Source: The Car Connection daily eMail
Product-Juggling Strategy Takes Place at Pontiac
After the June sales jolt at GM, the beleaguered Pontiac Division is juggling models anew. The only GM brand to suffer a sales decline in the corporation’s June boom, Pontiac is losing three models this fall and replacing the dropouts with two – the long-awaited Solstice two-seat roadster and the Torrent sport wagon. Out the door go the Bonneville sedan, the Sunfire compact car and the ill-fated Aztek sport wagon.
Beyond the debut of 2006 models, even more realignments are slated for Pontiac. GM’s vice-president for North America sales, service and marketing, Mark LaNeve,
said last week that dealers have asked that Sunfire and Grand Am be replaced as soon as possible by an entry-level car, and GM has reportedly responded with a quickie spin-off of the Chevrolet Cobalt for the 2007 model year.
Pontiac has become GM’s biggest “loser” in sales so far this year, showing a 16-percent sales decline that June’s employee-pricing rollout was unable to reverse. It was a bitter pill in view of jumps of about 40 percent for Buick, Chevrolet and Saturn. Many Pontiac dealers blame a spotty image for the new mid-size G6 sedan as a factor in the first-half sales reverse.
Replacement of the well-entrenched Grand Am name by “G6” has failed to resonate among Pontiac shoppers, says Gordon Wangers, a marketing analyst based in Marina Del Rey, Calif.– Mac Gordon
Product-Juggling Strategy Takes Place at Pontiac
After the June sales jolt at GM, the beleaguered Pontiac Division is juggling models anew. The only GM brand to suffer a sales decline in the corporation’s June boom, Pontiac is losing three models this fall and replacing the dropouts with two – the long-awaited Solstice two-seat roadster and the Torrent sport wagon. Out the door go the Bonneville sedan, the Sunfire compact car and the ill-fated Aztek sport wagon.
Beyond the debut of 2006 models, even more realignments are slated for Pontiac. GM’s vice-president for North America sales, service and marketing, Mark LaNeve,
said last week that dealers have asked that Sunfire and Grand Am be replaced as soon as possible by an entry-level car, and GM has reportedly responded with a quickie spin-off of the Chevrolet Cobalt for the 2007 model year.
Pontiac has become GM’s biggest “loser” in sales so far this year, showing a 16-percent sales decline that June’s employee-pricing rollout was unable to reverse. It was a bitter pill in view of jumps of about 40 percent for Buick, Chevrolet and Saturn. Many Pontiac dealers blame a spotty image for the new mid-size G6 sedan as a factor in the first-half sales reverse.
Replacement of the well-entrenched Grand Am name by “G6” has failed to resonate among Pontiac shoppers, says Gordon Wangers, a marketing analyst based in Marina Del Rey, Calif.– Mac Gordon