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In This Issue
Goodbye Pontiac
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Goodbye Pontiac
In past articles I wrote about the big 3 getting back to basics and all of us scratched our heads trying to figure out how things ran over there at GM, Ford and Chrysler. General Motors just shut down Pontiac. First it was Oldsmobile and now it’s Pontiac. I am sure there are other divisions that shut down (Geo comes to mind), but I am just focusing on the most recent two. Here are a couple of thoughts of mine.
I have mixed emotions about how our president is running the country right now. I applaud him in his ability to rally the nation and keep the American spirit and drive alive. However, throwing money at a problem doesn’t fix it. Here’s what I am getting at.
It seems like the government forced Bank of America to buy Merrill Lynch, which we all know did more damage to BofA than good. I am wondering why GM did not spin off Pontiac (or Olds for that matter) to a private company and have them try to make it on their own. I am sure if the government “backed” the name like they did Merrill, they may have had many buyers. I talked about this here in my office and the consensus was that GM did not want to lose the name. The idea is that if they were ever to resurrect the Pontiac brand, then they can use the model names GTO, Firebird etc. But my question is…what’s worth more? A model name or an entire division? Plus, the American Dream is with hard work and determination, anybody could succeed. What better way than to allow someone to buy Pontiac. Heck, who knows, maybe the future has the big four, Ford, Chrysler, GM and Pontiac. I know, I know, Chrysler is on the brink of bankruptcy and GM isn’t looking good either, but we still need to work it out.
Here is another thought that has bounced around in my head for years, why do GM and Ford compete with itself? Toyota has Lexus, Honda has Acura and Nissan has Infiniti. If I want to buy a luxury GM, I have Buick, Cadillac, Oldsmobile, and Pontiac to choose from. What…where…who…I am so confused. I think GM is just plain unorganized. Let me ask all of you, would it be so bad if the Corvette was branded as a Cadillac? Or the Pontiac GTO was a Chevy GTO? I know all of you Chevy enthusiasts are screaming at your computer right now, but the fact is, what they are doing right now isn’t working. And if they don’t change it, there is going to be a Chevy nothing and/or a GMC Yugone. In other words, I would rather see messed up names and models than NO names and models.
Here is how I would restructure GM. First, I would stop using the GMC brand and the Yukon and Denali would be trim packages on the Chevy Tahoe. If you want a luxury Chevy, then you would buy a Cadillac. The Camaro would be the Chevy sports car and the Vette would be the Cadillac sports car, bye bye XLR. Keep Saturn and only market that to the youth of America, meaning they would take on Scion and the like. As for Buick, Pontiac and Olds, spin them off and they will be the new competitor in the market. As for Ford, either combine Mercury and Lincoln or sell one off. You can call it Lincury or Mercoln, I don’t care, but they compete against each other. Or…now this is waaaay outside the box, Ford sells Mercury to a crazy rich American (Buffet step up to the plate would you) who also buys Oldsmobile and poof…Mercury becomes the luxury version of Oldsmobile. Then some other rich American (Gates your turn) buys Buick and Pontiac where Buick is now the luxury version of Pontiac. So let’s recap, Ford/Lincoln, Chevrolet/Cadillac, Olds/Mercury, Pontiac/Buick and Dodge/Chrysler
…Jeep just stick with Jeeps.
And finally, sell Hummer to Schwarzenegger.
Next month I will fix the budget ;-)
Rest in Peace Oldsmobile and Pontiac, you are and will be missed.
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