Solstice dead?

I work at GM head office and get a little better info then autoblog or Jalopnik. we actually have a dept. in the US that sits around all day and makes sure publications both online and in print are correct.

Dead ..no ..it will be phased out with Saturn in 3 years. That gives it quite a long product life cycle.

The Pontiac ver. will stay alive as a niche car along with the G8 and another up coming performance variant.

Oddly enough.... GM bought back the rights to the name fiero.....

Yes, GM loses money on every Solstice / Sky. Mostly due to overhead (wages, benefits and legacy costs which are too high). Let's look at GM. Does GM need to have Saturn, Chevrolet and Pontiac selling low to mid-priced cars? No.

Axe Saturn, make Buick a foreign market brand in China (see Vauxhall in the UK). Make Pontiac a refined sports car / sport sedan division. Cadillac is the premier division. Chevrolet becomes the common man car, truck and cheap thrills performance division and GMC is the commercial unit. Shrink production and staffing to meet market share and reduce contracts to those of Toyota U.S. workers (not that much lower than current UAW contracts).

Anyone heard anything about GMs rumored 3-series competitor?

AutoXR wrote: I work at GM head office and get a little better info then autoblog or Jalopnik. ... The Pontiac ver. will stay alive as a niche car along with the G8 and another up coming performance variant.

Which of the "restructuring options" is that contingent on, I wonder?

http://jalopnik.com/tag/gm-bankruptcy/?id=5155616

(It is a blog, remember, so the opinions there are just that... opinions. The text from the "Plan" is factual however.)

AutoXR wrote: Oddly enough.... GM bought back the rights to the name fiero.....

That's not Odd!! That's AWESOME!!!!!

MMMMMmmmm a LS1 Fiero with factory airconditioning! DO IT!

EricM wrote:

AutoXR wrote: Oddly enough.... GM bought back the rights to the name fiero.....

That's not Odd!! That's AWESOME!!!!! MMMMMmmmm a LS1 Fiero with factory airconditioning! DO IT!

turbo ecotec please

I'm no economist, but these plans sound berkeleying retarded to me. When the general public catches wind of divisions going away, nobody will want to buy one. Who wants to buy a new car badged with the stink of death?

They need to streamline their product offerings and better define the individual brand images, but I think killing some of the brands is short sighted. Although, I have never understood why they feel the need to keep the GMC Truck division.

Gen III engines are defunct (LS1/LS6). You'd have to hope for a Fiero with a LS2, LS3, or LS7 or the 5.3L FWD variant the LS4.

Wild I agree with you on GMC, it's an act in futility to keep them around. Saturn and Pontiac both have cars you can't get from Chevrolet. GMC however offers the same exact truck's you can get from Chevy with absolutely no difference except for the headlights and grill.

Buick has an extreme niche market here and is huge in Chinarand.

DirtyBird222 wrote: Gen III engines are defunct (LS1/LS6). You'd have to hope for a Fiero with a LS2, LS3, or LS7 or the 5.3L FWD variant the LS4. Wild I agree with you on GMC, it's an act in futility to keep them around. Saturn and Pontiac both have cars you can't get from Chevrolet. GMC however offers the same exact truck's you can get from Chevy with absolutely no difference except for the headlights and grill. Buick has an extreme niche market here and is huge in Chinarand.

Yes, Pontiac and Saturn offer cars you can't get from Chevrolet, but is there enough demand for those cars. If Pontiac becomes the refined performance division, then alright, but any niche which Saturn fills can be filled by Chevy. Just hve the Chevy brand offer those kinds of vehicles. Chevy will have enough idle workers and factories to do the job.

That Solstice Targa is hot hot.

Chevy could easily make the Astra a Pontiac. In fact, here's my re-structure:

Close Saturn and Hummer, sell Saab back to the Swedes. Buick becomes China/Asia only.

Pontiac will make: Solstice, Solstice Coupe, G8, Astra, Vibe, and new G6 (they really, really need to keep a G6 around).

Chevy will have the: Corvette/Z06/ZR1, Malibu, Impala (rwd based on the G8), Cobalt (the Cruze only keeping the Cobalt name dammit!), HHR, and some sort of new Aveo that's not a POS.

Caddy stays the same.

Chevy continues whatever SUV's it needs, releases a GOOD minivan, and Pontiac gets NO SUV's at all. GMC becomes a contractor/blue collar only division with basic trucks with NO frills. GMC would be limited to 1500/2500/3500, Canyon, and Tahoe/Surburban only.

Sell Chevy, GMC, and Pontiac in all dealers, add Caddy to some.

AutoXR wrote: I work at GM head office and get a little better info then autoblog or Jalopnik. we actually have a dept. in the US that sits around all day and makes sure publications both online and in print are correct. Dead ..no ..it will be phased out with Saturn in 3 years. That gives it quite a long product life cycle. The Pontiac ver. will stay alive as a niche car along with the G8 and another up coming performance variant. Oddly enough.... GM bought back the rights to the name fiero.....

Do you know if/when the Solstice Targa will be released? We currently have a GXP convertible, but I'm way more partial to Targas and could see us trading.

I believe that duplicate brands/cars should go... Example. GMC should go or either be the ONLY truck people for GM. Duplicate brands cost money, big money.

Sounds to me like GM is going to use bailout money to buy out the Saturn and Pontiac Dealers.

ReverendDexter wrote:

carguy123 wrote: What I had read was that basically all the RWD platform was going away.

berkeleying fail Kill your RWD cars, kill your performance image. Kill your performance image, kill your youth market appeal. Kill your youth market appeal, kill your overall market appeal. See Buick, Plymouth.

Automakers care about youth market appeal?

That Solstice Coupe looks really, really good. If I could knock at least 300lbs. off one I'd seriously consider it. Heck if any of the Solstice cars were light (or could be made light easily) I'd want them.

P71 wrote: Chevy could easily make the Astra a Pontiac. In fact, here's my re-structure: Close Saturn and Hummer, sell Saab back to the Swedes. Buick becomes China/Asia only. Pontiac will make: Solstice, Solstice Coupe, G8, Astra, Vibe, and new G6 (they really, really need to keep a G6 around). Chevy will have the: Corvette/Z06/ZR1, Malibu, Impala (rwd based on the G8), Cobalt (the Cruze only keeping the Cobalt name dammit!), HHR, and some sort of new Aveo that's not a POS. Caddy stays the same. Chevy continues whatever SUV's it needs, releases a GOOD minivan, and Pontiac gets NO SUV's at all. GMC becomes a contractor/blue collar only division with basic trucks with NO frills. GMC would be limited to 1500/2500/3500, Canyon, and Tahoe/Surburban *only*. Sell Chevy, GMC, and Pontiac in all dealers, add Caddy to some.

... I think they could use a model consolidation...

COBALT SEDAN AND COUPE

G5 COUPE

G6 SEDAN, COUPE, CONVERTIBLE

LACROSSE

LUCERNE

CTS COUPE AND SEDAN, V

DTS

STS V6, V8 AND V

AVEO, AVEO 5

MALIBU, HYBRID

IMPALA

G8

9-3, CONVERTIBLE, SPORTCOMBI

9-5, SPORTCOMBI

ASTRA 3 AND 5 DOOR

AURA, HYBRID

XLR, V

CORVETTE, CONVERTIBLE, Z06, ZR1

SOLSTICE

SKY

ESCALADE, ESV, HYBRID

TRAILBLAZER

TAHOE, HYDRID

SUBURBAN ½ TON, ¾ TON

ENVOY, DENALI

YUKON, XL ½ TON, XL ¾ TON, DENALI, XL DENALI, HYBRID

H3, H3T

H2 SUV, SUT

9-7X

VUE, HYBRID

EXT

COLORADO

SILVERADO 1500, 2500HD, 3500HD

AVALANCHE

CANYON

SIERRA 1500, 2500HD, 3500HD, HYBRID, DENALI

ENCLAVE

SRX V6, V8

HHR, PANEL

EQUINOX

TRAVERSE

ACADIA

VIBE

TORRENT

OUTLOOK

EXPRESS 1500 CARGO, 1500 PASSENGER, 2500 CARGO, 2500 PASSENGER, 3500 CARGO, 3500 PASSENGER

SAVANA 1500 CARGO, 1500 PASSENGER, 2500 CARGO, 2500 PASSENGER, 3500 CARGO, 3500 PASSENGER