Pontiac RIP

Right, Congress made them do it. How dare politicians insist a company has a plan for solvency when they ask to borrow money. Bastards.

 

I was read on more then one occasion, that designers at Pontiac KNEW this thing was a joke. They INTENTIONALLY designed an ugly turd because they were fed up with not getting the corporate support they requested and needed in order to produce designs that consumers would buy. After having designs shot down for being too " edgy" they came up with this piece of shit knowing it would be a failure. Some idiots approved production and there you go.

Notice how since then they have come out with much better looking designs. The G6 and Solstice are good looking cars that are selling

 

I understand why people are not buying NEW cars. I went to KBB.com (Kelly Blue Book) Looked up a New 2008 mustang gt value ($26,303) then trade in value with a 1000 miles on same car in excellent shape (just over $19,000). that's $7000 to drive it off the lot. Sale the cars cheaper and they will sale more cars, more cars means workers will be busy and they won't be paying them to stand around. It's the employers job to keep their workers busy, no matter what they sale or make they have to get their product to move or no one makes money. Most of the replies talk about the loss of a brand, what about the loss of these jobs? Thousands of people out looking for jobs, competing for your job. How's the economy gonna pick up if no one is spending money because they have none. This is my second reply on this post. It kinda hit a nerve. Sorry for preaching. The main reason the government stepped in was to save thousands of jobs, if it was not for the auto workers jobs, I'd say let them all close. Thats what happen to any other business that makes poor decisions.

 

I'd like to read that article. Can you post a link?

 

If they would do a GTO in the fashion that Dodge did with the challenger instead of that thing they called a GTO a few years ago, they may have survived. So many Pontiac guys loved the new GTO but if it said any other name on it, they would rip it to shreds. It may perform well, but it is NO GTO.

 

My question is - when is America going to ask Congress for a solvency plan???

 

A big problem is that U.S. automobiles sell for a lower price [as compared to Japanese cars] but their quality is relatively poor, so consumers prefer the more expensive Japanese models. If U.S. auto company executives could design and build cars that consumers perceived as better than Japanese ones, then perhaps the U.S. companies could reverse their market share decline...

 

Sad news indeed, I had a 66 GTO a few years ago. Not too common in Australia, real head turner and overall a great car to drive. The writting has been on the wall since GM, in her infinite wisdom went with the 'corporate' V8 in 79. The real Poncho V8's were just plain kool.

Boner

 

I think Pontiacs make great winter beaters.

 

I read one time when a GM exec was asked a question about how they made their cars he said "we dont make cars we make money"
Boy he was full of shit on both counts

 

I do think I will ever agree with you on your statement.....
What Americans remember is that UAW represented workers make $28.00 to $33.00 an hour. Also the UAW worker will rub it in the face of his contacts away from work. The UAW worker brags about how much he makes for doing so little work. This travels like wild fire. Go to any bar, start a conversation about the UAW, and hear the same stories. True or not true, this is disconcerting to the consumer. There is no compassion for those workers. They are getting payback now. The UAW worker has improved quality, has given some minor concessions, has toned down their rhetoric a tad, and are now facing reality after the decades of making some of the best money for having no education. Even people with masters degrees got work at American auto plants because of the best wages and benefits around. Those days are gone like the steam locomotive, steel industry, textiles, rubber, electronics, airlines that have vanished as well as railroads that have vanished. The consumer is the decider of what is important. Not the big 3 and the unions. No pleasing the consumer and that equates to no more customers, and no more business. So it is not just the big 3 lack luster products, it is also the UAW worker and their nasty attitude along with their justification for doing $10.00 an hour work for $28.00 to $33.00.

 

http://www.theonion.com/content/infograph/auto_industry_crisis

 

Sarcasm does not always come through on the internet.

 

the way this thread is coming apart, it's harder to decide who will last longer,the thread or Pontiac

 

I don't want to be defending unions, because like I said, I don't really even have much love for them myself. I have never worked in an auto plant, but I am only going to guess the perception of all the lazy union workers laying around eating Cheetos on the clock is pretty much a myth at best and at worse just not even close to reality. Out of the 10's of thousands of auto workers there are definitely some bad apples I am sure and probably more than enough. But, every business public, private and gov. has the very same issue.

My very first real job was working for a small paper distribution co. I was 17 or 18 and being the new guy and just for the summer, low man on the totem pole. About 10 employees total with about 5-6 guys in the warehouse and drivers. I was there to help load trucks each day and then help deliver the stuff on the routes. when times were slow and we were otherwise caught up, I was told to clean up the warehouse and make sure stuff was in order. Seems reasonable enough right? Well, the first time that rolled around and I picked up a broom to sweep up a little, I was very quickly informed by the older guys to quit it because it was making everyone else look bad and if I didn't I was getting my ass kicked and they meant it. It was summer job, so I put the broom down and went to read the porn mags. they had stashed in the stock which was their idea of what to do when it was slow. No unions anywhere around there, just human nature. Unions aren't the only ones to have lazy people who try to make as much money as possible and work as little as possibly. That is just human nature and is all around everywhere you look.

How do you think a car gets built when somebody has a specific job to do on the line to a vehicle and then they just sit down and let the cars go by without doing it? Do you think that really happens? Do you think the other workers in the line are going to sit by and take those people's slack for too long? I doubt it very much.

And frankly, making $25-35/hr. isn't really that much to ask. That is pretty basic middle class wages. The people at the top who are making the actual bad choices are definitely making way more than that, probably $50-75/hr is more the norm for just the lower level managers and couple hundred thousand per year for upper managers - millions to 10's of millions per year for top level management.

I would venture that a lot more wasted $ are at the top verses the bottom. It is just that the top is much better at the spin and marketing of their side of the story. In fact, they pay people who job is just that. They have done a very good job slinging mud on common workers and a lot of people believe it. They have also been very good at keeping it off themselves. That might actually be their one good success. If they were actually just as success at running a company instead of blaming their workers for all the problems, and understood what their real problems are, we might not be even having this discussion.

 

Well, look at the bright side, you can still go out and buy a vintage pontiac Some of the new (g6, solstice) look good for dailys, but to me they haven't built a car that looks worth a crap in a long, long time.

 

nissan layed off workers they were part tlme workers that way the worker don't have the benefits or rights of a permanent employee cheaper for the company and it doesn't make waves when the company dumps them, no one to speak them.

 

Well, I'll ask this question, when was the last time any of us here even went down to the Pontiac Dealership just to take a look at the new models let alone look into buying one
In 1960,61 and early 62 my nose print was on the showroom windows of just about every Pontiac dealership between Tacoma and North Seattle just about every other weekend when I got to go stay the weekend with Dad.

The last an only Brand new car I have bought was a 69 Olds Cutlass so I haven't done my part to help the cause of the automakers since.

And as was said before, if Pontiac actually built some decent looking cars that we just had to have we would probably be buying them instead of lamenting the demise of one of our favorite brands from 50 years ago.

And I can't find myself to feel too sorry for a guy who makes twice what I do while installing left lugnuts on cars every day. A lot of us can only see 62 K a year in our dreams.

 

Thanks Mark!

 

It's a real shame whats happining with GM. I don't give a shit about Hummer or Saturn, but Pontiac was, and still is a legend. Those fuckheads at GM are the one running the industry into the ground. They are a bunch of bean counters that don't know fuck all about cars, all they care about is turning investors money into quick profit. GM got too big for it's own good. You can only spread the butter so thin. Once again I say that it's a shame.....but then again, I wasn't going to buy a new Pontiac, 'cause I'm building a Hot Rod

 

stude_trucks don't get me wrong. I'm not defending the executives. Hell I worked in the banking industry as a computer programmer and got laid off due to my job being offshored to the India's Infosys. The things they believe just don't make sense and they deserve eveything they get which probably isn't enough. What we really need is to stop is the executives who keep collecting and handing out all those bonuses when the companies aren't doing shit and collecting gov't money!

 

Sad sad sad. They may not be the same ol' "Injuns" of past, but to think the brand has been axed is ashame (niche market aside).