Comments on: Report: GM may kill or sell Pontiac, Saab, and Saturn

By: Dual Sim Mobile

Dual Sim Mobile — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 21:28:15 +0000

nice post

By: Dustin Spino

Dustin Spino — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 07:56:57 +0000

I think GM should re organise their cars. GMC should combine with Chevy and form a truck line, have GMC brand be more work like trucks and Chevy will be sold to the consumers. No need to be making both right now and trying to sell both. Obviously keep Chevy going, people love Chevy and those are doing fine, if anything do more with Chevy and get it going. Get those new camaros out etc...

Keep Buick but promote it in China not here. Dont mass manufacter things that dont sell here, but its doing well in China so keep selling it there.

Sadly i dont want to see Pontiac go but it has to be done. Take the Firebird and leave it with Chevy and the Camaro, take the other 2 brands and put them with Chevy too and lose the Firebird name. Just like GMC you DONT need 2 brands selling the EXACT same cars on the market.

Cadilliac will be marketed as luxary cars. Raise the prices here and sell less and make less, its luxary!

SAAB is not a trusted brand right now and i dont think it will be anytime soon, this is here in America at least. I say sell it, if it booms later it booms but i dont think Americans will be welcoming it at all.

Saturn seems to be doing fine, maybe cut back a little here but keep it going. Saturn has a chance to become a good hybrid series. I think its mostly the governments fault for getting in this mess, i mean they continue to say "hybrids this or that" and yet GM and Ford are making muscle and sports cars. GM needs to start working towards hybrid cars that keep that same american muscle feel to them, because hybrids suck. I have owned GM cars my entire life and will always own GM cars no matter what and it truly sucks to see them in this hole, i hope they pull through because without them id be stuck buying Ford (and thats in my nightmares when i sleep at night lol).

By: Dustin Spino

Dustin Spino — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 00:56:57 +0000

By: cloud

cloud — Sat, 13 Dec 2008 13:56:52 +0000

i think hmm…
perhaps it could be a good idea
but maybe they should consider selling out chrysler as well
the chrysler business sucks
in my opinion

By: Jim

Jim — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 15:59:18 +0000

In the late ninties GM gave some great products to Oldsmobile. No one bought or knew about cars like the Olds Intrigue. The Saturn brand got hot in the ninties with just 2 small models. If the Intrigue was given to Saturn in 1997 it would have been another Accord or Camry. Also, by the early part of this decade in 2002 and 2004 the Buick Regal built on an Intrigue platform with the base 3800 V6 was Consurmer Reports most reliable midsized car. What could have been?????

By: Natgjr.

Natgjr. — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 01:58:43 +0000

Chevy sells mostly crap fleet vehicles or whatever buick refuses.saturn sells less than crap. but they are gonna keep chevy because the vette is not going anywhere.Buick is caddilac in china and sells a ton more cars there.so they were not in the equasion. pontiac only has one decent car and that can be repackaged as a chevy or buick. saab should be sold back to it's jet plane roots. if gm is serious, these cuts and repackaging will bring them back. maybe they will set an example for the others to have better business practices.

By: neil

neil — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 11:45:09 +0000

The only reason Buick isn't on the list is it makes money in China – so it is not going anywhere!!!
and Opel is designing profitable and very good cars in Europe, GM should follow Ford's lead and use more Euro-designed product but not badged as Staurn's – I know lets take a really good “euro Import” and use the worst image brand to try and sell it in the US.
Losing a brand like Pontiac is likely to send more people buying imports than it saves, consolidation of brands is the key.
The use of Holden and Opel platforms is the only way to survive

By: Bobmarley

Bobmarley — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 11:22:33 +0000

- First kill UAW contracts!

- Then drop or sell every brand but Chevy and Cadillac

By: Michael

Michael — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 20:00:55 +0000

Declare Chapter 11 and shut down GMC, Buick, and Pontiac. Keep Saturn, Cadillac, and Chevy while selling Hummer, SAAB, and Opel.

Renegotiate the union contracts and retirees mess with legitimate, business-like deals.

Roll-out new models quickly and PROMOTE, PROMOTE, PROMOTE. I recently drove an Avalon that was the 'competitor' to my Buick and I see why people flocked to Toyota...no comparison. GM CAN do it and get better, but not in it's current shape. Make dealers show why they should be one of the 1500 or so.

By: buxie

buxie — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 17:45:31 +0000

The only thing they forgot was Buick & GMC. GM I have said for years should be just two brands; Chevrolt and Cadillac. GM for years has been too busy building careers and not automobiles. Richard

By: ty

ty — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 01:31:03 +0000

Hmmm, I was thinking more like this:

Chevy - entry level models & sports cars (camaro & corvette),

GMC - the truck line, either that or chevy, ( well you could make the GMC like commercial heavy duty or something like that, but one has to go.)

Cadillac - luxury cars, no escalade

Get rid of Pontiac & Buick ( I mean the G8 is alright & so is the solstice, but you got a CTS & the sky, I mean what else,)

Well Saab should be sold too, I don't think GM knows what to do with Saab anymore.

Well Saturn should keep doing what they're doing

Also, I agree, get rid of Buick, What's even the point of having them around anymore

By: gus the grouter

gus the grouter — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 23:42:18 +0000

Package it up with Holden and Opel – they are the good bits of GM. Sell to non-Americans. The gringos can't run a greasy stick up a (insert rest of foul mouthed Aussie euphemism here).

By: Titan

Titan — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 18:26:08 +0000

I agree, to an extent. Though Saab has the potential to be a great niche brand, GM should sell it focus on it's core brands (more on that in a minute) and shore up some cash. I hate to see see any brands get shelved, but it's necessary in this day and age, where GM doesn't own 50+ percent of the U.S. auto market and all of those brands were needed to fill a purpose. GMC is redundant with Chevy in the picture, and it should go. Pontiac should also be shelved; that fact that GM has already made firm decisions about moving away from RWD means Pontiac will never be an all RWD only performance brand. I see many people calling for Buick to go too. That's a huge mistake. Buick also has enormous potential, and can be positioned as a value luxury brand seen as a true alternative to Lexus. Also, let's think globally. Buick, along with Chevy and Caddy, are GM's only true Global brands (not counting Saab). They're HUGE in Asia, especially in China. Keeping Buick would also help keep Buick out of hot water with all of the BPG dealers who would sue them for closure. They would become pure Buick dealers. Buick needs the Enclave, the smaller upcoming CUV, the new Lacrosse, and a RWD Flagship based off the LWB Zeta platform. If the brand does well, after that maybe a two door Flagship can pop up…

By: Jeff

Jeff — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 17:35:57 +0000

Here's a thought…. get rid of the unions, reduce the size of GM by closes plants and instead of delaying new products, you speed them up! I know there are tons of costs assiciated with all of this, but its all needed for the good of the future. Wagoner needs to go also, he's the worst of the Big 3 CEO's.
Also sell Saab, Saab has not been utilized properly by GM, it's just a re badged Opel that has totally lost focus (or else turn Saab into a high end eco/performance division of compact and medium FWD and All wheel drive cars). Another great idea is to turn Pontiac and Holden into one unit that just works on rear wheel drive, turn it into a GM version of an affordable BMW, a true performance division, the G8/Commodore and the Torana (3 series sized concept) are great starts! Cadillac can continue its good work as a true BMW/Mercedes alternative. Finally, just simplify your existing products by converting Saturn and Vauxhall dealers as Opel. Why have 3 brands that just sell the same product! Then you let Opel sell it's European models and also they can build some models in the US and take advantage of the weak dollar, maybe ship vehicles back to Europe!. I know… that's brilliant

By: kuvakas

kuvakas — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 16:58:18 +0000

Selling Saab and Hummer makes sense. They are marginally profitable at best and always have been. Merging GMC into Chevy is a good idea. Buick is on the ropes with nothing new in the pipeline.

Why not merge Pontiac, Saturn and Buick into one brand? GM has done an excellent job of using Pontiac and Saturn to being over the best of what they make overseas. If they all came together under the Pontiac banner with Opel supplying the passenger cars and Holden supplying the performance cars, I think the brand could remain viable and profitable without cluttering the landscape with re-badged Chevies. They can do it without increasing developmental expenses and keep a large number of those dealers in business while establishing a line up of unique vehicles with their own identity.

GM has this amazing history of getting a vehilce right just before axeing it. Look at the Fiero, Allante, Aurora et al. Here's a chance to spread the expenses out over their world-wide production and to cut the umbelicle cord on badge engineering.

We can only hope it's not too late to rescue some great cars like the G8, the Enclave and the Opel made Saturns.

By: MIKE JAMES

MIKE JAMES — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 16:20:16 +0000

SAAB, PONT,BUICK,HUMMER,GMC SHOULD ALL GO
KEEP CHEVY PICKUP, CADILLAC SHOULD GM BUY CHRYSLER
KEEP DODGE PICKUP AND JEEP SELL OFF THE REST

By: zermatt

zermatt — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 16:06:23 +0000

If you tow boats, campers or car trailers you need a vehicle that handle these loads. Saturns cannot do this nor can other front wheel drive cars.

I guess that GM can always concede trucks and SUVs to Ford.

By: zermatt

zermatt — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 15:59:20 +0000

All that GM should keep is Chevy, Cadillac and Pontiac or Buick.

As far as I can see only Saab and Hummer areable to be sold as real independent brands. Saturn is a failed business model that now depends on GM of Europe's mdoels to make a go of it. Pontiac or Buick by itself offers nothing of value or or in the way of a separate product line. Maybe the Chinese would be interested in the name to put on thier cars.

Chevy - entry models and trucks (love those large SUVs!!)

Buick or Pontiac - mid line models (no SUVs)

Cadillac - luxury models (no SUVs)

Finally, go to a maximum of 1,500 dealers from the current 7,000.