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.

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

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.

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.