GM to kill Pontiac, Chrysler to declare bankruptcy

[self biased]

I doubt GM has hit rock bottom yet.

-Arrian

this just in: GM is apparently offering to suck **** for cocaine.

i guess they really have hit rock bottom.

[DanS]

Here's a more nuanced and believable article about the state of play in the Chrysler negotiations.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/04/24/AR2009042402214.html?hpid=topnews

[TCO]

Let it ****ing go under. Stop the bailouts.

[Lancer]

Ioccoca you A-hole. I knew this would happen!

[MOBIUS]

I just love how I called the US motor industry a bunch of dinosaurs that would die unless they moved with the times (i.e. became environmentally conscious), a few years back - and how some of you scoffed...

Well, well, well...

[Ben Kenobi]

Which is why GM is selling off Hummer.

[DanS]

The WSJ is reporting that Pontiac models were going for 22% off sticker price last month. And they still have a 3-month supply.

The WSJ is also reporting that the gov't is pressuring GM to drop GMC as well.

[Zylka]

It was bad enough when GM purchased SAAB. Then they started mixing elements of their trademark interiors with Cadillac. Now they're going to kill it off??

[One_more_turn]

Buick consistently ranks high among most reliable cars.

[Asher]

[Asher]

http://business.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20090427.wgmpontiac0427/BNStory/Business/home

GM scraps 21,000 jobs, Pontiac

DETROIT — General Motors says it will cut 21,000 U.S. factory jobs by next year and phase out its storied Pontiac brand as part of a major restructuring effort needed to get more government aid.

The struggling auto maker also says it will offer 225 shares of common stock for every $1,000 (U.S.) in notes held by bondholders as part of debt-for-equity swap.

The announcements came in a filing Monday with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

GM is living on $15.4-billion in government loans and faces a June 1 deadline to restructure and get more government money. If the restructuring doesn't satisfy the government, the company could go into bankruptcy protection.
An unsold Pontiac vehicle at a U.S. car lot
The Globe and Mail

The demise of Trans Am sports car brand comes 83 years after the first Pontiac car was introduced. Within three years, half a million Pontiacs were sold, and the brand quickly grew in popularity, from early models like the Chief and the Master Six Coupe, to the Bonneville convertible, to the GTO — one of America's first muscle cars and so popular it inspired Ronny and the Daytonas to immortalize it in song.

But efforts in the last few years to market Pontiac as performance-oriented brand failed. The company had said it wanted to keep Pontiac as a niche brand with one or two models, but is buckling under tremendous government pressure to consolidate its eight brands, several of which lose money.

The company also has decided to close more factories than the five it announced in February, the two people said, asking not to be identified because the plan has not yet been made public. But the locations of the doomed factories will not be identified Monday.

Chief executive Fritz Henderson has said the company will go further and faster in making its cost cuts to reduce the number of cars and trucks it needs to sell to break even. One of the people briefed on the plan said GM will accelerate many cuts previously planned for 2014 to instead take place between now and 2010, although specifics were not available.

The people said GM won't have much new information on Hummer, Saturn or other brands, including Europe's Opel. GM has indicated it wants to focus on four core brands, Chevrolet, Cadillac, GMC and Buick.

Also to be announced Monday will be a target number for dealer reduction, as well as details of GM's bond exchange offer. Exact numbers were not available Sunday night.

The news conference will include Mr. Henderson, chief financial officer Ray Young, North America president Troy Clarke and Mark LaNeve, vice president of North American sales and marketing.

GM is living on $15.4-billion in government loans and faces a government-imposed June 1 deadline to restructure or go into bankruptcy protection.

The government's restructuring demands include swapping at least two thirds of GM's unsecured bond debt for equity in the company. Such a move would help GM straighten out its debt-laden balance sheet.

Chrysler LLC, which is living on $4-billion in government loans and is expected to get $500-million more, faces a Thursday deadline to restructure and ink an alliance deal with Italian automaker Fiat SpA. The government also wants Chrysler to exchange much of its $6.9-billion in debt for equity in the company, but with the deadline fast approaching, Chrysler and its secured debtholders remain far apart.

Both GM and Chrysler also must win concessions from the United Auto Workers union.

The UAW said late Sunday it reached agreement on concessions with Chrysler, Fiat and the U.S. government. Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne was in the U.S. as talks continued for the automaker to take a 20 per cent stake in Chrysler in exchange for its small-car technology.

[-Jrabbit]

Richard Petty drove Ponnyacs. I grew up in the heyday of the GTO and Firebird. My dad drove Pontiacs from 1964 onward. My wife drives a Bonneville now -- big, safe, powerful and surprisingly nimble.

Losing Pontiac makes me sad.

Especially when the worthless Buick division stumbles forward.

[DanS]

They should have killed GMC too. Hopefully, the administration will tell them to kill it.

Also, their market share expectations seem unrealistic. They expect to only lose about 1 percentage point in market share and then hold steady at 18%. This despite the fact that GM has been losing market share almost every year for the last 30 years.

[mrmitchell]

I doubt GM has hit rock bottom yet.

-Arrian

The last day at General Motors:

JANITOR: Gee, it really is empty in here after the last round of layoffs. You know **** gets serious when they're axing the execs but, damn.

janitor mops floor for about a half hour when he gets a good idea

janitor runs to former CEO Rick Wagoner's office, sits down in chair, kicks back and puts feet on desk

JANITOR: So this is what it feels like to be powerful...

janitor pretends to push intercom on desk

JANITOR: Stacy, we need to fire fifty thousand people. Close all the plants in Canada.

REPO MAN: Buddy you're going to need to get out of that chair.

JANITOR: Damn! At least I can dream.

janitor vacuums office while repo crew takes out remaining furniture. before he can finish, the repo man unplugs the vacuum and picks it up, walking out with it.

janitor's phone buzzes.

JANITOR: What's this? A text message?

JANITOR: "From: President Wiglaf"

JANITOR: "Make sure nobody else is left then fire yourself. There should be pinkslips still in the reception supply room."

janitor walks to reception supply room. opens door to reveal a group of homeless men squatting around a barrel fire.

JANITOR: You guys have any pink slips left?

HOMELESS: We burned them all. Pass me the Jaeger, Fritz.

janitor closes door and heads out to the lobby.

JANITOR: I guess this is how we go out. With a whimper.

janitor walks out of the revolving doors into the cold winter winds, and locks up. and so janitor leaves behind a scarred legacy of environmental catastrophe, hundreds of thousands of job losses, subterfuges against clean alternatives, and over fifty billion owed in debts.



janitor makes it to the street corner and then is shot several times, because this is DETROIT. a crackhead jumps out to grab his wallet, finds he only had $6 on him, and starts gnawing on his flesh.

[-Jrabbit]

That's unrealistic, mm. Everyone knows that RoboCop would step in and save the day.