Pontiac To CLOSE!

Here's that story. It's a sad day. They've made some awesome classic cars. Monday's the actually decision. I guess GM has to start somewhere.






NPR.org, April 24, 2009 ·

The struggling automaker General Motors is expected to eliminate its iconic Pontiac brand, NPR has learned.


An official announcement could come as early as Monday, according to NPR's Frank Langfitt.


"This is the end of a famous car name," Langfitt said on Friday's All Things Considered. "But for anyone who has been following Pontiac, it's not a surprise at all."


GM is living on more than $15 billion in government loans and faces a June 1 deadline to cut its debt, reduce labor costs and take other restructuring steps. If it doesn't meet the deadline, the company's CEO has said it will enter Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.


The move follows GM's decision to shed other brands, including Saturn and the Hummer line of sport-utility vehicles.


GM knows it has "too many brands and too many models," Langfitt says.
GM said Thursday it will temporarily close 13 assembly plants in the U.S. and Mexico — some for more than two months — laying off nearly 24,000 workers to pare back a bloated inventory.


"In the days and weeks ahead we may hear about some permanent closings," Langfitt says.


The announced closures, which will start in May, vary by factory from as short as three weeks to a long as 11, including the normal two-week July shutdown to change from one model year to the next.


GM said the shutdowns will help control high dealer inventories and bring manufacturing in line with sales. The company plans to cut production by 190,000 vehicles and reduce inventory from the current 767,000 to 525,000 by the end of July.


As for Pontiac, about 40 dealers who sell the brand exclusively will be hit hard by the news, Langfitt says. More than 1,000 dealers sell Pontiac along with other brands.


In eliminating Pontiac, GM is closing out a famous muscle-car brand memorialized in at least one rock song and in films such as Smokey and the Bandit.


Langfitt says dealers were told as recently as two weeks ago that Buick and the GMC truck line will survive.


Meanwhile, the summer plant closings will affect about 24,000 hourly and salaried employees at the affected assembly plants, but there will be thousands more layoffs and temporary factory closures when GM works out its schedules for engine, transmission and parts stamping factories.
The troubled automaker has 22 assembly plants in North America as well as dozens of other parts and powertrain factories.


Laid-off hourly workers will get unemployment benefits and supplemental pay from the company that amounts to most of their base wages. Salaried workers also will get some income, GM North America President Troy Clarke said Thursday in a conference call with reporters.

From NPR reports and The Associated Press

 

Anyone thats ever seen one of these should have known it was bound to happen

 

I'm surprised it hasn't happened sooner.

 

Wow thats a funny vehicle? lol

 

How the mighty have fallen

 

Makes me wish I had held on to my '78 Trans Am.

 

Me too. I can't remember the last good Pontiac. Probably before I was born.

 

man,that sucks for the people who still own them tho. parts are going to be a bitch to pay for.

 

This doesn't make me sad at all. They used to make some pretty bad-ass cars, but who is going to miss the Vibe (actually made by Toyota), Azteca, G6, etc?

I suspect that they will continue to produce replacement parts for some time to come. They might get more expensive eventually, though.

 

For Sure! I would kill someone if Toyota went out of business, but I don't think that will ever happen. They actually make cars and trucks that look good unlike Pontiac.

 

yeah did yall know that the matrix and vibe are virtually the same cars? just with different badges on them.

 

Haha. I remember that! Nasty!!! I think I remember reading somewhere that this SUV was one of the biggest flops in car making history. It might have been a special on some tv show, actually. No wonder they're going under and no one wants to but their cars.

 

PS - Go Longhorns! I'm a wanna be fan. My whole family lives in Texas and that was pretty much the topic of my childhood. "Did ja see that game with Texas A&M and the Longhorns?! The Longhorns kick their ass!"

Good times.

 

Really!? Now that I think about it, I believe it. Weird. I wonder who copied who...

 

They need to get rid of Buick, Saturn, and another bad brand . Then they will be doing just fine.

There is so much History for Hummer and Pontiac..... They can't just give it away

 

Toyota makes cars and trucks that they know consumers will LIKE and BUY.. Unlike the Big 3 that just throw out the line (lots and lots of cars and trucks) and hope that a fish will bite.

 

Nothing like a bunch of tax payer money down the drain. Should have never giving them anyways. what little they got was never going to hold them above water. Give us money so they dont cut jobs. Boy i guess a lot of people are eating there words now. Yes im sorry its going to effect a lot of people but im getting tired of the gov putting me into debt and then still not fixing the problem. They should have just failed or chapter 11 and saved my some tax money.

And that goes for both sides of the gov. Bush and Obama

 

I'm sure they'll be even more prized collectors items now and become even more valuable.

 

Pontiac gone? Who gives a frac? They made BUTT UGLY cars consumed by fake cladding and funky dials. In fact, until 2 years ago, I would have rated Pontiac the most butt ugly cars made in America. FAIL.

 

Yeah.. My brother-in-law has a Vibe. I had to move it one day and noticed everything in it looked like a Toyota. I popped the hood and everything under there looked like Toyota. I went online and low and behold, it IS a Toyota. Who woulda thunk it? I guess there was a quality Pontiac afterall.