So long, Pontiac.

[artds]

GM to pull the plug on Pontiac

The brand credited with originating the muscle car will no longer be part of GM's future, according to a source.
Last Updated: April 24, 2009: 3:36 PM ET

NEW YORK [[CNNMoney.com) -- General Motors is preparing to announce that the Pontiac car brand, once marketed as GM's "Excitement division," will be killed off, according to a source familiar with the decision.

http://money.cnn.com/2009/04/24/auto...n=money_latest

[CFABDETROIT]

Sad day in history

[rb336]

GM to pull the plug on Pontiac

The brand credited with originating the muscle car will no longer be part of GM's future, according to a source.
Last Updated: April 24, 2009: 3:36 PM ET

NEW YORK [[CNNMoney.com) -- General Motors is preparing to announce that the Pontiac car brand, once marketed as GM's "Excitement division," will be killed off, according to a source familiar with the decision.

http://money.cnn.com/2009/04/24/auto...n=money_latest

sad, but not much of a surprise. they should have dumped it when they axed Oldsmobile

[Johnlodge]

sad, but not much of a surprise. they should have dumped it when they axed Oldsmobile

Damn... And they only recently figured out you don't have to glue plastic ribbing on the side of every car you make. Too bad, things were looking better.

[Angry Dad]

Pontiac was doomed when the Smith eras took hold at GM.

Pontiac was the division that had the image of being run by somebody. When the Smiths took over the "image" lost the personality. Pontiac became nothing more than red lights in the dashboard.

[Ray1936]

Does that mean Chief Pontiac will no longer collect royalties from GM?

[raptor56]

Interesting. I see G6's and used to see Grand Prixs all over the place. I suppose this means us Firebird\Trans AM fans will not be getting our car reinvented like the Camaro

[luckycar]

Our city mourns.Want to buy a large industrial plant on Baldwin?Or one off of Columbia and Joslyn?Or maybe a nice truck assemby plant on Opdyke Rd?How about a large vacant lot on the corner of South Blvd.and Woodward Ave?No,ok could I interest you in some property in Lake Orion......

[LodgeDodger]

GM to pull the plug on Pontiac

The brand credited with originating the muscle car will no longer be part of GM's future, according to a source.
Last Updated: April 24, 2009: 3:36 PM ET

NEW YORK [[CNNMoney.com) -- General Motors is preparing to announce that the Pontiac car brand, once marketed as GM's "Excitement division," will be killed off, according to a source familiar with the decision.

http://money.cnn.com/2009/04/24/auto...n=money_latest

Interestingly enough, GM sent out press releases earlier this afternoon stating no decision had yet been made.

[Retroit]

luckycar, I was just thinking about that earlier. Let's say one or more of the Big3 go out of business. Once the economy recovers, what would be the chance of a new car company starting up? You could get a modern factory pretty cheap, and you'd have plenty of desperate workers. New car companies have been started recently in Korea and China; could it be done in the States?

[j to the jeremy]

Interesting. I was talking with some friends today about American car design, and we all came to the consensus that Pontiac is the most attractive GM brand at the moment. I usually see more G6s than most other GM cars of the same size.

[Retroit]

I wouldn't be surprised if the Pontiac G6 becomes the Buick G6 [[or another model name). Buick doesn't have a small car, and if will be one of the survivors, it will need one.

[[I think.)

[iheartthed]

Interestingly enough, GM sent out press releases earlier this afternoon stating no decision had yet been made.

I noticed that too. They even announced on the NBC Nightly News that GM was pulling the plug on Pontiac, and just minutes before they said on ABC that GM had announced that no decisions had been made regarding Pontiac.

[thecarl]

Damn... And they only recently figured out you don't have to glue plastic ribbing on the side of every car you make. Too bad, things were looking better.

really? only recently?

and, was pontiac the only auto manufacturer to use cladding? actually, i don't care, my 1991 grand prix se got me plenty of action when i owned it. ground effects from the racing circuit were exciting at the time, and pontiac put it on the street. the design sold very well. to offhandedly critize the ribbing is like criticizing *any* contemporary design component: like the machine-gun sights of the impeccable '57 chevy, or cars that bore the gaudy fins and chrome of the space era. how stupid, right?

[Retroit]

I still get compliments for my '91 Grand Prix.

[Bigb23]

Chief Pontiac

Pontiac's War was the most successful First Nations resistance to the European invasion in our history. Though it failed to oust the British from native lands, the conflict forced British authorities to a recognition of native rights that has had had far-reaching consequences down to our own time. In late July 1766 a great council convened at Fort Ontario [[Oswego), deep in Seneca country on the southeast shore of Lake Ontario. A weary superintendent of Indian Affairs William Johnson had called together the chiefs of the Great Lakes nations in order to find an end to the war.

It had not gone well for the British. A loose coalition of tribes in the Great Lakes and Ohio Valley area had captured nine frontier forts, killed some 2500 whites and laid siege to Forts Detroit and Duquesne for months. The war had its origins in the changing relationships of First Nations and whites after the British conquest of New France in 1763. The imprint of the French had been light, just a score of small posts and missions. The French learned the First Nations languages and customs and intermarried. The haughty condescension of General Jeffery Amherst, the British commander-in-chief, was in stark contrast. Amherst sold off native lands without regard, crushed any opposition with force, and forbade the giving of gifts, which had great symbolic significance to the First Nations.

The courageous Ottawa chief Pontiac lead the most successful Indian war against the Europeans in our history [[Archives of the City of Detroit). Many chiefs played their parts in the ensuing conflict, but the greatest among them was the Ottawa chief Obwandiyag, whom the English called Pontiac. He was an imposing figure, tall strong and heavily tattooed, in the custom of the Ottawa. He fashioned his straight black hair in a narrow pompadour and wore silver bracelets on his arms and a collar of white plumes around his neck. He was courageous and commanded respect far beyond his own people.

Pontiac was inspired by the words of Neolin, the Delaware prophet, who warned his people "if you allow the English among you, you are dead. Maladies, smallpox, and their poison will destroy you totally." By the spring of 1763 Pontiac was contemplating war. With the support of the neighboring Potawatomis and Hurons, he hatched a plan to capture Fort Detroit. When a spy revealed the plan, Pontiac laid siege. Historians have called the conflict that followed a "conspiracy," "treason," or an "uprising." For the First Nations and notably for Pontiac it was a war of liberation.

The war spread for a month throughout the Great Lakes and Ohio Valley, with a series of victories that sent the British reeling. A war party of Ottawas surprised a rescue force at Point Pelee, capturing 46 English soldiers and two boats. Pontiac's success encouraged the Miamis, Illinois, Weas, Kickapoos, Mascoutens, Delawares, and Shawnees to join. The Ojibwas captured Fort Michilimackinac with their famous ruse of distracting the garrison with a game of lacrosse and following a stray ball into the fort. Pontiac then intercepted some 260 British reinforcements in a bloody encounter on the bridge across Parent's Creek [[later called Bloody Run). The British, cut to pieces, hurried back to the fort. It was at this low point that Amherst made his infamous suggestion: "Could it not be contrived to send the small pox among the disaffected tribes of Indians?"

However, Pontiac's alliance slowly began to disintegrate. On 6 July, the Potawatomis dissociated themselves from Pontiac; Tak's Hurons likewise broke their alliance. Despite a final appeal by Pontiac, little by little most of his Ojibwa and Ottawa followers deserted him in October and scattered to their winter hunting grounds.

The final peace was concluded at Fort Ontario July 23-25, 1766. On July 25 Pontiac declared to Johnson "I speak in the name of all the Nations to the westward whom I command, it is the will of the Great Spirit that we should meet here today and before him and all present I take you by the hand and never will part with it."

http://www.nativeamericans.com/Pontiac.htm

[Dustin89]

Our city mourns.Want to buy a large industrial plant on Baldwin?Or one off of Columbia and Joslyn?Or maybe a nice truck assemby plant on Opdyke Rd?How about a large vacant lot on the corner of South Blvd.and Woodward Ave?No,ok could I interest you in some property in Lake Orion......

Well put, luckycar. Both of my parents worked in the city of Pontiac building Pontiac vehicles at various points during the late 1970's, and then my mom was one of the employees who went to the Orion Plant when it opened. We've owned countless Pontiac vehicles, and maybe my view on this is a little warped, because I live in metropolitan Detroit [[where American cars of all stripes are more commonplace than elsewhere in the country), but the G6 seems to be a popular car. The Vibe and G8 are strong products, as well.

I found the '08 General Motors sales figures in the Forbes article interesting. Despite its higher sales, it seems like GMC would be the one to cut, because its vehicles are usually redundant with Chevrolet products. [[i.e. the Arcadia, Envoy, and Sierra are virtually identical to the Traverse, TrailBlazer, and Silverado.)

[Kevgoblu]

The GMC brand will go too. It makes no sense to have an entire division that is seperated from other vehicles only by a trimplate.

Its just a shame that so few of the "top talent" executives running the show, that approved of this for all these years, aren't long out the door.

[Fury13]

Dodge is next to go.

[royce]

Yeah, I would think GMC would go before Pontiac. Actually, how long has GMC been around? It's only a truck/SUV division. Pontiac had a lot more variety and obvious history. The G8 to me was starting to look like the car that could lead the division back to prominence. Maybe it will be renamed under Buick. Buick could use a true sports sedan.

[reddog289]

I will miss Pontiac if it goes, I like my Buick, But the Chief has hotter Cars then Buick.Looks like my bucks when I can spend them for a new car will be for a Ford.

[mallory]

The only Pontiac I owned was a 1989 Sunbird. I loved that car, but thanks to an ex who was "supposed" to take care of our bills, it got repo'ed. Lately, though, I think the writing was on the wall. Remember the ad campaign for the "first ever G6?" OK, so was there a G5 or an F6 that I missed? Dumb. And what was up with the Solstice? Great looker but for Pontiac? Lots of misfires told me that the writing was on the wall. Heck, I still miss Oldsmobile.

[hybridy]

what about the G8??? they can't get rid of the first good thing they've done in a long time.

[Retroit]

It really doesn't make a lot of sense [[nor cents) to have multiple Makes within an auto company. Really, how different is a Chevy from a Pontiac from a Buick...? They are made in the same factories by the same workers. They have the same engines, the same radios, the same body frame, etc... They are designed by the same engineers, marketed by the same marketers, sold at the same dealerships, etc... Sure, they may have a separate design department that inserts their "unique" front grill and taillights, but these very minor cosmetic differences probably weaken GM's overall brand loyalty as much as they increase their Make loyalty. I think GM [[and any other automaker) should build just one car of each size. If someone has such loyalty to a specific Make, the car dealerships can slap on a sticker with the necessary emblem.

[detmsp]

The GMC brand will go too. It makes no sense to have an entire division that is seperated from other vehicles only by a trimplate.

Its just a shame that so few of the "top talent" executives running the show, that approved of this for all these years, aren't long out the door.

GMC may make no sense [[to you), but you kow what it does makey? MONEY! GMC is a cash cow for GM. Do you know how little R&D it takes to figure out how to slap some leather and wood trim on a chevy truck?

There may not be a need for two truck brands, but there is a need to make money. why fix something that isn't broken?