Seems to me that GM is, consciously or not, turning itself into three divisions and a group of also rans:

Division #1: Cadillac
What people aspire to.

Division #2: Chevrolet
What people have to have from a functional standpoint.

Division #3: Trucks
What people actually buy.



In the jaded view, I wonder nearly daily what the hell good Saturn, Buick and Pontiac are...

To take it a step further, maybe it sould be important to list out the core products GM really has in what markets, and address what they have or what should be improved.

As time allows, I'll try to lay that out my opinions there, maybe you guys could contribute also...

We know the word "Camaro" is going to come up, but I'm thinking more globally here... well, screw globally... I'm thinking North American market in total.

 

Car-wise, I think the core of the low-end of the market is broken up into the following three platforms:

Small - Cobalts, Focus, Civic

Middle - Malibu, Accord, G6

Large - Impala, 500


So, it would then follow that if I were GM, the millions of cars sold in those three segments would get the lion's share of my attention. This is where GM has to win the car wars. All three have to be capable of selling lots and lots of cars, and the cars themselves should be viewed in functional terms with emphasis on utility, quality and value.

The Toyota tactic here is create three platfoms that vary in size, but are all packaged identically. Brake lines run in the same way in every car, interiors - though they may differ in size - are all packaged the same way, and emphasis is placed on sharing as much as possible.

While sharing of actual powertrain is somewhat problematic, the high end of the lowest segment sometimes applies to the low end of the next largest. So, the biggest small car motor/transmission becomes the base motor/transmission for the next platform up.

The rest of the sedans that show up due to market vagaries associated with having other divisions are really just fluff. They may have differences that address niches, but the core of the platforms has to remain intact and has the most difficult engineering associated with it - you have to win here on nuts and bolts value.

 

I believe you are right to a degree. Perhaps GM should eliminate everything but the following.

Caddy- High end
Chevy- All its mainstream and sporty cars
GMC- All its trucks except for SRX and Escalade

Maybe this is where things are heading, but I don't think so.

 

By the look of some of the prototypes, Saturn might actually have something worthwhile to sell in the future..

 

Can't eliminate Chevrolet from trucks. Although GMC is a solid #2, Chevrolet sells by far the biggest share.

 

I've been thinking the same thing.

Chevy and Caddy are GM's core brands....everything else is simply a peripheral.

 

Pontiac, Buick and Saturn have some great cars coming. Indeed, they are on the periphery and not the core goods, but who said GM needs to be nothing but core goods?

I think those 3 divisions are coming around big time...especially Saturn. Buick still concerns me, but Pontiac does not. The entire G6 line, Solstice, Torrent (hey, it beats an Aztek) and the upcoming Zeta cars will be a hit...I know it.

 

The problem is GM's core goods are very poor offerings into their markets, and they're focusing on stuff like Caddy, Corvette, and trucks and SUVs. They need to turn around their core car market quick, or their market share will drop as it has been.

 

At the unveiling of the G6 coupe and convertible, in Bob Lutz's speech he mentioned that returning Pontiac to a true performance division was one of his top priorities. Not just straight line performance, but total performance. So far this has been highlighted by the push to production for the Solstice, and the fact after The T/A was murdered Pontiac had no V8s in the showroom. This fall, they will have 3- GTO, Bonneville GXP, and Grand Prix GXP. The Vibe leads it segment and the G6 seems to be on track. I won't be caught dead in an SUV but I expect the Torrent will do well as it addresses the Equinoxes suspension/steering shortcomings. I see a bright future for Pontiac. Too bad it doesn't include a Firebird, as far as we know.

 

That explains why the G6 coupe looks so much like the Toyota Solara.

 

Actually the coupe looks more Infiniti G35ish (in profile) in person. But the vert does have a resemblence to the Solara. I'm not sure what this has to do with performance but I guess I'll laugh along with you