Okay folks, help me out here:
Fact #1: Auto sales have collapsed in recent months.
Fact #2: Trapped between plummeting sales, bloated debt and stupid-high labor costs (thank you very much, UAW) GM is about to enter Chapter 11.
Fact #3: After President Obama fired the CEO of GM, lots of rumblings have emerged related to new massive restructuring plans, some of which GM has denied. GM is now set to close at least 1,700 dealerships across the country. (How will closing dealerships help sell cars? I don't understand that one).
Fact #4: GM sales figures from Jan-Mar 08 and Jan-Mar 09 are listed on the corporate web site right now. Here are some interesting numbers:
Jan-March 08:
Buick: 37,834
Pontiac: 72,377
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Jan-March 09:
Buick: 20,534
Pontiac: 40,887
For March, 2009, Buick sold 7,369 vehicles. Pontiac sold 17,583. Overall, GM delivered 156,000 vehicles last month.
Pontiac's contributed about 11% of GM's total sales. Buick, even with its crossover Enclave contributed just under 5% of total sales.
Last I checked, 11% is higher than 5%.
Fact #5: Most of the restructuring talk coming out of GM includes killing off Pontiac and possibly GMC.
Okay, I am not a CPA, a marketeer or a corporate executive trying to save a sinking ship that's been mismanaged for decades, but doesn't basic common sense suggest saving the brand that is selling TWICE the cars as the other brand? Can someone please explain the logic here?
The Buick Lucerne is a dodgy boat that rates a 6.8 in the Edmunds editor's review. The LaCross is so ugly and so bland that it hasn't even been reviewed on Edmunds, and only one owner has bothered to put up his impressions on that site.
Way to go for sedans, Buick! Boring, ugly, underperforming. And, Edmunds describes the Lucerne as: "Mediocre handling on all trims except for the Super, long braking distances, outdated four-speed automatic transmission, inconsistent build quality, high pricing compared to value-packed rivals."
And damn. Have you checked out the interior of these two Buicks? Oh my God, the faux-wood on the Lucerne and LaCrosse reminds me of the worst of the 70's and 80's interior trims. I guess if you're 90 years old and long for the good old days of 90 HP LeSabres, these are your rides. Or perhaps now feeble-minded, aging Baby Boomers will accidentally wander onto the Buick lots and get confused enough to purchase one of these rolling disasters. And what is up with "inconsistent build quality" in the 2000's? Hasn't anyone learned a lesson from the 70's, 80's and 90's over at GM? Wow. And we taxpayers got to bail this mess out. How lucky for us.
These two Buicks, in their higher trim are more expensive, slower, underpowered and suck compared to the competition. What's more, the G8 outperforms, outpowers and outshines both Buicks. And it is generally less expensive.
Buick represents the absolute tedious crap that has spewed from GM's industrial orafice since the first gas crisis in '73. Pontiac at least offers GM a ray of hope, thanks to Holden and the Zeta platform.
But of course, reports on Autoblog.com recently suggest that Holden is doomed to be closed as well. The only division in GM capabable of building a new Camaro is about to be wiped out. With it will go the last corporate and institutional knowledge of rear wheel drive platforms for coupes and sedans.
Overall for GM, sales have just tanked. It is an across-the-board bloodletting with no end in sight. Some numbers: total sales are down 44%. Chevy sold half as many cars last month compared to March, 2008 (a down year as well). When compared to 2005 numbers, the figures are frightening. GM's cratering, and having its future in the hands of Washington D.C. is not a good proposition, especially since it looks like the government will be heavily influencing future product line ups. Um, isn't customer demand supposed to drive product development?
Take a look at what happened to the Camaro Z28, and the politically correct, D.C.-driven product line up starts to come into focus.
Apparently, the Volt is supposed to fix all this and save GM for future generations. Talk about grasping at straws.
No, the future is not bright. It could be a little brighter if GM's executives save the right brand this time. Dumping Oldsmobile--sure I get that. There hadn't been a worthwhile Olds since the 440. Dumping Pontiac? No go-fast division for GM? That's a future that I can live without.
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