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Re: Pontiac Next To Go?
As I understand it, US (and Canadian) legislators are saying no help to the automakers unless they are first presented a plan (not that I'm confident the majority of elected government officials or unelected bureaucrats would know a good auto industry plan if it ran them down in the street, but I digress).
Anyway, there's certainly been a lot of talk about too many brands competing for the same customer base, model overlap, etc. Intuitively, some of what's being said makes sense -- why have Chevy and GMC trucks; Ford killed off Mercury trucks years ago and it was, from a business point of view, a smart move.
Which brings us to the Pontiac question. Sentimentality aside, what is there that distinguishes Pontiac today? Some will point out the G8 and G8 Sport Truck (which I still insist should be added to the Chevy order of battle and badged an El Camino). I think these were good moves if the aim was to revitalize Pontiac as the "sporty" division, but -- sadly -- the timing was wrong and its now too little too late. And I'm sure a resurgent Cadillac, a good news story in its own right for GM, isn't helping the Poncho team.
Big picture, if Pontiac gets the axe and it contributes to putting the General back on the road to profitability, then the corporate flacks who do the chopping will look like heroes. My bigger concern however, is that the real problem is that there is no longer a viable business model for sustaining all three of the Big Three. If GM succeeds in getting taxpayer assistance based on a radical plan that includes getting rid of Pontiac, but the feds still keep a terminally ill Chrysler on life-support, then the whole thing will have been a waste of time. And I'm still NOT convinced that any sort of bailout will really serve to make things better in the long run; we have a long history of corporate welfare in Canada and the result is almost always the same: the execs, corporate hangers-on and big union leaders end up with cozy packages and the jobs go south of the Rio Grande or to the other side of the Pacific.
As I understand it, US (and Canadian) legislators are saying no help to the automakers unless they are first presented a plan (not that I'm confident the majority of elected government officials or unelected bureaucrats would know a good auto industry plan if it ran them down in the street, but I digress).
Anyway, there's certainly been a lot of talk about too many brands competing for the same customer base, model overlap, etc. Intuitively, some of what's being said makes sense -- why have Chevy and GMC trucks; Ford killed off Mercury trucks years ago and it was, from a business point of view, a smart move.
Which brings us to the Pontiac question. Sentimentality aside, what is there that distinguishes Pontiac today? Some will point out the G8 and G8 Sport Truck (which I still insist should be added to the Chevy order of battle and badged an El Camino). I think these were good moves if the aim was to revitalize Pontiac as the "sporty" division, but -- sadly -- the timing was wrong and its now too little too late. And I'm sure a resurgent Cadillac, a good news story in its own right for GM, isn't helping the Poncho team.
Big picture, if Pontiac gets the axe and it contributes to putting the General back on the road to profitability, then the corporate flacks who do the chopping will look like heroes. My bigger concern however, is that the real problem is that there is no longer a viable business model for sustaining all three of the Big Three. If GM succeeds in getting taxpayer assistance based on a radical plan that includes getting rid of Pontiac, but the feds still keep a terminally ill Chrysler on life-support, then the whole thing will have been a waste of time. And I'm still NOT convinced that any sort of bailout will really serve to make things better in the long run; we have a long history of corporate welfare in Canada and the result is almost always the same: the execs, corporate hangers-on and big union leaders end up with cozy packages and the jobs go south of the Rio Grande or to the other side of the Pacific.
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