GM to consolidate brands and models

By Ed Brayton 1/22/09 4:30 PM

The Chief Operating Officer for General Motors, Fritz Henderson, told a major auto industry meeting this week that GM will be consolidating their variety of brands and focusing on four key makes of automobiles in an effort to restructure the company for new economic realities. Automotive News reports:

General Motors will go to market with four core brands in the future: Chevrolet, Cadillac, Buick and GMC. Pontiac will be shrunk “significantly,” a senior GM executive told the Automotive News World Congress on Tuesday night…

Henderson said the four core brands comprised 83 percent of GM’s total sales volume in the United States last year.

Going forward, the Pontiac brand will “shrink substantially,” Henderson said. But the fact that GM is investing heavily in the Buick brand in China will benefit that brand in the United States.

Henderson also said that GM was evaluating what to do with the Saturn brand, saying, “We need to do something different with the Saturn brand.” He did not, however, say that the brand would be eliminated.

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mastertechmark 5 days ago 1 point
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I believed that scraping Oldsmobile was the right thing to do. But I disagree with the Saturn and Pontiac idea. The Saturn dealership in my town is doing quite well. And their different take on the sales process is refreshing. As for Pontiac, the best car I ever owned was a 1979 Pontiac T/A with a 6.6 Liter and shaker hood. So I am biased.

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KampMCB 3 weeks ago 1 point
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I believe GM needs to keep the Saturn brand. It is the brand that brought me back to GM and I now have both an Aura and a Sky in my garage. Previously I've owned Toyota and Honda vehicles until now. Perhaps if GM would quit making cheaper versions in their other lines where the consumer doesn't feel like you sold them down the line. When I first purchased the Aura people would stop and ask me about the car and were shocked when I told them it was a Saturn – especially when I would tell them what was in it. Then I purchased the Sky last summer and people stop and ask about it and express how attractive the car is and are also amazed it is a Saturn. I walked up behind a group looking at my Sky in a parking lot and they were admiring it and someone asked what kind of car was it and one of the ladies said a “S” “K” “Y”. Not reading it as a name but as separate letters which told me that GM has not done enough to market these autos correctly. Wake up GM – how can I get so many compliments. I never got compliments on my Toyotas or Hondas that I owned before. People just perceive that Honda and Toyotas are more reliable and they buy them. Perhaps marketing not only their looks, but their reliability is where they need to go.

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