Quote:
Originally Posted by GearheadSS
Pontiac actually wasn't a bad selling brand and GM did not want to shut it down. They were forced to shut it down by the government in order to get the bail out. It was shut one brand down or don't get a bail out. Unfortunately, Pontiac got the axe.
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LOL I was there and this is not the truth. GM shut down 3 brands in the bankruptcy so saving Pontiac would have been easy if it were profitable. All the government did was force GM to take a hard look at what was profitable. For example, the Corvette was neutered and simply a C6.5. It was the Government that asked GM "don't you make a lot of money on the Corvette?" So it became the C7 as we know it thanks to Uncle Sam. Prior to the bankruptcy it was a mid-engine car that basically taken back to a carry over space frame and chassis with some fresh body panels.
Now if you want to talk about the contractually obligated 5,000 additional layoffs(on top of the first wave) that were required to get the bailout...……...
Here is the awesome Pontiac lineup at the time.
Torrent (rebadged Equinox)
G5 (rebadge Cobalt 2-door)
G6 (yayyyy not a rebadge)
G8 (rebadged Holden Commodore)
Grand Prix
Solstice
Vibe (Toyota Matrix)
Nothing special in that. Nothing of volume or worth saving.
If your statement were correct, simply shutting down Saturn or Hummer would have been sufficient.