GM plans to rush Pontiac, Saturn sales: report

[WriteDown]

Source: Reuters

General Motors Co is offering huge incentives to its dealers to speed up the sales of leftover inventory from its Saturn and Pontiac brands, that can push up the automaker's December sales, the Wall Street Journal said.

In a letter to its dealers, General Motors said it would pay $7,000 for every new Saturn or Pontiac on their lots that is moved to rental-vehicle or service-vehicle fleets, according to the paper.

With this plan, the vehicles would be classified as used cars since the dealers would be their first owner, which would later enable them to sell those cars at a steep discount.

The offer expires on January 4, the last day of the December car sales month. GM will book the sales to dealers as fleet deliveries, which would increase the company's December car sales, the paper said.

GM is in the process of dropping its Pontiac and Saturn brands and selling Hummer in its restructuring.

Since September, a deal by GM to sell its Saturn brand has collapsed, an offer to sell its European unit Opel was pulled, the sale of Hummer to a Chinese firm has been delayed and Saab now faces closure.

General Motors could not be immediately reached for a comment by Reuters outside of regular U.S. business hours.

Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE5BS0EQ20091229

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Time to buy my Pontiac Solstice.

[LeftHander]

1. yup on the solstice....

Nice...but I'll take the more proven Miata.

[Dinger]

3. We've Had Two GrandAm's. Love 'Em!

Excellent cars!

[hamsterjill]

9. Three in my immediate family and they were all great!

We've had three Grand Am's and they've all been great cars. Virtually no issues with them.

I have a Grand Prix now, and it's been good, too. Sad to see Pontiac come to an end. And as is stated in another post in this thread, I think it was a big mistake for GM to discontinue Pontiac and keep Buick. Should have been the other way around.

[Auggie]

14. Agree

Buick is a big seller in China. I think that's why they kept it.

[blue_onyx]

15. They also kept Buick because it was profitable

Pontiac was a redundant brand and I think keeping Buick was one their best decisions.

[Auggie]

17. Pontiac is a sexier brand than Buick, IMO...

but they have reams of market research on the subject and did what's right for them.

[blue_onyx]

18. I disagree

I think the new LaCrosse is far better looking than anything Pontiac made.

[hamsterjill]

19. Pontiac has a better suspension system

First, I know NOTHING about cars, but I was actually told this by a GM executive who was first employed by the Pontiac division and subsequently employed by the Chevrolet division.

Pontiac has a little bit more of a "sturdy" ride than Chevrolet.

[Auggie]

20. They were the performance brand back in the 60s and 70s

They were marketed as having "wide-track" for better handling as I recall.

[WriteDown]

5. Ugh, not a miata fan...

A little too rinky-dinky for my tastes. :)

[sendero]

2. It's too bad about Saturn.

... in the 90s and the early 00s they made some really good cars.

[rox63]

8. I love my 2005 Saturn

and I plan to drive it until it dies. Too bad I won't be able to buy a new one when that time comes. :(

[Dulcinea]

11. Agreed.

I loved my '97 Saturn until I had to trade it in for a family vehicle. I was thinking about buying another one...

[onehandle]

4. So sad. So much history in Pontiac. And they keep Buick. The official car for people over 85.

Newsflash: Buick's customer base has bought its last car.

And I don't see Tiger whoring them for you anymore.

So to speak...

[Submariner]

6. "Chevy Rules"

That's what I told my friend when I beat his Pontiac GTO with my Chevelle SS-396 Super Sport in a drag race back in the late '60s.

I didn't know I was so prophetic.

[WriteDown]

7. Tell me that you still have that Chevelle.

One of my dream cars. Not that practical for me these days though :).

[Submariner]

10. I wish I did

But when I got out of the Navy and went back to school, I had to get practical. I couldn't afford an 8 mpg muscle car anymore, so I sold it and got a.....this is hard to admit......a 1970 Volkswagen beetle.



I feel so ashamed :blush:

[WriteDown]

13. Almost made me cry...

But if you had that beetle now, you could buy wheel bearings for like 8$ a piece. :)

[cadmium]

12. Bought a VIBE last yr.

I love it but wish I had waited. Sounds like there will be a lot more room for dickering now.

[blue_onyx]

16. Actually, 69 is the average age of Buick buyers

"So much history in Pontiac"

There's even more history in Buick. Pontiac was competing with Chevy and it made no sense keeping 2 brands that served the same purpose.

Nice to see you value older people so much :eyes:

[flvegan]

21. Bring back the Grand National/GNx!!