Friday, May 8, 2009

General Motors Discontinuing Several Models



The Pontiac GX GXP





What do you think of General Motor's efforts to return to profitibility? Are they doing enough or too little? How much longer should the company be bailed out using public funds?

The latest news is that the company will discontinue the Pontiac G6 GXP, Chevy Impala SS and Cobalt SS. Also on the chopping block is the Cadillac STS-V. The Pontiac G6 announcement is not that surprising, given the entire brand will be phased out by 2010.

What more can GM do at this point? The CEO is gone, brands are being phased out or sold, but the fact remains that GM doesn't sell "must have" products. They have a boring lineup of gas gazzling non-descript cars and trucks. Instead of focusing on hybrids and electrics, they have pushed e85, which is simply not catching on here in the States.

Also, it is taking the company three years to bring a plug-in hybrid vehicle to market when they had the EV1 on the road 10 years ago. Would it have been so difficult to revive that car with lead acid batteries and a small genset? They have all the components needed to start up production once again. Toyota and Honda both have great hybrids at great prices and there is GM, dumbfounded on the sidelines.

Maybe the best possible scenario would be a GM bankruptcy and a start from scratch. Even then, they still have to sell the same old, same old in the showrooms, which is a script for failure. How can they possibly right the ship and get back in the game? Any ideas?

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