Goodbye Pontiac?

[Fabrizio]

Sad news:

GM Said to Study Shedding Saturn, Saab, Pontiac to Win U.S. Aid

By Jeff Green and Greg Bensinger

Nov. 27 (Bloomberg) -- General Motors Corp., working to cut costs to win $12 billion in government loans, is studying whether to shed its Saturn, Saab and Pontiac brands in addition to Hummer, people familiar with the matter said.

Selling or dropping brands would save money and reduce overlap as the biggest U.S. automaker struggles to avoid running out of operating cash by year’s end, said the people, who didn’t want to be identified because no decision has been made. GM’s other U.S. brands are Chevrolet, GMC, Buick and Cadillac.

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complete article: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=aG4DMF2aEKWA


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Once one of America's hottest car brands:


Broody existentialists in tight pants and sideburns :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6V8UxXnXRZ0&NR=1

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Wide-Tracking: the Great American sport:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GZUEod15NsE&feature=related

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The Break-Away Car:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RSQSuZUkVtE

( for context of this adv. campaign, watch how Ford was selling Mustang the year before: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LiUj5OVhQJ4 )

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GTO spoof on Bonnie&Clyde mania:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jKDhJL1BNdc&feature=related

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1970 jump suit, cool music... and that narrators voice (actor Paul Richards, seen on camera in the others):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v6iZjrt_GKo&feature=related

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Lavender Great One:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6tjhEqjXu3A&feature=related

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And of course:

"Little GTO" ( guitar 1:26 to 1:42 kills me):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=44kg0IENTPU&feature=related

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[ablarc]

Next they need to study shedding the upper levels of management and the board of directors.

[Fabrizio]

For one thing, they should be strapped to their seats and be forced to watch this. A mini masterpiece of direction and editing. It just exudes love.

(from the post above if you passed over it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LiUj5OVhQJ4 )

[lofter1]

Wow. A 3 minute commercial!

[Fabrizio]

I would say that was either a promo film made up from stringing together individual commercials, and shown to dealers ...Or it was shown during a Ford sponsored television special in the fall of '67.

Here's a 5 min promo film for the 65 Chevy line-up and it's a must see. It stars all of the TV actors in shows sponsored by Chevy in 64-65.

Quality is not good but note:

1- the diction of Pernell Roberts, Elizabeth Montgomery and the posh upper crust accent of Lorne Greene ... not a hint of the olde West. ( he sounds like Betty Furness).

2- the hilarious camp of Agnes Morehead: "Why... they've changed the roofline!"

3- lavender as a color choice, big in the mid 60's: note the Impala.

4- How beautiful these cars were styled. Note the Corvair and rear shot of the Impala.

5 - and how suave everyone is.

The link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0X5m4emm0OM

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[lofter1]

By the looks of Miss Moorehead's hair it seems they yanked Endora right out of her bed and pushed her in front of the camera.

[ZippyTheChimp]

A 1980s nod to Pontiac history (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T9wCwZLVLCM&feature=related) from VW.

[kz1000ps]

4- How beautiful these cars were styled. Note the Corvair and rear shot of the Impala.

The '65 thru '68 Impalas wore their lines better than just about any other big car I've ever seen. Massive vehicles like those need straight lines to keep the composition together (the '91 Caprice IMO proved this), and while these Impalas had the trendy Coke bottle styling, it was done in an understated manner, with a perfect balance made between curved and straight lines.

http://www.computersupport.ca/Restoration/1967ImpalaSS427Ad.jpg
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Pontiac -- *sigh* lots of good things are being said about that Aussie, the G8. Too little too late? I hope not. Rather, ditch Buick and make it a Chinese-only brand.

Saturn, aka Opel USA -- you make good cars, but this company's been a directionless step-child for a decade now. GM doesn't need it.

Saab -- sales totaled 125,000 worldwide in 2007, down from 133,000 in '06. Just 33,000 were bought by Americans. Thus far national sales are down an average of 30.6% compared to last year (based on Jan. thru Oct. Daily Sales Rates, compiled from Autoblog (http://www.autoblog.com/category/by-the-numbers/)), putting estimated sales for the year at around 23,000. GM doesn't need it.

Hummer -- I can't wait to see who'll end up buying this dead weight. Betcha they're from Oman or Dubai.