn. Or perhaps GM has boggled the shift from "entry-level/value brand" to it's new perch as a "more upscale, between Pontiac and Buick" position?

Regardless, GM shouldn't be throwing more good money after bad. If Saturn is not "viable" as a marketing exercise, perhaps GM is thinking of eliminating the brand and bringing Pontiac more in line with Opel/Vauxhall? Could this be possible?

When you think about it, Pontiac was traditionally associated with sporty vehicles. The new Saturns, in many instances, fit this mold. Could GM simply be looking for a "better outlet" for these products than Saturn showrooms? Could we see the Insignia be sold here at the G6? Or perhaps see the Astra sold on our shores as a G4? This would essentially take the "marketing" problem out from under the Saturn nameplate and place it directly in a more "establishe" brand like Pontiac - is it possible?

Just thinking out loud, but maybe there is a few nuggets of truth there - even if the outcoming isn't exactly plausible.

Thanks mcool!

[BigThreeForever]

So, no DTS/STS successor.

Cadillac's future line-up will be the CTS, the BRX and maybe the Escalade.

Awesome. Just awesome.

They must be quaking in their boots in Stuttgart, Munich and where ever the hell Lexus' HQ is.

Please wake me up when there is actually some positive news on the product front. Correction: if there ever is any.

[m1chev]

Originally Posted by ConcordeNick

I don't see why they would touch Pontiac or GMC. If you have to do anything, dump Buick. Also, get rid of redundant products. Do away with Chevy vans, trucks, crossovers, SUVs, etc.... and give them to GMC.

Just my .02 worth.

Nick

1. GMC and Pontiac are not global brands.
2. Too many dealers -- GM has 6400 retail dealerships, Toyota - Lexus 1800; subtract the fleet sales and 1800 Toyota/Lexus stores actually sell more retail units than 6400 GM dealerships.
3. Chevrolet and Saturn (Opel) are GM's small car brands.
4. Need to meet govt CAFE ratings in 2015 and 2020.


Could these be the future North American GM Brands?

Chevrolet
Buick/Opel
Saab - ??
Cadillac

[TruckMan]

Originally Posted by GMFAN85

I'm still placing my bets on GMC/Hummer getting the ax. They currently bring nothing to GM that benefits the company and the dealership networks for both are small enough or already combined with other brands that it wouldn't cost GM an arm and a leg to shut them down, a la oldsmobile.

So being the #2 GM brand and selling 500,00 units a year is nothing for GM? Last I checked, GMC sells almost twice that of Saturn. Great idea!