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Originally Posted by Vega
I think I found why GM decided to keep what brands it did and what-not, and its pretty retarted...
Buick is the oldest GM brand so im pretty sure thats why they're keeping it, GMC is the next oldest and one of their top sellers in the mid-west so thats why they want to keep that, Cadillac is their luxury brand and they gotta compete with Lincoln (which honestly who would take a Lincoln over a Caddy right? lol) Pontiac however was the youngest of the core brands with Chevy being the second youngest, but with Chevy being THE core brand it left them with only one option...oust Pontiac...and really they only did that so they could tell the government "hey look we'remodeling our company, making big cuts and stuff" Which is really BS because Pontiac was by far their best brand when they werent pulling that re-badging crap...i think Lutz is too focused on what he thinks people want rather than what people really want
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Not....quite.
They kept Buick because it's HOT in China, and is relatively neutral in NA. The reception of the Enclave showed them that people would buy a Buick if it was good. They intend to remodel it, fast, to compete with Lexus, and Lincoln, and the other low-tier luxury brands.
GMC is their second-highest-profit brand next to Chevy, and has a LOYAL following (ask a group of Sierra drivers if they'd buy a Silverado -- you might be shocked at the responses). It is also a low-tier luxury truck brand; partnered under one roof with Buick at dealerships.
Those two brands compliment each other (^). One has trucks and SUVs, one has cars and crossovers, both are low-tier luxury. Pontiac was also partnered with these two. The partnership was sometimes referred to as "BPG". Clearly, Pontiac and Buick were redundant (both selling cars and crossovers) -- so a decision had to be made. It was probably something along the lines of "Which one is worth more to us?" The answer was as clear as red and black ink.
Chevy...no-brainer. And recent + future entries prove it can outright murder the likes of Ford, and Toyota in sales. More to come (Volt, Cruze, Orlando, another Malibu, etc.....
)
Cadillac is being revitalized right now. Once the "standard of the world", GM intends to earn that title back with cars of CTS-calibur. It will compete with the high-tier luxury brands both here, and in Europe (BMW, Audi, etc). The "V"-branded cars will be Caddy's "M" series of vehicles.
Pontiac, Saturn, Saab, Hummer. All of them were money-losers, and all of them had undergone some form of "fixing"...these brands were all solely in the NA market...and they were all under-performing in perception, sales, and again; financial results.