[Rob Hood]

It's all over the 'net, CNN, Fox, WSJ (subscription)...

[CMC#5]

Does anyone know why GM would sell Saturn but discontinue Pontiac? Why not sell Pontiac is my question. I also don't understand why Buick being a big deal in China means it has to exist anywhere else. I also don't understand why GMC stays at all. Considering this is an exercise in overlap reduction...what exactly does GMC do? Slightly more luxurious than Chevy but not as much as Caddy? Make the top end Chevy model equivalent to the GMC and you're done, no?

[cccbock]

Does anyone know why GM would sell Saturn but discontinue Pontiac? Why not sell Pontiac is my question. I also don't understand why Buick being a big deal in China means it has to exist anywhere else. I also don't understand why GMC stays at all. Considering this is an exercise in overlap reduction...what exactly does GMC do? Slightly more luxurious than Chevy but not as much as Caddy? Make the top end Chevy model equivalent to the GMC and you're done, no?

I heard a story on the radio today where they stated that they (GM) did not have ANY current scenario whereby Pontiac could be made profitable. This leads me to believe there are a lot of underlying problems which we (consumers and car buffs) do not see. And this tells me that Pontiac was not making much money when times were good, much less now. When Pontiac is selling cars, it is scavenging a lot of sales from other GM brands. GM is killing one of Chevy and Buicks competitors, while saving big bunches of money. What we don't see are the underlying dealership costs, and other baggage that comes with Pontiac that may not reside with Chevy, Buick and Saturn

An example: Pontiac currently relies heavily on R&D from other GM divisions (Chevy, Holden). Nobody would buy Pontiac, unless it came with the R&D connections to GM,OR unless they had their own (for example Dodge Viper is trying to do this while splitting from Dodge and SRT). Which means the new owner would need have their own R&D, because GM is not going to give away their international R&D to the new owner.

On the other hand, Saturn could be easily run without GM, has their own R&D, their own factory, their own models, their own union agreements, their own stand alone dealerships....blah blah blah. A new owner could just write a check, and immediately be in the American car business....

bock