I see we have 2 blogs about this, I prefer to use the forum here, assuming anyone is out there???

Well, after much beating the drum about killing brands and eliminating dealers the government overseers get their wish and my brand is the first real victim.  What a waste of an opportunity, and by people who don't have a clue IMO.  When the General Manager of Buick/Pontiac/GMC said that she did not feel they could support all the brands I knew we had a problem--with decent product planning the brand should support itself, her very line of thinking was flawed.

I guess the ultimate story is that:

(a) you had a car line that flourished when strong car people were leading it

(b) when the car people were not strong enough to fight the bean counters it got progressively weaker

(c) when you get the Washington burecrats involved the car guy absolutely has no chance.

In light of item C, it seems to me that in the beginning GM came to power when it offered a series of upgraded cars, all designed and marketed to appeal to people trading up to something better and starting at just a little more money than the plain Model T.  Such thinking now ends up doomed by people who think GM should not spend money on vehicles with extra frills but produce the basic, utilitarian car that the public should buy for their own good (like Henry and the Model T?).  Nice.  Plus, when the market gets better, as it will, there will be nowhere for the buyer to trade up.  After they buy a Chevy they will have to go to Buick or Cadillac (demographically questionable) or elsewhere to the imports.  It is very sad for the Pontiac fan, and I think the Pontiac brand still had life left in it to revive.  A new Firebird would have been perfect to do it, but they probably looked at the recent GTO and said "well, since those were not popular a Firebird would not be either."  What a waste....