Well Pontiac and Saturn are going to go down in the history books as nice brands from a company whose strength was at one time the fact that they have build their brand through the acquisition of everyone that should have been a competitor to Ford and Chrysler. Yes General Motors was like the Berkshire Hathaway of the automotive industry; a slew of brands that would be forgotten assembled under roof and sold through a marketing plan that was masterminded by an evil genius who would eventually leave Ford in the dust. Only that General Motors became too big and inefficient, like an aging bodybuilder, and far less impressive than Berkshire Hathaway and more like Microsoft.
Only that Microsoft is not declaring bankruptcy any time soon. So what really happened to General Motors, and after having shed Oldsmobile why is letting loose of Pontiac and Saturn not going to be enough to turn this company around, but just enough of a shrewd move to give it another year or two on life support? Let's look at these two brands in more depth; Pontiac goes back to the early twenties, the brand was known for its sheer horsepower during the seventies and eighties through subdivisions like the "Grand Am" or the "Sunbird", even the name "Grand Prix" was used for one of their vehicles. Pontiac was then synonymous with the best that cheap and chic approach to building sports cars had to offer.
When Pontiac put out a minivan to take advantage of the first soccer mom trend it was dubbed the "Montana". Pontiac cars had a personality of their own and a loyal following. It wasn't a sub-luxury vehicle like the Oldsmobile, no, this is was a powerful machine meant to go fast and attract attention through its chic styling. Totally different from Saturn, a small wholly owned subsidiary of General Motors that got its start in 1985. Saturn was something different, something new that built upon the General Motors tradition of branding though it was something conceived in house, as opposed to having been a brand that General Motors had bought up.
Only that Microsoft is not declaring bankruptcy any time soon. So what really happened to General Motors, and after having shed Oldsmobile why is letting loose of Pontiac and Saturn not going to be enough to turn this company around, but just enough of a shrewd move to give it another year or two on life support? Let's look at these two brands in more depth; Pontiac goes back to the early twenties, the brand was known for its sheer horsepower during the seventies and eighties through subdivisions like the "Grand Am" or the "Sunbird", even the name "Grand Prix" was used for one of their vehicles. Pontiac was then synonymous with the best that cheap and chic approach to building sports cars had to offer.
When Pontiac put out a minivan to take advantage of the first soccer mom trend it was dubbed the "Montana". Pontiac cars had a personality of their own and a loyal following. It wasn't a sub-luxury vehicle like the Oldsmobile, no, this is was a powerful machine meant to go fast and attract attention through its chic styling. Totally different from Saturn, a small wholly owned subsidiary of General Motors that got its start in 1985. Saturn was something different, something new that built upon the General Motors tradition of branding though it was something conceived in house, as opposed to having been a brand that General Motors had bought up.
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