Wall Street Journal
Auto Industry Moves
Link:
http://blogs.wsj.com/autoshow/2008/1...?mod=wsjcrmain

November 26, 2008, 5:37 pm
Report: GM Is Considering Selling Saab, Pontiac, Saturn Brands

General Motors Corp. is studying whether to unload its Pontiac, Saab and Saturn brands, Bloomberg News reported Wednesday, citing sources familiar with the matter.

GM is working on a plan to get about $12 billion in loans from a proposed $25 billion government bailout for the Detroit auto makers.

The possible brand cuts could be part of a survival plan that will be pitched to Congress when the leaders of GM, Chrysler LLC and Ford Motor Co. make their cases next week. GM spokesman wouldn’t comment on what would be in the survival plan.

 

Isaw on the news thatsome experts are saying that the big 3 will survive, but not as we know them now.

Pontiac and Saturn are popular sellers for GM right now. I think GM should probably sell off Saab, and eliminate the Buick brand. When I saw the news that GM and Tiger Woods were ending their deal, I thought for sure it was a prelude to an announcement that the Buick line was being discontinued. I also think GM should stop offering the Hummer to the public, and return it to a military-only vehicle.

 

Aren't plans already in the works to axe the hummer brand, or at least sell it off?

 

GM MUST re-organize. Chapter 11 with government intervention is THE only way it can happen. $$$ bail-out. Chop from the top. Then:

FIRST - There should be NO multi-platform vehicles. Increase the QUALITY of the vehicles built. Quality SHOULD be a given, not a forgotten. Volvo quality. Mercedes quality. NOT Jaguar quality.

Hummer - return it to AM General, and let them continue production of military Hum-Vees, and H1s and H2s. Scrap the H3
Saab - Sell it to the Europeans. Quality car, just not for GM America
Saturn - GMs economy car line. Pint-sized cars only. Cheap and stripped down. No SUVs or crossovers. Economy cars.
Buick - Buick City is just a field now. Gone! So should the Buick line. Nothing there that's not a multi-platform car. OR, make it a high level (sub-Cadillac) line. QUALITY.
Pontiac and Chevrolet - Merge the two. So much overlap there now. BUT, you COULD have the Vette, Camaro, Trans Am, Impala, GTO, and other of the STAPLE cars in the GM stable. I personally think Pontiac should be RWD and Chevrolet FWD, but what do you do with the Vette and Camaro?
GMC - THE truck line of the General. Chevys are the same. Make this the truck, van, and SUV line.
Cadillac. What can you say? Oh yea, QUALITY! Make one that will last 200K. Then and ONLY then will a Caddy be worth what they are asking for them. Maintanence costs are unbearable.

Structure - GM dealerships. ONLY! With computer locating, you can find anything in seconds, and know everything about it. You DO NOT need a Buick Pontiac GMC dealer ACROSS the street from a Cadillac Chevrolet dealer. Just not needed!

UAW - MUST concede or IT will die! PATCO and American Axle are just some examples of what can and WILL happen.

CONCENTRATE ON QUALITY AND QUALITY SERVICE AND THE CUSTOMERS WILL RETURN. American do NOT want to buy foreign brands, but the UAW and the big 3 have given us no other choice for quality.

 

Very well said Wayne. I kinda disagree a little with the Chevy/Pontiac idea though. Keep the two names, but eliminate the overlap. The G5 for example gone. Pontiac's SUV/minivan gone. G6 & G8 very popular keep 'em. Firebird is overlap don't need it. If Pontiac is to have a 2 door performance car, make a GTO. But a completely different car from the camaro. Don't just rebadge a Camaro and call it a GTO. That's overlap.

I don't know what to do with the Corvette though. GM has priced it out of most people's price range. And those that can afford it, can get a much better sports car than the Vette. It also has the image of a "mid-life crisis mobile". On one hand it's a shame to let it die. But on the other hand, it's dying with new-car buyers. Most people will pick up a good used Vette, but won't buy it new. So looking at it that way, maybe it should go away when the Camaro comes out? Not sure though. Mixed feelings on the Vette right now.

 

 

For the most part I concur.
Saturn should be the cheap lineup/ entry level of all GM cars.
Pontiac-Chevrolet should be merged as one, but be the performance lineup since Saturn is covering the entry level. This alone would shed alot of management/design jobs GM as a whole doesn't need.
Caddy-Buick should be the upper elite cars with entry level being of a Buick background and Caddy being the cream. Don;t take the Buick as a entry as Saturn is, it's just a more affordable approach instead of the Caddy pricing.

GMC is all truck, is a no brainer.

Dealers should not be merged as one for all.
This way mechanics etc will be specialized in what they service and not all over like they are now which leads to bad service and high costs since alot of the charges are based upon $ per hour of fix time.
One for Trucks
One for the Saturn
One for the merge between Pont and Chev
One for the merge of Caddy and Buick.

 

The Camaro will sell much fewer units then the Corvette will and talk about a "mid life crisis" car?

Let the only car with a continual 55 year run die? Shame on you. Besides, the Corvette has always appealed to a much smaller segment of car buyers.

As a former Vette owner I take personal umbrage to that. It's more of an extension of ones *****....

I have to disagree with this point. Nowhere on the planet can you get the kind of performance you get from a 2008 Corvette for $45K excluding the ZR1 and Z06. What IS over priced is the Cadillac version of the vette. The XLR is close to $90K.


So, in summation here's my idea. Chapter 11 with no bailout. Eliminate bonuses for executives, salary only (oh yeah, sell the private jets too) Scrap the collective bargaining agreement and re negotiate downward. The s are 85% of the problem. If they won't make concessions then close the doors and let the members picket an empty building.

 

Now is not the time for the Monte Carlo. With the Malibu, Impala, and the Camaro coming out, there is no room for it. I'd rather let the Monte Carlo name die than put it on some economy car. I remember Ford named a van at the autoshow a few years ago a Galaxy.. I said PLEASE NO!!!

I figured when Pontiac left NASCAR in '03? or so that it was on it's way out. I agree with everything Wayne said except the Chevrolet/Pontiac thing. Either make a Camaro, or make a Trans Am. They amde a mistake in '02 by discontinuing the line. They should have just cut either the Firebird or the Camaro. Fro a car taht wasn't selling well, I still see the d*mn things everytime I open my eyes on the highway.. why did they discontinue both cars?

The Corvette is the high performance car, the Camaro should be the next step down.

As for Cadillac.... uh, how about letsactually MAKE IT A LUXURY CAR!!! When my parents were shopping for cars and ultimatly got a Honda Odyssey (for comfort reasons), we looked at a Cadillac. There is so much plastic I thought I was sitting in a mid 90's Japanesse economy car. What a piece of junk!!! And that NorthStar V8, and how it leaks oil and GM calls it "normal". Wow. We also checked out a Lincoln Town Car (didn't get that becasue my dad didn't like getting in and out, and he thought the backseat was too small), the Lincoln is a TRUE luxury car.. it has a plush, beautiful interior with some wood grain (plastic wood grain, but wood grain), very smooth seats, smooth gear stick... WHY CAN'T THE CADILLAC BE LIKE THAT!?!?!?

Ford is guilty of the same crap. The Lincoln truck is a HUGE waste.. it's an F-150 with a chrome package, Lincoln's trademark embroidered emblems in th seat, and a Lincoln logos instead of Ford.. for like $10,000 more? NO, cut the d*mn thing.

alright... thats enough ranting for now...

 

Agree with MOST everything said to date. As far as Camaro and Trans Am, I can't see why there can't be 2 distinctly different cars, on not necessarily even the same platform. Parts sharing IS a necessity at times. A complete platform? No. But Pontiac has been using enough Cadillac stuff like the Northstars, trannys and dif's, that IMO it COULD be done. Our Solstice GXP has a tranny and dif from a CTS. A Trans Am now? No. Maybe a LS7 Chevelle SS? Another GTO? An 8th gen LS7 RWD Monte SS? And the LS9? Someday?

Make the low end Caddys Buicks, and add some LEATHER to the Caddys. Real wood inside. Drop the XLR? Then how do you compete with the McLaren AMG? ADD LEATHER AND WOOD! Kick up the hp and the price. BUT! It BETTER be the SAME quality, cuz right now, they're not even close!

The Corvette ZR1? WAY too much plastic. For 6 digits I WANT LEATHER! Sharp car. And fast. But look inside. CHEAP PLASTIC! Wait a minute, I'm a moldmaker! I'm cutting my own throat! NO I'M NOT! Most of the leather wrapped stuff is wrapped around a plastic substrate anyway. I can have a complete 1 of a kind custom made leather interior made for the Solstice GXP for around $5.5-6K. I've been looking at designs and options. It WILL happen! Turbo upgrade 1st. Why can't GM mass produce complete leather interiors for less than that? If you can pay $120K for a ZR1, wouldn't you be willing to pay another $5-10K for full leather?

Pontiac and Chevy merge? Why not! Saturn for economy cars. GMC for trucks. Saab and Hummer sold.

And the Chevy Volt? They can't even come up with the battery to make it work! And at $40K it won't sell. HAS to be under $25K, and preferably under $20K. QUANTITY will make more of a profit than selling only a few at a higher $$$. Just amortize the tooling cost out farther. Maybe 200K units instead of 100K units. It WILL sell!

Lincoln and Cadillac trucks? NO! Lincoln needs to DIRECT competition to cadillac to survive, not a fancy Mercury. And Mercury? Maybe IT should go away. Chrysler? That's a tough one no matter HOW you look at it. Cut the fat. Cut the overlaps.

And QUALITY HAS to be TOP priority for ANY business to survive. I'd be out of a job if I couldn't build a quality mold. Not just a goal, A WAY OF LIFE!

And the UAW is in this as deep as the big 3, they will make concessions. No choice in the matter.