Pontiac: Alive, Kicking and still Part of GM

[MomsSol]

Pontiac: Alive and Kicking and Part of GM’s Future Plans | GM FastLane

March 2nd, 2009 Pontiac: Alive and Kicking and Part of GM’s Future Plans By Susan Docherty GM North American Vice President, Buick, Pontiac, GMC We’ve been receiving a lot of communication recently from of our Pontiac dealers and owners regarding all of the negativity in the media surrounding our brand. It seems as though everyone is getting into the spirit, reporting speculation as fact, and writing Pontiac’s epitaph. The only problem is that it’s wrong. Pontiac is alive and kicking, and we are still part of GM’s future plans. Now, we are not denying that automotive industry is hurting right now and we are all going to have to make some sacrifices to get through the worst global economic downturn in over 50 years. GM’s recent submission of a more detailed long-term viability plan to the U.S. Congress clearly spells out a number of actions we are taking to deal with that new reality, including shedding nearly 20 percent of our workforce and exploring other options for the Hummer, Saab, and Saturn brands. But that plan also clearly focuses on the single item that will make us a success in the future - great products. Pontiac definitely has a role to play there, although it’s going to mean some changes. And change, as we all know, can be difficult, especially when you’re dealing with an 83-year old American icon. I’ll tell you up front that we don’t have every detail finalized, but let’s address the facts and sort out what we do know from what we’re still working on. First, very little is changing in the near term. Pontiac will continue to offer the G5, G6, G8, Solstice and Vibe, and we’re adding the economical G3. Pontiac’s top reason for purchase is “fuel economy” and we won’t disappoint with four of our six entries getting over 32 miles per gallon on the highway. The Pontiac Torrent will be discontinued to enable the brand to “focus” on cars. But the good news is that a new, five-passenger crossover SUV entry will soon be found at GMC … stay tuned. In the future, Pontiac will have fewer nameplates. Just how many and what they will look like is still under study. Again, we know that we don’t have all of the answers right now and that can be very uncomfortable, but we refuse to let media speculation and negativity make up our minds for us. Pontiac still has a mission in the BPG channel and it’s one that a very dedicated team of engineers, marketers, and dealers is determined to complete successfully, one step at a time.

[solli4me]

Media discussion:



It's obvious to all that there's a paradigm shift toward fuel efficiency. For those enthusiasts who experienced the excitement of driving the early muscle cars, this is the end of the road.


http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/20/bu...ontiac.html?hp

Times Topics: Automotive Industry Crisis | General Motors Corporation Pontiac "We Build Excitement" ad from 1987 (External link) Pontiac GTO ad from 1966 "The Tiger Scores Again" (External link) Pontiac Firebird ad from 1967 "Get A Firebird" (External link) Micheline Maynard and Jane Bornemeier Discuss the Pontiac Brand They're Not Just Cars Do brands still matter to consumers? DETROIT — With its history of building muscle cars like the GTO and the low-slung Firebird, Pontiac had good reason to take pride in its best-known marketing slogan from the 1980s, “We Build Excitement.” Lately it has been using “Pontiac is CAR,” a phrase more likely to catch the attention of grammarians than car buffs. And on Tuesday, when General Motors asked the federal government for more bailout money, it also announced a reorganization plan that included demoting Pontiac to a “focused niche brand,” signaling that its lineup of vehicles would shrink and that it would no longer be a separate division. To industry analysts and Pontiac’s longtime fans, the downgrade provides a case study of the product missteps that helped put G.M. in its precarious state, and a reminder of the dangers in straying from a successful formula. “When you deviate too far from it, that’s when you run into trouble as a brand and a company,” said Jack R. Nerad, executive editorial director at Kelley Blue Book, whose 1968 Firebird made him feel “as cool as I could be.” More than any other G.M. brand, Pontiac stood for performance, speed and sex appeal. Its crosstown rivals followed with similar muscle cars, giving Detroit bragging rights over the cars that Japanese automakers were selling based on quality and reliability. Though still G.M.’s third-best-selling division, behind Chevrolet and GMC, Pontiac’s sales peaked in 1984, when it sold almost 850,000 vehicles, roughly four times as many as it sold last year. G.M.’s chief executive, Rick Wagoner, said the company’s decision to concentrate primarily on Cadillac, Chevrolet, Buick and GMC left the company with a “comprehensive portfolio.” By many accounts, Pontiac started to falter when G.M. pursued a cost-saving strategy of providing the same cars to different divisions. It gave Pontiac vehicles like the TransSport minivan, and the Sunbird, Sunfire and Phoenix cars that were barely distinguishable from models sold by Chevrolet and Oldsmobile. Pontiac also garnered unwanted publicity in 2001 with the Aztek, whose tag line declared, “Quite possibly the most versatile vehicle on the planet.” Its bulky looks landed it on lists of the world’s ugliest cars. Indeed, Aztek won top honors in that category from The Daily Telegraph of London last year. Pontiac’s current plight is reflected in its Vibe, a well-regarded crossover vehicle that shares underpinnings with the Toyota Matrix, as part of a joint venture between Toyota and G.M. While the Matrix holds 67 percent of its resale value after three years, according to Kelley Blue Book, the Vibe retains just 54 percent. The Vibe, whose future is not clear but which was redesigned for 2009, is meant to appeal to the same age group that Pontiac’s muscle cars once did. But many younger Americans, who were not around for Pontiac’s prime period, will not miss the brand as it shrinks, said Ron Pinelli, who is president of Motorintelligence.com, a company that tracks industry statistics. To them, he said, “it doesn’t have any cachet unless they’re watching a late-night movie with Burt Reynolds,” whose film “Smokey and the Bandit” featured the Pontiac Trans Am. But in its best years, Pontiacs were “highly styled and valued and really something,” Mr. Pinelli said. Known before World War II primarily for its sedate sedans, Pontiac got a lift in the 1950s when G.M. used its cars on the racing circuit. Because of its “wide track” stance, Pontiacs quickly caught on with street racers, as well. Tim Sampson, whose family owned a yellow Pontiac Grand Prix in the 1960s, remembered the Pontiacs that were used for drag races on President’s Island, in an industrial part of Memphis. “People used to get arrested,” said Mr. Sampson, a founder of the Stax Museum of American Soul. Italian sports cars inspired another classic Pontiac in the 1960s, when the division’s new general manager, John Z. DeLorean, decided it needed a small, fast car modeled after a Ferrari. He hit on the name GTO — after a Ferrari coupe called the Gran Turismo Omologato. The GTO returned this decade, as part of an effort to revive Pontiac. But G.M.’s Holden division in Australia built that car. Its appearance barely echoed the original GTO, disappointing its core audience. It lasted only from 2004 to 2006, before G.M. stopped selling them. The most recent efforts to breathe new life into Pontiac were put into motion by G.M.’s vice chairman, Robert A. Lutz, who will retire at the end of 2009. Known in the industry for his love of high-performance vehicles, Mr. Lutz had pushed the division to return to its car heritage. On its Web site, Pontiac explains its new slogan more fully: “Pontiac is style. Pontiac is performance. Pontiac is culture. Pontiac is music. Pontiac is CAR.” Now, G.M. will have to determine which Pontiacs will remain Pontiacs. So far, Mr. Wagoner and other executives have not given any indication of the company’s specific plans for Pontiac. But unlike Saturn, which will be discontinued by 2012, G.M. does not have to dismantle a dealership lineup for Pontiac. Its franchises, for the most part, already have been grouped with Buick and GMC. Any future models, G.M. said this week, will be sold through this Buick-Pontiac-GMC organization. “We’re the third generation, and we’re the last,” said Rick Zimmerman, whose family has sold Pontiacs in Pittsfield, Ill., since the brand came to life as part of its Oakland division in the 1920s. (Pontiac became a stand-alone division in 1932.) Mr. Zimmerman, whose first car was a GTO, said hundreds of customers used to flood his showroom each fall when new Pontiacs — like the popular Bonneville, now a retired nameplate — were unveiled. Now, despite positive reviews about the performance of some new models like the G8, he has trouble getting his customers interested in them. “It’s been a good name, and had a lot of good cars,” Mr. Zimmerman said. “It’s tough to see it go.” Nick Bunkley contributed reporting.

[Aspenrose]

Media vs GM. That's almost laughable.

[MomsSol]

Tis true that the "Performance" side of Pontiac will more than likely die ... but, it has been withering on the vine for a few years now anyway.

However, the media would have us believe that Pontiac as a whole is gone, toast, history. They have put their 'bent' on the story and as such 'frightened the masses' - both current owners and future as well.

Pontiac - as a brand - is still Alive and Kicking!

[solli4me]

Might be, but there's still room to discuss the emotional and psychological impact on the generation that were raised on Pontiac. We all see these guys (and gals) with their cherished memories and restored gems, at all the local car shows. It's hard to see something that meant so much, to so many, just disappear.

It's appropriate for the press to cover that angle.

I can only imagine how our group will be feeling if/when the Solstice bites the dust. Look how we're reacting now.

[MomsSol]

Originally Posted by solli4me Might be, but there's still room to discuss the emotional and psychological impact on the generation that were raised on Pontiac. We all see these guys (and gals) with their cherished memories and restored gems, at all the local car shows. It's hard to see something that meant so much, to so many, just disappear. It's appropriate for the press to cover that angle. I can only imagine how our group will be feeling if/when the Solstice bites the dust. Look how we're reacting now.

Its not a matter of 'if' the Solstice bites the dust ... all good things come to an end - look at the discussions that have been carried on here since 2006 with regard to the Solstice and 2011.

Yes, the press can cover the demise of the history of those great years of strong performance vehicles that many of us love - its the distortion of facts leading readers to believe that PONTIAC the brand is gone/going the way of OLDS: bye-bye!

[dengel]

Originally Posted by solli4me Media discussion: It's obvious to all that there's a paradigm shift toward fuel efficiency. For those enthusiasts who experienced the excitement of driving the early muscle cars, this is the end of the road. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/20/bu...ontiac.html?hp

Well, I guess that Pontiac's challenge - to prove that they can build cars that are BOTH fuel efficient and exciting to drive.

I personally believe it doesn't have to be the "end of the road" for fast, exciting cars from Pontiac. The end of large displacement gas-guzzling powertrains, quite possibly. The G8 is most likely the last car they will sell in that class (which makes me kinda glad I was able to buy one). But technology has come a long way, and you can get speed and handling out of a car while still providing good gas mileage. It can be done - look at the Solstice GXP.

[MomsSol]

Originally Posted by dengel Well, I guess that Pontiac's challenge - to prove that they can build cars that are BOTH fuel efficient and exciting to drive. I personally don't believe it doesn't have to be the "end of the road" for fast, exciting cars from Pontiac. The end of large displacement gas-guzzling powertrains, quite possibly. The G8 is most likely the last car they will sell in that class (which makes me kinda glad I was able to buy one). But technology has come a long way, and you can get speed and handling out of a car while still providing good gas mileage. It can be done - look at the Solstice GXP.

And some of the 'tuned' GXPs are getting better gas mileage than the 30mpg IIRC. Performance and CAFE can go hand-in-hand!

[WoWwii]

Not sure who photochopped the tomb stone, but Pontiac started in the 1893 by Edward M. Murphy established the Pontiac Buggy Company in Pontiac, Michigan. Pontiac cars started in the 20's. Did you get that off Fox News?????

[solli4me]

GM is turning its monolithic head toward a different future and they have to travel down a different road if they have any expectation for survival in this current brutal market.

Most of the articles that I've read speak to the unfortunate choices GM made throughout the years. It is what it is. Personally, I am not a person who lives by brand loyalty - I've owned VW's, Nissans, Fords, Mercury, BMW - this Solstice is my first GM car and I don't think I'll be buying another GM product in my lifetime. But the newest generation of drivers will indicate to the company what they find appealing, and to it's credit, GM is trying to acknowledge that.

GM entered the racing field in the 1950's. The stone refers to the performance aspect which revved up in the '60's.

[Small Dealer]

Originally Posted by WoWwii Not sure who photochopped the tomb stone, but Pontiac started in the 1893 by Edward M. Murphy established the Pontiac Buggy Company in Pontiac, Michigan. Pontiac cars started in the 20's. Did you get that off Fox News?????

While you have the family tree correct, this tombstone is for their Grandson, High Performance Pontiac. Most people place "High's" birthdate in the early 60s, with the arrival of his first GTO.

I actually think "High" was older than that. Think 1957 Fuel Injected Bonneville, early Tri-Powers and the original Wide-Tracks.

[Small Dealer]

While I usually will not lift an entire "Rant" from Peter De Lorenzo, here is his February 25th "Rant" from Rants - Autoextremist.com ~ the bare-knuckled, unvarnished, high octane truth... . Link may take you to the most current "Rant". The "Rant" below is from February 25th. You can find past "Rants" by using the numbers at the bottom of the current page.

Reports of Pontiac’s death have been greatly exaggerated. By Peter M. De Lorenzo Detroit. The news that GM was going to demote Pontiac to a niche brand within its rapidly contracting corporate empire – even though it had been common knowledge for months – buried us in a flurry of blatantly premature “death of Pontiac” stories in the media, some of which were clearly served up with unabashed glee as one more punch to the legacy of Detroit. I won’t bother to single out the most offending journalist, because that would be like beating up on the chronically infirmed, but suffice to say most of the stories offered little substance, and most of them ignored the rest of the story, which is that Pontiac could actually play a very prominent role in GM’s revival. Of all the GM divisions, Pontiac has always held a special place in my heart, because I basically grew up with hot Pontiacs in our driveway. Though my dad was a Buick man, and we always had a Buick in the garage – he worked in Public Relations for that division, which ultimately led him to become a GM corporate vice president and the head of GM PR from 1957-1979 – we were always blessed with the latest and greatest Pontiac models, thanks to Semon E. “Bunkie” Knudsen. Bunkie was the tremendously talented GM executive who was sent over to run the Pontiac division in the summer of ‘56 in the hopes of transforming it from the dowdy, dependable brand it was, to something more. And boy did he ever. Bunkie set Pontiac on a new path of building cars that bristled with exuberant style and big horsepower - exciting machines that oozed with “marching to a different drummer” attitude and personality - and Pontiac became the talk of the industry and eventually the No. 3 brand behind Chevrolet and Ford. And since my dad and Bunkie had a great relationship, Bunkie saw to it that the hottest Pontiac models graced our driveway at all times. The first one I remember well was a loaded fire red ’59 “Wide track” Bonneville convertible with bright red bucket seats and the “Tri-Power” V8. It was a magnificent looking car, and it quickly became my mom’s driver for the summer, with the top staying down except for only rare instances. We also had Bonneville convertibles in '60 and '61, always red and loaded with options, and always with the hottest V8 that could be stuffed in them at the time. After Bunkie moved on to Chevrolet and John Z. DeLorean took over Pontiac, we continued to get hot Pontiacs to drive. But my involvement with Pontiac didn’t stop with the hot rods in our driveway or because my three initials matched the division’s moniker. There was more to it than that. I had a job one summer at Pontiac headquarters delivering mail to John Z. and the other Pontiac executives, which was good for some eye-opening stories and provided me the opportunity to see the inner workings of the division at the peak of its heyday. And of course my ad career took me to Pontiac’s ad agency during the years 1980-85, where I helped craft Pontiac’s rejuvenated “excitement” image alongside some of the most gifted pros in the business at the time. Pontiac has always been more than just another division of GM to me, and to see it being marginalized now is painful, but I truly believe that it might just be the best thing that happened to the brand in years too. I wrote a column back on March 1, 2006 (AE No. 336) entitled Soul Survivor or just Dust in the Wind? which resonated with a lot of Pontiac enthusiasts at the time. In that column I reiterated what Pontiac once was and what it could be again. Here are a few excerpts: The legendary Pontiac names alone could power a rollcall from Detroit's golden era - Bonneville, Catalina, Tempest, Le Mans, GTO, "The Judge," Grand Prix, Firebird and Trans-Am. The rich additions to the automotive lexicon were legendary too - "389," "421," "455SD," "Tri-Power," "eight-lug" aluminum wheels, Royal Bobcats, "Endura" front bumpers, hood-mounted tachs, and on and on. And the marketing and advertising hooks were equally memorable - with the famous "Wide Track" campaign still resonating to this day. But Pontiac has suffered from neglect and abuse for years, and now GM's maverick division is on the edge of oblivion. Pontiac has suffered mightily from the bureaucratic gravitational force field that has churned and stirred the traditional GM divisional structure over the years. While GM marketers scrambled to prop up seven other brands, Pontiac always seemed to be left out on the fringe with product initiatives that often fell woefully short of what the brand deserved. Where did GM go wrong with Pontiac? I could fill a dozen issues of Autoextremist.com delineating the division's downfall, but as someone who was intimately familiar with Pontiac's last brief fling with positive notoriety during its "Excitement" years (I was a writer at Pontiac's ad agency for five-and-one-half years in the early '80s), it pains me to see the downward spiral of one of America's most compelling automotive brand names. It's clear to me that GM's struggle to apportion product and marketing attention to all of its divisions is killing the company - and unfortunately, Pontiac finds itself closest to the door at this point. Until GM's "too many models, too many divisions" situation is somehow mitigated (which I doubt will ever happen unless GM blows itself up and starts over), I fear for the long-term viability of Pontiac. To understand the travesty of Pontiac's current state you have to go back and understand the impact Pontiac once had on the U.S. market. It's hard to believe this now but at one point during its glory days in the '60s Pontiac was the hottest car company in the country, breathing down Ford's neck in third place in sales. If ever a car company defined "swagger" - Pontiac was it. Pontiac was GM's "pirate" division, and if they could have raised a "skull and crossbones" flag over its headquarters in its heyday, they would have. On any given day, Pontiac was always pissing off someone down at GM headquarters because they just couldn't help themselves from bitch-slapping Chevrolet and sending Chevy executives whining to the 14th floor like little school girls over some perceived transgression. Starting with Bunkie Knudsen, Pontiac pushed the envelope and marched to a different drummer. Pontiac tweaked their cars to the point that they didn't even seem like they were part of the GM family. More than any other American car company, Pontiac delivered cars to the market bristling with a maverick, rebel attitude, edgy appeal and genuine soul - a commodity so far removed from most of Detroit's products today it's appalling. The street "buzz" around Pontiac was undeniable - and it was fueled by some of the most memorable advertising ever done for an automobile. For one fleeting moment in time, product and advertising came together in such a way that it created an American sensation. If you drove a Pontiac, it definitely said something about you. You were different from the crowd and you went your own way. And the aura that was created around the brand translated into gold in the marketplace, sending Pontiac sales soaring. Now, Pontiac is a mere shadow of its once-glorious self. GM can go two ways with Pontiac at this critical juncture. They can keep starving it to death with brand engineering and clone cars, or they can start over with an all-new mission that adheres to the core essence of what a Pontiac was - and should be. It shouldn't be hard. All it would take is a total commitment from GM and the right people in place to make it all happen. But then again, those two key ingredients are the two things necessary in bringing focused, desirable products to the street no matter which company we're talking about. Back in '81, I did a print ad for the Firebird Trans-Am that had the headline, "Soul Survivor." That ad set the tone for the "excitement" era that followed and started Pontiac on its way back. But Pontiac has unfortunately careened in and out of relevance ever since. The time is now for Pontiac. The division deserves better. Much better. GM needs to get in touch with the essence and soul of Pontiac and put it on a plan not only for survival - but for revival. If done exactly right, Pontiac's marching to a different drummer persona could have tremendous appeal today in this market of vanilla Asian transportation appliances and German techno-wonders. And if GM can't muster the will to do the right thing with one of America's most famous automotive nameplates, then they might as well just take it out back and put it out of its misery. I'd rather see that than watch it fade away like dust in the wind. Now that Pontiac will survive - at least for now - as a niche brand in the dimming GM solar system, can that quintessential Pontiac attitude translate to an automotive world that is so dramatically different, one where GM controls less than half the market that it used to while preparing to focus its product and marketing efforts on Chevrolet, Cadillac, Buick and GMC? One where Pontiac has become a bit player because of long-term neglect, missteps and woeful product miscues? And one, arguably, where Pontiac's raison d'etre is rapidly fading? I contend that it can. Becoming a niche brand could be just the elixir that Pontiac needs. In its heyday Pontiac was never even remotely about being all things to all people - like most car companies are so obsessed with being today - rather, the division’s greatest moment in the sun came about as the result of designing, engineering and building quintessentially American machines that actually had a point of view, inside and out. A point of view that admittedly wasn’t for everyone - thank goodness - but one that resulted in machines that bristled with distinctiveness and drove like nothing else on the road. And remarkably enough that Pontiac swagger resonated perfectly with consumers looking for something different and out of the ordinary, and they gravitated to Pontiac in droves. On the surface, that Pontiac attitude would never resonate today, at least that’s what certain marketers will tell you. Today it’s allegedly all different, with consumers shying away from blatant design statements and instead focusing on “inner-directed” qualities in their transportation. Listen to enough of these so-called marketing “experts” and maybe they’ll start to convince you that the automotive era is dead and buried and that the industry will never recover. That the future of transportation will be made up of blandtastic huggable smiley cars with no point of view whatsoever, perfectly in keeping with the doom-and-gloom mindset that’s permeating every facet of our society these days. Well, I’m not buying it in the least. I happen to believe that this country’s general malaise and “sky is falling” hand-wringing about the economy are not going to last forever. And when we bust out of this mope-a-dope mentality, people are not only going to be looking for something different, they’re going to be hungry for some attitude and more than a little irreverence to go with it too. Design point of view and sheer style will play a crucial role as the ultimate “initial product differentiator” – the ingredient that will most determine fundamental consumer interest - and the companies that are ready to meet these renewed expectations will be rewarded handsomely. And that’s why a newly reinvigorated niche brand like Pontiac could be perfectly positioned to take advantage of a suddenly exuberant consumer mindset. The reality about the car business is that if you design vehicles for the prevailing mood at the time, you’re dead. But if you can anticipate what’s coming just around the corner instead, you’re going to be perfectly positioned to succeed when the market turns around. With Pontiac only having two and at the most three models in the years to come, it can become GM’s boutique performance brand. And no, I’m not strictly speaking about “nostalgia rods” here (although if GM doesn’t allow Pontiac to do a new Firebird Trans-Am it would be criminal), but contemporary machines that can fit in with the newly “green” real world (featuring hybrid drivetrains and other obligatory “green” technologies), while injecting a dose of swagger and an unmistakable rebel attitude into an industry that so desperately needs it. As a matter of fact, if GM can survive this mess, and when we finally pull out of this downward spiral and people start looking for something different, something that bristles with “marching to a different drummer” attitude, personality and a singular style to boot, a rejuvenated Pontiac could provide just what the doctor ordered. Thanks for listening.

[WoWwii]

ah, I agree, mid 50's....I'll go back to my corner now.

[solli4me]

Thanks, Small Dealer. That article was beautifully written and spot on. It speaks to how I feel. I hope GM can relate to this writer and act on some of his recommendations.

[solcaptain]

It seems that there is some confusion. Pontiac is not becoming a "focused niche brand" because it is focused on high performance. It is changing because there is little room in the world for a poorly run, poorly focused car company that loses money like a hemophiliac loses blood.