History GM takes first steps to axe Pontiac

Better get that check book ready, I will be PMing you first when I start selling everything.

 

Glad it was pointed out that this is a bridge loan, not a grant.

I'm also in the industry and this is devastating news, however, I can't imagine our country without the Big 3.

Best wishes to the industry and all of us involved. Hopefully, this challenge will make us all better and stronger in the end.

 

I imagine that sooner or later GM will quit making 3-4 of the same cars under different nameplates as they have for so long. Eventually you will buy say a "mid-size" car and your respective "trim lines" will be Chevy (base) Pontiac (sport) Buick (semi-luxury) and Cadillac (luxury).....Or maybe it's just the meds I'm on. Either way, GM and their business practices are to blame more than anything.

 

It seems to me that consolidation of brands...whether automotive, financial or consumer goods has led to disaster. The competition evaporates, our choices as consumers are reduced and more importantly these companies think they are doing well when in fact we as consumers have lost confidence. Listen to the descent in most of these posts.

Why the fuck would an engineer think it's a good idea to bury a starter deep in the motor......protectionism...you won't service that yourself...gotta go to the dealership!!!

One of my customers, here in the Baltimore area has an absolutely horrible sales record for new and used cars. Truth is the dealership doesn't need to sell even one car to be profitable. Because of the protectionism, the entire dealership is carried by the service department.

Back to our cars here on the HAMB. Back in the day, the manufacturers actually competed against one another. Look at all of the cool engines that are in our cars, Olds Rocket, Buick Nailhead, Caddy OHV and on and on. All of those manufacturers were prosperous. Have them reorganize, go bankrupt, lose the unions that have helped to bankrupt them.

These loans or bailouts that they all are seeking now are equivalent to the subprime loans made on houses that have crippled the banking industry. If they can't afford the loan and they don't have a plan on paper to prove their ability to repay our money back to our government...don't give them the money!!!! It's a business deal!!!!

 

What do you mean? That's already the case. No more Studebaker, Rambler, Reo, Stutz, Franklin, Columbia, Winton, Packard, Oldsmobile, Apperson, Duryea, Haynes, Cole, Premier, LaSalle, Dorris, Abbey, and I could go on and on, but you get the point. Same is true with motorcycles, washing machines, and firearms.......

 

My dad bought a KIA. What a POS. Sold it within 8 mos. Bought an Impala. Luvs it

 

these numbers do not make sense... the truck is the deal ...the rest are cracker boxes with nice plastic trim....after doing some work on a couple cobalts , i wouldn't give 10k for new.....but i did almost give 2k for a wrecked 08 hhr... brandon

 

I was diehard Oldsmobile for many years, my dad had bought only Olds since 53. I bought an 06 Buick Lucerne, Northstar, built on the Caddy DTS chassis. Best damn car I have ever owned. I would never have bought any other GM brand if they hadn't killed the Olds, and sure wouldn't have bought any other makers product. Pontiacs looks just don't turn me on, never have. I hope the big three go back to building cars like in the 50's, just two or three lines with different levels of trim. There are enough car makers offering more models than ever needed. Think of the tooling costs to build the parts for 6 or 8 different lines just so a consumer has a choice to pick from.

 

It seems that Honda and Toyotas being made in the US are making money and selling cars at record pace. To bad they send there profits back home. Maybe the big 3 needs to take a close look at how there cars are being made and try and follow suit. I don't think it is fair at all to pass there burden on to people that had nothing to do with there mess. If they are hurting maybe they should lower the price of there cars to sell more of them.
Or they could look at the unions that have held the big 3 under there thumb for years. There is no way that the big 3 could or would take it in the shorts with the unions demanding more money, retirement, healthcare and a host of other perks. Don't get me wrong the benifits are still needed but where do you draw the line. The big 3 just passes all the cost right back to the consumer.
Cut a few perks back or put millions out of work? That's a tough one.

Flame away!!

 

At least they plan on using the Pontiac as a specialty brand. Oldsmobile is just plan history.

They acquired Saab for the engineering staff. (don't laugh)!
Guess they've used it up.

Most of GMs foreign makes were not addressed.

How about Saturn? This will be real interesting. We just put a Chevrolet product (Traverse) into a Saturn plant assembly. Good planning.

My history, Worked for Oldsmobile - GM for 28 years.
Drive the Aurora with 163,000+ miles and it's great. Hd an 88 with 236,000 when it was sold and the heaviest replacement was a waterpump.

PS. GM-Buick did away with the 3800 V-6. No longer availible. Probably the best OHV engine ever produced by anybody. 30+ MPG in GM full size cars all the way back to the first front drive full size units.

MY Rant..............

We need to get behind the US companies / products. The NEW war is economic, and we're losing folk.


ALL CAR COs WORLD WIDE ARE DOING POORLY..............
Even Toyota..
It's not about products this is about cash flow and the credit market.. Effects all companies.

 

So sad to hearm and the beloved Dodge brand may be next. too...Chrysler rumored to be considering keeping just the Chrysler and Jeep badges as part of their bridge loan plan...what are thh chances that other companies owuld buy any of these brands, or do they just die. Seems like a waste of a lot of history and brand equity in Pontiac, or Dodge. But then they let the legendary Olds badge just slip away, so who can tell.

Anyone who says they should just let them go bankrupt has no idea of the consequences of that. No unions in the big 3? C'mon, let get real. They built the big 3.

I say since Exxon made record profits last year, and they depend on GM cars for business, they should loan some $$ to GM. What do you think?

 

Well, I just started at a Buick, Pontiac, GMC dealership last week. It's combined with a Cadillac store in the next building with the same owners. I just got a report showing us a #3 in the country year to date. Looking at year to date reports, we/they have been selling 5 Buicks to every Pontiac. Same with GMC's.

Don't know much about Pontiac quality, because I just got here. But I can tell you that I'm a believer that GM has made great strides in improving the Buicks. I came from a Chevy/ Buick store, so I know more about them. Buicks main sales issue, as I see it, is image. They make cars that compare well with Lexus etc., by nobody under 60 ever comes in to look at them. It's unfortunate, but the main Buick customer base is dying off and they are not generating interest in the younger market.

 

From above:
I say since Exxon made record profits last year, and they depend on GM cars for business, they should loan some $$ to GM. What do you think?[/quote]


Personally I believe the high cost of fuel is what sent us down this path in the first place.
Lets C...
Gas or Food
Gas or Med.
Gas or House payment.
Gas to go to work so I can have a chance to make the house payment.
Damn... Not enought left over.. NO house payment, CCs, car payment, etc.

 

Wouldn't hurt my feelings. The 'Big 3' don't make anything worth buying anyways. And I work at a Chevy dealership!

 

Personally I believe the high cost of fuel is what sent us down this path in the first place.
Lets C...
Gas or Food
Gas or Med.
Gas or House payment.
Gas to go to work so I can have a chance to make the house payment.
Damn... Not enought left over.. NO house payment, CCs, car payment, etc.[/QUOTE]

^
how true...but obviously not , just ask washington... and i agree on the top part 100 %

 

While I think the big three can be critisized for alot of thing's. The quality of there car's and truck's is not one of them. I work at a GM dealer and can tell you first hand they dont break like they used to.Sure some of them do break just like some hondas,toyotas,etc break also. So you guy's that would go buy a jap car for better quality are just kidding yourselves.I could go on for ever on this subject but I'll stop now before I piss some people off. GREGG

 

what a sad statement, Pete. guess this kinda sums it up.

maybe you should work for a company you can support!

 

I think its good that they are getting shook up. what was released in the great depression? the flathead an economical v-8. ford had to produce something great to keep its customers. the cream rises to the top and we are all better for it.

it was on the today show this morning the big 3 went to ask for money and didnt have a clue as to how they were going to shore up the money bleeding out of their industry and got sent back to their rooms to think about what they have done mallaly fords top dog made 50 m in the past two years gms top exec 6m
why?

they came back this week driving cars not private jets and have agreed to work for 1$ and had a reorganization plan

I am truly sorry if people lose their jobs (I lost my job due to the economy and will probably lose the job I currently have also) but they were explaining how they have a job bank, 2.2 BILLION dollars going to employees who sit and play cards for 8 hrs a day! some do volunteer work but I think that alone is a serious problem when you are asking for 30 billion.I heard from a co-worker that his son-in-law works for a plant in the paint department and gets paid for a full day to go in and get the paint ready to go on sunday for monday, it didnt even take an hr of his time. i dont see that as proper use of my tax dollars

I am all for the government LOANING money to the auto industry I think they have more right to it than the financial industry by a long shot but I want the fat trimmed out of the industry. I don't want my kids paying on this debt!

 

As far as the statement about Exxon doing the lending.....That would fit right into the Mr. Obama's desire to spread the wealth around!!!!

This one has some merit....come on Exxon...help save the industry you are so dependant on!!!!!


Damn, I can't beleive this thread hasn't got the axe yet!!!!!?????

 

How many of you realize that a lot of this is history repeating itself? Other then the consumer loan issue this sounds like the late 70's. Gas prices jumped and the big three were building big gas guzzing pieces of crap (tell me there was ANYTHING good about late 70 american cars) and Japan all of a sudden started kicking their ass by selling better, more economical cars, cheaper. AMC went away, and Chrysler damn near did. The result was the big 3 started improving the product but now they have slipped behind again. I truly hope the big 3 can survive but geez, why can't we figure out a way to compete with foriegn manufactures? Reorganise? OK. but I want to see REAL change.
For the record I've never bought a foriegn car, I still feel it's important to buy American whenever I have a choice. Sending our money over seas will never make this country stronger. My 2 cents.

 

How many millions do people have to make until they have enough? Corporate greed and personal greed play a major role in the state of affairs today. This has been going on since the begining of time and until this credit now generation figures that out we are all doomed. Our parents generation had to earn their credit and they had to prove income. Now a days you just surf the web punch in a few #'s and Capital one send you 15 credit card offers a month. What did we expect? Lets hope it gets better soon or we will all need to learn a new language. I bet Rosetta stone is doing well.