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Michigan Pontiac dealers continue to make offer for brand

06/24/2009, 4:53 PM

By Andrew Ganz

Though General Motors apparently rejected the first offer a group of investors led by Jim Waldron made for the Pontiac brand, the Michigan car dealer says he’s back with a strong offer that would include the plants and equipment needed to keep producing Pontiacs.

GM has said that it would be willing to entertain offers for Pontiac, though the Detroit automaker has shown far less interest in selling off the historic brand than it has Hummer, Saab and Saturn – all of which have since found tentative buyers.

Waldron, a Pontiac dealer in Davison, Michigan, told Mid-Michigan’s NBC-25, “GM has a history of building a great, great quality car, and then discontinuing it. So we’re going to try to change that history.”

“I found the financing for it,” he said. “I’ve just got to get GM to agree to do something with it.”

However, Pontiac spokesman Jim Hopson said earlier this month that the brand’s small stand-alone dealership count, combined with its lack of unique products, would make it difficult to sell off.

“We can not see how it could be a viable business given the fact that it’s so interconnected with the other GM brands,” he said.

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06/24, 5:16 PM

posted by:

2WheeledSpeed

Oh just shut up and sell it GM.

06/24, 5:24 PM

posted by:

johnnycanuck

Yes that would be the question of the day: just what the heck are you going to do with it if you get it? The G8 and both Solstice models deserve to live. Every other Pontiac is either dead or dying. Where do you go from there?

06/24, 5:25 PM

posted by:

Blakkarr

I would honestly agree with that, 2wheeledspeed.

GM is NOT going to do anything with PONTIAC except let it fade into total obscurity, like OLDSMOBILE. Let someone else go with it. Especially while the brand still has some positive weight.

06/24, 5:27 PM

posted by:

JakeK66

G8, G8 Coupe, G8 Wagon, G8 Truck, Solstice/Sky… Pretty complete lineup to me…

06/24, 5:29 PM

posted by:

JakeK66

^^^ Add in a Alpha based small sedan, an extended G8 (aka Park Avenue in China) and you can get some volume out of it too.

06/24, 5:35 PM

posted by:

Blakkarr

JohnnyCanuck @ 06/24, 5:24p

I was of the opinion that Pontiac should have been cut down to only three models, the G8, the Solstice, and the G6. However, move quickly to replace the G6 with a new Alpha platform model, which was GM’s original plan. This would have kept try to GM’s plan to make PONTIAC a RWD-only brand and cut out the deadwood, which is everything else.

In the end PONTIAC would offer only five cars, maybe six, total. The G8 sedan and Coupe (GTO), the G6 sedan and coupe, and the SOLSTICE. The Sixth being possible a Vette-fighting FIERO. Under independent ownership, these cars might still be built by GM for a number of years, but designed and outfitted by the owners of the brand, similar to how SAAB designed and outfitted their cars on GM supplied frames.

06/24, 5:45 PM

posted by:

johnnycanuck

Blakkarr, that’s an interesting proposal but do you think GM would be interested in such a deal? They would in essence be building their own competition.

06/24, 6:09 PM

posted by:

2WheeledSpeed

What does GM care what happens to Pontiac after they sell it? If GM cared they would keep Pontiac, but they clearly don’t so selling it seems the smart thing to do, if only to generate a little cash (Oh I forgot, they’re getting all the cash they need from us taxpayers…).

But alas, GM is and always has been competition paranoid. They’d rather kill something than give it a chance to live.

06/24, 6:21 PM

posted by:

cocojoe53

Let’s all chip in and buy it………

06/24, 6:57 PM

posted by:

Blakkarr

JohnnyCanuck @ 06/24, 5:45p

The plan would not be too different from the one I believe Penske has for SATURN. GM would make the cars for a few years, then SATURN would have to find their own cars. This would let GM make some money without putting up too much risk. They are only responsible for manufacturing after a set period of time.

The Investing dealers and organization could easily reopen closed GM plants or lease or even buy them, while licensing the Platforms from GM and building the cars from that. This is an arrangement LOTUS has with quite a few companies, though typically LOTUS builds the cars themselves though for other companies to outfit and/or sell (TESLA for example). GM makes money on platforms they are either not using or under-using in a market, namely the North American market, and incurs little risk.

GM becomes an automotive technology developing company as much as a first party car maker. GM may be highly averse to competition, but they can easily make it work for them. They develop a new platform and say the now indie PONTIAC wants it, GM can sit on it for a a year or two giving them an important lead on the “competition”. This could also make a sales case for the platform if say it has been a very effective performance platform.

GM could also be commissioned to use their facilities to develop a car, an engine, or what have you for another car maker.

These are trying times for GM but GM is uniquely outfitted and positioned to literally remake what it means to be a major automotive company. It really starts with GM letting their division go.

06/25, 2:59 AM

posted by:

KIB2

@2WheeledSpeed

06/25, 3:02 AM

posted by:

KIB2

@2WheeledSpeed Thats what I’m saying. Oldsmobile was at it’s prime when the killed it. Know it’s the same with Pontiac. Pontiac out sales VW by the numbers… http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NW9BOVL6bQM

06/25, 10:02 AM

posted by:

Gordon

I would think there is an easy answer for the small stand-alone dealership network. All the dealerships that got termination notices from Chrysler and GM may be looking for something new to sell.

06/25, 10:40 AM

posted by:

DenverGuy217

G3s for everyone!!! I wonder if the one at the Boulder dealership will EVER sell. Poor thing has been collecting dust and pollen for months

06/25, 2:51 PM

posted by:

johnbryansfontaine

I hope that there’s some way that Waldron’s group can also include the Solstice and Solstice Coupe in its plans.

06/25, 3:38 PM

posted by:

TL

The grille on the G6 in the picture actually makes the Acura grille quite ascetic.

06/25, 4:25 PM

posted by:

the_3_goes_zoom

Basically what GM is scared of is to see someone else do better with Pontiac than they have in the past few years. They know the potential of the brand, they are just to cheap to have made the right the product decisions with it and now rather kill it completely than wait it out a bit or see it excel somewhere else.

 
 
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