The Pontiac brand next decade may be trimmed to one nameplate--or it could have as many as three.
"We need to skinny it up, get it very focused and then create a very special role for Pontiac within the BPG channel," said Susan Docherty, vice president of Buick-Pontiac-GMC. "But it needs to be with a very focused entry or entries."
Pontiac now has six nameplates.
This month, General Motors submitted a recovery plan to Congress, revealing a lesser role for Pontiac in the next decade. GM will reduce the number of companywide nameplates to 40 by 2012, from 48 today.
"We are not going to spend tons of money on product development" for Pontiac, Docherty said.
GM's product development dollars will go to its four core brands--Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet and GMC, she said. Instead, Pontiac may rely on an import or imports such as the G8, assembled by GM's Holden subsidiary in Australia.
"The Pontiac G8 is a perfect example," she said. "With a minimal amount of investment, we are able to have a unique entry."
To distinguish Pontiac, Docherty said Pontiac and Buick should have separate vehicle architectures. Sharing architectures "would not fill the mission of what we said in the long-term viability plan, of (Pontiac) being very focused, very specialty or niche."
Pontiac will continue to market six models in 2009. The Torrent crossover will be dropped, but the G3 subcompact will be added. Nameplates will die in the following years.
Docherty said none of Pontiac's nameplates is safe: "I would tell you that the white board is clean. Anybody that tells you that we got this thing figured out today, exactly what it's going to be, the answer to that is, no."
 |
