I think you will find it's been longer ago than that.

 

This has been in the works for a long time. If you think about it, GM of Canada had it right all along....all Pontiac Dealers are dualled with Buick.....all Chevy dealers were (past tense) dualled with Olds. (and that's why Pontiac used to have some really strange looking models back in the 60s and 70s....think 'Beaumont'.....a low priced Pontiac that was esssentially a Chevelle with a Pontiac styled grille.

Proud Pony.....with all your travels, it's no wonder you missed this one.

Tidbit.....there are 110 stand-alone Pontiac Dealers in the U.S........the trick is to get the Buick Dealer to sell out to the Pontiac dealer or vice versa...GMC truck, is, by and large, dualled with either Pontiac (many) or Buick (few).....OR.....in small towns, 4 Divisions together.

And.......the expectation is that the two "Pillar brands" will be Chevy and Cadillac......that's the strength in numbers/brand image-awareness/profitability/world car plan....................

 

 

You mean like Buickman ?

No!

 

Well, they didn't refer to him specifically by name in the article, but after the roucus at the recent shareholder's meeting, well, it just doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure it out!

In all fairness to him though, I doubt he is the only salesman and/or dealership owner that is sweating the details about "forced merger" over this realignment.

 

As 1 of those 110 remaining Pontiac-only franchises, I'm glad I only work on Saturday We keep eyeing the Buick-only franchise down the street, wondering when a merger will be announced. Apparently, ownership of the 2 have been feuding for 30+ years (typical small-town, family-run stores ), so its likely both will get shut down/sold out before a merger of the two of us ever happens.

My favorite Pontiac service department in the world (notice this is NOT the same as the one I work at ) just lost their Pontiac rights They were a Cadillac/Pontiac Franchise, but they gave up the Pontiac to a neighboring Buick/GMC dealership in order to get a Caddy/Chevy dealership 2 towns over...they dropped the Caddy franchise at that one.

So, in one transaction GM got their Buick/Pontiac/GMC dealership, got rid of a Caddy/Pontiac franchise in favor of Caddy only, and got a Chevy-only in favor of the former Chevy/Caddy. This consolidation will happen faster than anyone thinks, eh???

 

Your previous thread was spot on...

And for traveling... it sux. I hate it anymore. I have gotten to the point where if the hotel doesn't offer high-speed internet - I don't bother hooking up just to see the news and check a few boards. It's not worth the hassle - especially when it takes 1-2 minutes after you hit "submit" to get your post up on the board.

As for the brand realignment - I knew there were plans to "adjust" brands at GM - heck , anybody that watches the news on TV or reads a magazine at the barber shop saw the speculation a few months ago that GM might kill-off Buick or Pontiac. I never thought one of those would die, but I just didn't know about the plan that was in place in GM and the specifics that you began to point out in that thread. I knew some, but not all, of what was discussed back in May.

As a parting note though, do you expect the recent change in gas prices and the economic outlook to have any effect on the plan overall?
I would HAVE to think that Ford and GM both have to be looking at their full-size truck lineup for the future with caution, because people will start ditching the full-size stuff for fuel economy VERY soon, if they haven't already. That will have a huge impact on Ford and GM's bottom lines.