Why Pontiac, and not GMC???

Pilgrim · April 27, 2009, 04:55:16 PM

I cannot for the life of me figure out why GM hasn't decided to drop the GMC name. There isn't a single vehicle that GMC makes that can't go out the door with a Chevrolet logo on it. Heck, back around 1980 when I was selling Chevy and GMC, we'd occasionally have a Chevy pickup come in with a GMC insignia on the side of the cab - it was an easy swap-out.

It just seems to me that GMC is a totally redundant brand. Even the heavy trucks and equipment they make could become Chevrolet with a snap of the fingers.

Can someone explain why GM wants to keep GMC around?

?

OTOH, I understand that GM ran Pontiac into the ground starting in the 80's when all they could do with it was to stick more and more plastic on the sides of every car. And I hear that Buick is actually profitable overseas, whereas evidently Pontiac is not (BIG surprise).

I guess I expected this ever since Pontiac brought out the new GTO - and it looked like a Chevy Cavalier, only a bit bigger! You could easily confuse them in parking lots. It amazes me that no one at GM realized that a GTO needed to LOOK like a GTO, not like an econo-teardrop. I've never been so under-whelmed with a car. They totally blew the styling - and that blew the car.

Maybe we need GM to be run by bureaucrats - they couldn't do much worse.

Dave W · April 27, 2009, 05:32:01 PM

GMC is their second best seller.

Interesting viewpoint here from the Freep's auto writer.

Pilgrim · April 27, 2009, 07:11:23 PM

Interesting column. I agree that GM did Pontiac in, through corporate neglect and hideously bad decision-making.

A sad place for the company that built my 1966 GTO. But those days are gone.

I still don't understand why GMC has such brand recognition. They are just Chevies with a different name badge. People who buy them must buy Monster Cables!!!!!!

Lightyear · April 27, 2009, 07:23:58 PM

Among truck drivers in my neck of the woods, which is honestly pushing 50%, GMC is preferred to Chevy as the
"superior" truck - as in interior trim, tow capacity, durability and the like.

Just saying....

eb2 · April 27, 2009, 09:52:52 PM

As a former POCI member, and past owner of 5 Ponchos, I can honestly say that I have thought of the marque as dead for at least a decade and a half. Maybe more. Some hardcore guys think it croaked when the TA's shaker changed from "TA 6.6" to just "6.6" and those boat anchor piece of sh!t Oldsmobubble 403's got dumped in them. I could take those to some extent, but the 80s birds with the Chevy 305 in them was about the last straw. There was always a difference beyond the sheet metal up till then, with some performance and superior structure involved, but the last few years there was only trim differences.

The GMC marque has very little difference from the Chevy, but for a smaller market (contractors typically) that has been much more loyal. GMC always gave their buyers what they wanted. Pontiac basically disowned its buyers 20 years or more ago. If you owned something as low on the totem pole as a GT-37 in its day, what would possibly have appealed to you over the last decade? The Holden Goat maybe. A Vibe? Nah. That they would put more effort into Saturn is the shame.

Pilgrim · April 28, 2009, 08:46:15 AM

Quote from: lightyear on April 27, 2009, 07:23:58 PM
Among truck drivers in my neck of the woods, which is honestly pushing 50%, GMC is preferred to Chevy as the
"superior" truck - as in interior trim, tow capacity, durability and the like.

Just saying....

I KNOW! Isn't perception interesting? And it's not true....ask anyone who knows pickups (like a salesman or service rep who knows what's going on.)

The only difference between the GMC and the Chevy is options and trim. Anything GMC puts in a truck, Chevy can - they just need to turn around and pick the part out of the parts bin on the other side of the line.

godofthunder · April 28, 2009, 03:12:33 PM

I had a GMC once ................................BIGGEST PIECE OF CRAP I ever owned. Oh I tried to buy USA, every vehicle I ever owned was American, till I bought my Odessey. I'm stickin'n with my Honda.

Pilgrim · April 28, 2009, 04:02:52 PM

I've owned Audi, chevy, Fiat, Datsun, BMW and Jeep in the past 10 years.

The most dependable vehicle we own is a 1999 Chevy Blazer with 140K miles on it.

OTOH, my daughter's 1999 Jeep Cherokee - one of the most bulletproof vehicles ever made - just lost oiling on the back end of the cam and fried the cam and two lifters. We put a used motor in it and kept cruisin'.

Anyone can have a good one or a bad one. Hondas, Nissans and such are great cars - but they're not the only ones.

Dave W · April 28, 2009, 05:45:08 PM

Worst car for me was a 74 Saab, bought new. If there were ever a car that needed a long ride off a short pier, that would be it.

SKATE RAT · April 28, 2009, 09:28:04 PM

my first car was a '79 Peugot 504 that was a piece of crap.

eb2 · April 29, 2009, 08:16:51 AM

QuoteThe only difference between the GMC and the Chevy is options and trim.

You can say roughly the same thing about every Pontiac that is US made. The Vibe is the same as the Toyota that it really is. So, there is the rub - GMC fans want a good truck. They get one, even though it is a Chevy. Pontiac fans typically wanted performance, and style, but not anything too pricey or exotic. That car hasn't been made by Pontiac for years. 30 years ago the head of BMW explained their goal in a simple sentence: "We want to be the Pontiac of Europe." Too bad he ran BMW instead of Pontiac.

Pilgrim · April 29, 2009, 09:20:27 AM

EB2, you summed it up nicely. Pontiac was an innovative division when DeLorean was its head - and has gone downhill ever since. There hasn't been a new idea there since 1964.

drbassman · April 29, 2009, 09:56:54 AM

Too bad the government had to get involved. I think the market should determine the winners and losers in industry.

eb2 · April 29, 2009, 10:08:34 AM

I will even cut them some slack, and push it into the 70s. They lost their sh!t when they lost their own V8 in 1979. I think when Herb Adams was still in the division they had that sense of excitement still.

The government getting involved in any private buisiness or capital/banking endeavor, let alone controlling or redistributing it, is beyond my world view. I am with George Santayana.

gweimer · April 29, 2009, 10:47:45 AM

The more I learn about GM, the more I'm in agreement that the government should stay out and let the market fall where it will. When Chrysler got bailed out in the '70s, it was based on some very specific terms and repayment. While I've had over 50 cars in the past 40 years, a lot of them were GM, and my dad was a staunch GM guy. I love my Saturns, but I'll easily switch to Ford (loved my Ranger when I had it) if it gets down to it. As it stands, I was already planning on simply replacing the motor in my Vue if/when the time ever came.