PONTIAC POINTED THE DOOR

General Motors has officially announced that that Pontiac brand will no longer be carried by the company. Several months ago Pontiac was touted as the brand most likely to be shoved off by a bleeding GM. But these rumours were denied by the company which stated that options were being investigated, including selling Pontiac.

That will no longer happen. As from the end of 2010 people won’t be able to buy new Pontiac-branded cars and trucks/ vans. In any case, Pontiac is more of an American brand than a world one.

More than this the other frail brands HUMMER, Saturn and SAAB could also be taken off the dealership floors. As many as 21 000 jobs could be affected. Prospective buyers for HUMMER and SAAB have been identified but nothing has come out of those discussions yet. The US-based carmaker is edging ever so close to filing for bankruptcy after loans of US$13.4 billion failed to bail out the company out of its 2008 annual loss of US$30.9 billion.

In South Africa GM SA recently announced it is to shed up to 700 jobs. The company also killed off several models from its Opel lineup in order to cut costs and improve margins.