As part of new plan, taxpayers and unions would own majority of automaker. Company unveils more cuts in jobs and dealers in bid to avoid bankruptcy.
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- General Motors announced plans Monday to cut 23,000 U.S. jobs by 2011, drop its storied Pontiac brand and slash 40% of its dealer network in its latest bid to stay out of bankruptcy.
Let's see. They still have Buick, GMC, Hummer, and Saab to jettison and then they might have a chance. At the very least, kill Buick and GMC. There is simply no reason for these brands to exist anymore. Even by letting Pontiac die - and it's about 15 years too late in coming - they're not cutting deep enough. They're still clinging to the namesakes of a bygone era in the hopes of roping in folks who remember "back in the day".
Now, don't get me wrong. The Y-job was visionary. The deuce-and-a-quarter the poor man's Caddy. The GSX ruled the streets. And the Grand National was an ass-kicking hunk of Detroit iron in a decade filled with utter crap. But that was over 20 years ago. Now they've got three models; two sedans and a mid-sized SUV. There is, quite simply, no reason whatsoever for this brand to exist.
And GMC... What possible purpose is served by keeping this brand alive? Combining GMC and Chevy truck sales would position GM towards dethroning the F-150 as the best-selling light truck on the market, a marketing coup to be certain. They hype the GMC models - identical in all but badging to the Chevys - as the "professional grade" models; they could certainly offer that as an option on the Chevy series and save a fortune on dealerships, marketing, etc.
Kill at least Buick and GMC. and I say this as someone that has owned both Buicks and GMCs...
That is all.
7 comments:
Kill Buick? My god man, what will gangstas who can't afford a 1991 Caddy do for their hoopty car?
When was the last time you heard someone say "Man, did you see that hot, new Buick? I've got to have one!"?
Actually, they shouldn't kill GMC, because it's their entire commercial truck line.
Personally, I'd move ALL the trucks to GMC, both commercial and consumer; but it would make more economic sense to limit GMC to just the commercial side, and make all the consumer trucks Chevy.
Even the "Gray Beards" are saying to forget the past. Whatever glory was to be had from the golden era up through the 60's, was used up by the 70's, and was all-but-history by the 80's. You get to have a cheap line: Chevy, a high-end line: Caddy. If they insist on keeping the GMC line, move ALL the trucks there, I think it would be better to just dump GMC, and just concentrate on Chevy trucks with a commercial grade option. We are talking about survival, and we may not get the second shot. The bird will have flown. If things work out, we can always branch out again.
They should make all large trucks and cargo/passenger vans go under the GMC brand. Purely commercial vehicles.
Chevy should be the standard vehicle brand.
Pontiac should become the sport package. So you get a Chevy Cruze "Pontiac" for all the high performance sporting styles.
Buick is actually a brand with a long legacy. And is actually pretty popular outside the U.S. It also just got rated #1 reliable brand. So they should keep Buick.
And Cadillac is pretty much guaranteed.
I especially like the part where he pays off his union budds by giving them 39% of the company for their 10 billion dollar GM-bond investment, whereas the the other bond holders with a 27 billion dollar investment get 10% of the company.
Buick will never die. I just spent 2 weeks in Beijing, and any one, who is any one, is driving... a Buick. Swear to god. Different engines, same Regals. All the businesses execs' company vehicles are Buicks, they are everywhere in the East.
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