It’s disappointing to see GM not take a word of my advice. Well, that’s what happens when government and unions gain control of a car company… the buyer’s interests get ignored.
But, I’ll try, try yet again. With the recent demise of Pontiac, and selloff of Saturn, my new advice to GM is simple: Shut these assets down the right way.
Take Pontiac. Granted, a lot of its models didn’t sell well. But, there were some diamonds in that ruff. Like the G6. It’s a very easy-to-configure car that was selling well (up 25% this past quarter according to some of the figures I saw). What’s to say that you can’t sell a Cadillac G6, or a Chevy G6?
Please, spare me the union/management FUD. There’s not one person out there who can tell me that you can’t take those plans, those factories, and put a different GM-owned brand on them.
And Saturn. Same there, Saturn could become a Best Buy of cars. Flat sales prices, but with a broad range of cars. Take some of the models over to them and make them exclusives to a new Saturn brand. Who cares if Saturn re-badges a VW Golf? I don’t… mostly because I wouldn’t buy a Golf under any name. But, that’s the point, Saturn can handle popular models that GM might want to sell off-brand.
Do I think they’ll take this advice? If there’s anything I’ve seem from them thus far in the era of Government Motors… I doubt it.