GenVibe - Community for Pontiac Vibe Enthusiasts

Taken from Fox Business:Wednesday, November 26, 2008GM Mulls Shedding Saturn, Saab And Pontiac Brands: ReportSAN FRANCISCO -- General Motors Corp. is studying whether to shed its Saturn, Saab and Pontiac brands in addition to Hummer as part of its effort to cut costs to secure $12 billion in government loans, Bloomberg reported in its online edition Wednesday. Selling or dropping brands would not only save money but also reduce overlap in its product line, Bloomberg said.Copyright © 2008 MarketWatch, Inc.

We'll be getting more Corolla/Matrix parts for our Vibes?Ugh. I actually like the looks of most of the Pontiac line versus the Chevy counterparts. Saturn too. Would probably buy a Ford before a Chevy.But going to keep Buick? GMC?

Buick is very popular in China and generates good revenues there and with the retired crowd in north america.GM's biggest problem remains it's constant rebadging. Any sub-brand car that has potential is rebadged into a Chevrolet so people buy the chevriolet version and the sub-brand is left to die.

Quote, originally posted by kowell »Buick is very popular in China and generates good revenues there and with the retired crowd in north america.GM's biggest problem remains it's constant rebadging. Any sub-brand car that has potential is rebadged into a Chevrolet so people buy the chevriolet version and the sub-brand is left to die.Not true for the Vibe though. No similar Chevy.Wondering if our fave car would survive as a Chevrolet Vibe...That sounds weird...

[QUOTE=kowell]GM's biggest problem remains it's constant rebadging.QUOTE]+1. Why kill the brands all together? Keep them as is and eliminate overlap.

I know the beancounters love the synergistic profit enhancing paradigms that common platform engineering and multiple branding schemes can utilize...but they need to separate the brands and make them unique.So sure, GMC does trucks. Pontiac does sporty all the way up to sports car, Chevy does standard cars, toss in minivans also.2 luxury brands though, Buick and Cadillac. One of them would have to go.Spin Saturn off or run it separately from the rest. Or choose between it and Chevy and drop one.Dump the Hummer line from general public consumption. Keep making the military vehicles and if someone rich wants to buy a civilian spec one, fine.To me, Ford is even worse with the 3 identical vehicles with progressively more chrome. I see these Mercury and Lincoln models and think of the Ford models first...I would never pay the premium for the chrome and name slapped on the same base model.Rrrrrghhhh

Quote, originally posted by Eloi »Wondering if our fave car would survive as a Chevrolet Vibe...That sounds weird...I have to admit it could be a lot worst but I'm still not too convinced about it.

For some reason, majority of people i know own pontiac instead of chevy....

I gotta figure it's a done deal. After that news release, people that were heading into Pontiac dealers were making U turns, those about to sign the dotted line burned rubber getting out of there. Now they can quote even lower sales numbers, & justify the closing. A self fulfilled prophesy. GM will still honor warranties, probably through Chevy dealers. Actually, they probably couldn't do any worse on the Vibes than Pontiac dealers. Say goodbye to Pontiac.