Waiting for the second shoe to drop- PMD: Yes or No?

[Larry]

Well, here is one of the first statements that many of us have been waiting for. It is from the New York Post on-line. You can read comments about it at: http://www.nypost.com/seven/11282008/business/gm_outlines_plan_to_scrap_pontiac__other_141274.htm

Many of us have been wondering for years how Pontiac was hanging on. Now it may be just the reason GM has been waiting for to axe it. We can pretend it won't happen, but this sounds pretty glum. Let's see what the big boys at GM come up with after a long weekend of planning before heading back to Washington with hat in hands.


GM OUTLINES PLAN TO SCRAP PONTIAC, OTHERS
By PAUL THARP

November 28, 2008

Rick Wagoner is ready to kill Pontiac - as well as Saturn and Saab - in order to stop bleeding billions at General Motors and try to sway Congress into clearing Detroit's $25 billion bailout package next week.

Facing bankruptcy, GM has been making deep cost cuts in payrolls, but nothing as drastic as shedding three of its eight remaining brands. It's already put the gas-hog Hummer on the block and pulled the plug on Oldsmobile seven years ago.

Pontiac first rolled into the showrooms in 1926 as a flashy choice for the newly rich during the free-spending Roaring Twenties.

Despite its promising debut, Pontiac took a beating during the Depression and war years, overshadowed for decades afterward by the top-selling Chevrolet, Cadillac and Buick.

After moving Pontiac's image- from upmarket suburbs to hot rods for the young - Pontiac sales peaked with its sporty Firebird in the late '70s, when gas was under $1 a gallon.

The resurgence didn't stop Pontiac's sales from sliding steadily to become one of GM's weakest offspring. Sales in 2008 are down 21 percent, compared with a 15 percent drop industry wide.

The brand massacre plan, reported by Bloomberg quoting insiders, came as a separate plan was revealed that GM wants to slash 10 percent of its jobs in Europe, where strong regulations restrict wholesale layoffs.

A memo obtained by the Associated Press described GM's strategy for cuts in Europe, where GM's brands include Saab, Vauxhall, and Opel. In the US GM has eliminated more than 75,000 jobs since 2000.

GM brass will continue to work around the clock over the long holiday weekend to wrap up a survival proposal it will hand to Congress on Tuesday to avoid a bankruptcy reorganization.

GM had no comment on the proposal, which could also wipe out hundreds of its 6,400 dealerships.

Pontiac has nearly 1,100 dealerships, and Saturn has 400 dealerships where deliveries are down 19 percent this year. Saab has about 105 US dealers, where sales are down 31 percent.

[Larry]

Well, here's the latest report from GM Media On-Line concerning the revamp to go on at General Motors. The paragraph below is only a small part, but the part we are most interested in.

Market and Retail Operations – In the U.S., GM will focus its product development and marketing efforts on four core brands – Chevrolet, Cadillac, Buick and GMC. Pontiac will be a specialty brand with reduced product offerings within the Buick-Pontiac-GMC channel. Hummer has recently been put under strategic review, which includes the possible sale of the brand, and GM will immediately undertake a global strategic review of the Saab brand. As part of the plan, the company also will accelerate discussions with the Saturn retailers, consistent with their unique relationship, to explore alternatives for the Saturn brand.

I ain't the sharpest knife in the drawer, but I have said for years that PMD would probably eventually become some sort of "test wing" for the Australian Holden products. It has sure looked like that with the "new" GTO, the G8, and the UTE. Didn't the Holden development facility also have something to do with Cadillac (Zeta paltform)?