Saab, Saturn & Pontiac Brands Face the Chopping Block

Saturn, Saab & Pontiac Face the chopping block

GM's plan to get a government bailout

By Michael Gauthier
November 27, 2008 7:31 PM
Filed Under: American, Corporate/Financial, General Motors, Pontiac, Saab, Saturn

When the big three went to Capitol Hill looking for a $25 billion dollar government bailout, Congress had a clear message "No plan, no cash". They were given until December 2 to come up with a comprehensive plan of action and if reports out of Detroit are correct GM's plan could call for drastic action.

Sources familiar with the plan say the company is studying the elimination or sale of Pontiac, Saab and Saturn. Selling or eliminating the brands would help cash-strapped GM cut production costs and reduce product overlap. The plan also includes measures to cut debt and reduce costs for both current and retired union workers.

The oldest of the brands up for review is Pontiac which has an 82 year history as a General Motors brand, in the past year the brand's sales were down 21 percent. The recent dealership tie-up of GMC-Buick-Pontiac could also work against the brand as it would still leave dealers with products to sell if the brand were to be killed off. An elimination of Saturn seems less likely as the brand features a full portfolio of fresh products and strong ties to GM's Opel division.

Company officials are currently scheduled to begin reviewing the proposal after the Thanksgiving holiday and then they will present their plans to Congress on December 5.

Source: bloomberg

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Comments

Drag

November 27, 2008 8:16 PM

If GM cuts Saturn and Pontiac this will suck horribly..

Drag

November 28, 2008 9:35 PM

i really do hope everyone of you drives off a cliff in your BMW..

giga_games

November 27, 2008 8:36 PM

I hope they the government won't give tham money, because I hate GM because of Opel who's always the victim in all/ hope opel will be sold to the germans!

lelu

November 27, 2008 8:36 PM

Don't care for Saturn or Pontiac but not Saab!!

giga_games

November 27, 2008 8:38 PM

are there any new photos of the next generation of Astra(seems like they are not giving any new details until the 2/5 december:(

Motor_Yakuza

November 27, 2008 9:10 PM

Killing Saturn and importing Opel in the US it's a smart move, but we will miss SAAB and Pontiac.

sensei

November 29, 2008 11:13 PM

Sadly, GM has to admit that the Saturan experiment has been a complete and total failure. It was created to prove that an American car company could compete with imports on equal footing. Now that GM is just rebadging Opels and calling them Saturns, now better clarion admission of defeat is possible.

Pontiac is easy to save and its painful to see how GM remains so 1970s stupid about them. Pontiac is GM's BMW. Buick has no place today and should be axed except for in China where they think its still a brand that shows wealth. Pontiac should be all RWD, more upscale than Saturn but not so high as Cadillac, and be marketed as an innovating stylish American company that is not going to rely on past glory (aka Ford).

SAAB needs to be sold as Ford found with Jaguar, having it was redundant with their existing brands. SAAB could actually be the one to really trive of all three mentioned with their development of AWD (finally!), history, reputation for quality & safety, and quirkyness to just go after BMW.

Its easy to hate on GM, but anyone who wants them to fail will cut off their nose to spite their face. we need GM in America and we need GM to stop being so arrogant and stupid.

tbrodie

November 27, 2008 9:32 PM

I'm glad they are considering some real changes rather than fat checks until the market turns. While they've gotten better at differentiating products from commonm platforms, they just have too many brands.

They should start by killing Hummer. It is a PR nightmare.

People dis GM over Saab, but Saab wasn't exactly flying high when they bought it and FWD premium brands can only go so far (e.g., Volvo, Acura, etc.).

I don't follow the sales between their divisions, but Pontiac seems like a good candidate for elimination given Buick's popularity in China.

This would leave them with Chevy, Buick, Cadillac, GMC, Saturn, and Opel. (That still seems like a lot.) Let them cut the corporate jets and drastically reduce executive compensation and it might be palatable.

jandrews90

November 27, 2008 10:02 PM

Good! I don't rly car about Saturn but Saab is to good a company to be owned by GM, and maybe Pontiac will finally get it's chance at being a sports car brand with new owners!

Motor_Yakuza

November 27, 2008 10:13 PM

I heard that BMW will buy Pontiac, lol :p.

joelynn

November 27, 2008 10:23 PM

hopefully they will sell these brands rather than just cull them

giga_games

November 27, 2008 10:23 PM

I heard that BMW is interested to buy opel, yupi :p

Motor_Yakuza

November 27, 2008 11:52 PM

That won't be such a good idea, Opel it will be for BMW like VW is for Audi, so very boring, Opel will remain at GM and will be imported in the U.S. after Saturn is dead, to fight VW as a german brand showdown, BMW should buy Pontiac instead,and make it global, with some more dynamic designs and technology "made by BMW" in the commercials it will be a big hit.

Xanavi23

November 28, 2008 3:52 PM

Boring sells sometimes. Opel would work very well for BMW, especially in todays market trend for more fuel efficient cars. It could be BMWs fuel efficient arm, more compacts.

politz

November 27, 2008 10:37 PM

It seems like a pretty good idea to sell Pontiac, but the main question is still who in the world would buy it. It's too bland and mainstream to be bought as a sporty division for some other brand (like Alfa Romeo); isn't prestigious enough to be bought as an upmarket brand (like Infiniti); doesn't have enough global appeal to become a player in other markets; and when it goes on sale, it will be certainly way too expensive for the chinese carmakers to afford - though they are the ones who would make good use of its brand awareness in the american market.

Anyway, there's more to get rid of.

Sell Hummer. Sell Saab. Sell brands from the past, like Oldsmobile and Geo, and even names, like the BelAir or the Firebird. It will hurt, but maybe even sell the Corvette name, since it's been marketed as a separate brand in markets abroad.

Cut even more product overlaps. In the US, leave trucks for GMC only. In Europe, don't let Chevy get in the way of Opel. In Latin America, start selling korean Chevy cars instead of simplified Opels with high adaptation costs.

Simplify, reinvent and, most of all, stop thinking as a number one and start planning like a newcomer.

I know, I know, not that simple in real life, but... I don't see the General considering half of it.

Watch Hyundai or Nissan, GM, and learn.

dom6698

November 27, 2008 11:44 PM

Pontiac was introduced in '26 as a new marque by GM anyway so its really only like Toyota killing Scion or Lexus

radmeister

November 28, 2008 12:39 AM

Good, SAAB deserves something better than GM, i'm sure VW will buy them as they already own SCANIA. I thought GMC was General Motors Canada, a branch of SUVs made in canada. I would suspect they sell that and keep Chevrolet.

edjimmy

November 28, 2008 3:15 AM

GMC has nothing to do with Canada. It is GM's truck only division. They have a piece of the commercial light duty market and most of GMC's non-commercial products are duplicated by chevy trucks and are more popular. It seems a no-brainer to end this duplication one way or another.

localized

November 28, 2008 4:34 AM

My mind is totally being blown everyday from all the news that keeps piling up on the big tré.

akbars600

November 28, 2008 6:39 AM

I think they should axe buick and saab and reduce lemons in the Pontiac and Saturn range.

James2911

November 28, 2008 9:40 AM

GM should cut Pontiac, Chevrolet Europe, GMC, Hummer, Saturn and Holden. Also they should rid themselves of the Vauxhall moniker as they are simply rebadged Opels, and sell SAAB to Porsche or a similar manufacturer. They should however retain these core brands: Opel: European mainstream brand selling in Europe, West Asia and Africa. Would sell cars formerly marketed under Holden, Vauxhall, Saturn.

Chevrolet: American mainstream brand selling in the Americas and Asia-Pacific region. Would sell cars formerly marketed under Holden, Pontiac, Hummer, GMC.

Cadillac: Premium brand for Chevrolet & Opel(much like today) marketed worldwide. Sell cars formerly built by SAAB.

With just these three brans, it will be greatly simplified, with each of the three selling passenger cars, SUVs, and utility vehicles. Better having three distinct brands than nine mixed ones.

bkinds

November 28, 2008 11:07 AM

cadillac upgrade to exclusive (next to bentley,...) corvette exclusive sport buick premium brand (not imported to europe), saab premium sport brand (not imported to asia) opel as mainstream brand with label-change(saturn (U.S.), vauxhall (GB), holden (AU)) chevrolet as low cost (latin america, russia,...) GMC as trucks

Wickedated

November 29, 2008 1:16 AM

Cadillac as premium brand Corvette as its own motorsports brand Hummer as its own brand Chevrolet as economy cars and trucks

Kill Buick- Kill Pontiac- Kill Saturn

Sell SAAB

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