But there’s the dillemma. See, if Pontiac wanted to expand its performance horizons, it would be treading on the Corvettes turf. So Pontiac is kind of faced with a glass cieling as a performance division, unless GM minds creating competition for it’s Corvette. I mean, they can only get so fast before they damage Vette sales.

Drop all these obvious rebadges. If you must do a badge job for Pontiac it should be a Camaro. The only reason they could pull it off is because Pontiac’s smaller performance cars always had a pretty unique look to them. Their overall coupe shapes were a bit more slim and trim, with enough Euro influence but not too much, while the other Muscle and Pony cars were more butch stylewise.

I don’t think I can think of a reason to keep GMC, besides nostalgia and some styling differences. They can bag it and up the volume of the Chevy clones of the whole GMC lineup, and offer Denali versions on the Chevy, maybe using a different name, if they have to keep the Denali line going, but honestly, that just competes with Caddies.

So If GMC IS to survive, they need to be a little bit utilitarianized from where they are now so there’s less Caddy overlap in the upscale models and large SUVs. But they could line Chevy up to the seam, and keep offering a Buick crossover as a stepping stone, though the Enclave is certainly on the level with Caddy.

I personally think that GMC can go, there’s no reason, and the “differences” everyone is talking about are silly. Just offer a solid honeycomb grille with no bar as an option on the Chevy. It’s not hard. Honda offers a bunch of grille choices on almost all their cars, so it’s not like it’s some major change. The Ridgeline (while ridiculous and ugly, I know) has an optional solid black grille that looks MUCH better than the regular one.

Once (or if) GM gets back on their feet and earns some decent cash, they should paobably try to bring Opel over here to the states to fill the gap left between Chevrolet and Buick – to split the difference between mainstream and luxury.

What I don’t understand is why they don’t give the dealerships an ultimatum. Merge Pontiac/Buick/GMC as ONE ENTITY!!! One marketing department, one dealer network, one development arm. One division with three badges. Think the Toyota ‘T’ and the MR2 emblem. http://mr2wiki.com/uploads/MKI/mr2-chicken-emblem.jpg , or Ford with their separate badging for the Thunderbirds. This could easily work for PBG.

Caddy-V- Then whats the differences aside from a few badges, bodypanels and a few minor accessories?

The standalone Chevy and Caddilac dealers can survive, and that is what should happen.

While we may say that Chev and GMC are basically the same, to many consumers Chevy is an entry level brand and GMC is mid level brand. Just the way it is.

Agreed. As much as I hate to admit it, Pontiac closing down makes more sense than GMC right now, since GMC is selling vehicles with a much higher profit margin than Pontiac is. I think it would make much more sense to eliminate the Chevrolet versions of the competing trucks and SUVs. Who knows right now?

I don’t think forcing GM to eliminate even more brands has anything to do with viability and everything to do with making an example out of GM and doing a song and dance for the nation. They’re eating their hat over the free pass they gave the banks/financial institutions, so they’re making as public a display of taking a hard line on the auto industry as they can to divert attention over that blunder. I just hope they aren’t killing what little is left of the manufacturing industry in North America by doing so.

Anyways, I think this sounds like the best news yet for GM. Keep the low, mid and high level brands so there isn’t much if any overlap and kill off the rest. One thing to remember here is while a lot of their brands will go away, their cars and ideas don’t have to. There’s nothing to say that GM couldn’t put a gluttonous SUV like the Hummer back on the road, or do high performance models like Pontiac. They just won’t be called those names. Now would I suggest this as they have helped drag GM down in the past few years? No. But it would be and is a possibility for the future depending on technology, energy, etc.

And GM needs a lower price hybrid than the Volt to compete with the Insight.

As for Pontiac, they at least have a chance of becoming a niche brand of interesting cars, and bringing back the Firebird as recently speculated is an intriguing prospect. Bring the coupe and wagon versions of the G8 over and get nav working in them, keep the Solstice, and do the Trans Am, and that’s a very interesting showroom right there with very little overlap to other GM models. I mean if you were a BPG dealer, wouldn’t you rather have more variety of products to sell rather than fewer?

Most people who comment on these forums clearly have no friggin’ clue in the world, and no particularly good intentions for GM to start with. GM has already been scavenged by the earlier spike to $4 gas, the banking meltdown, the incessant targeting of GM in the press, and the keystone cops of a mess we call the U.S. government. They need to stabilize at what they have, lick some wounds, build some momentum as the marketplace improves, and push back a little on the Obama mindset to remake GM into the image of Toyota! IMO, in a normal market and with bondholders settled, GM is already fully viable. Some positive talk out of the White House instead of all this self-flagellation would go a long way to bringing back GM, the economy, and a little bit of national pride for a change.

While I prefer the Sierra to the Silverado, and the Acadia to the Traverse, GM does not need to spread its marketing dollars any thinner than it has to right now. Give the small rural dealers that now have GMC the right to sell Chevy trucks – if they aren’t closed.

Why does it have to be so difficult? It’s a no brainer to kill Pontiac and GMC.

i don’t get it with pontiac.. it is the one u.s. gm brand that could make it in europe by selling true pontiac muscle cars.. instead they spent zillions trying to sell cadillacs..