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GM North America To Shrink To Four Brands

General Motors has officially announced their plans to keep operations afloat in North America. After much speculation about the future direction of the company and its brands GM’s North American president, Troy Clarke, has said in an interview with Au


General Motors has officially announced their plans to keep operations afloat in North America. After much speculation about the future direction of the company and its brands GM’s North American president, Troy Clarke, has said in an interview with Automotive News that General Motors will be keeping its promise to congress to drastically cut costs.

Clarke confirmed that product and marketing resources will now be focused on the core brands of Buick, Chevrolet, Cadillac and GMC. The futures of Saab, HUMMER, Pontiac and Saturn are less clear however. Already General Motors is seeking buyers for Saab and HUMMER and as part of the original bail-out application has stated that Saturn could be sold or closed down. Pontiac looks set to continue as a niche brand for the near future.

In a separate interview with Automotive News GM Vice Chairman Bob Lutz revealed that Pontiac would be pared down to just four models: the Vibe (a model shared with Toyota in the US), G5, G8 and Solstice. Reducing the size of the Pontiac line-up helps GM keep another promise made in their initial application to congress. Despite attempts to raise the image of Saturn and integrate it’s model range with that of Opel and Vauxhall, sales have not increased dramatically and if a buyer cannot be found for the brand it is likely to cease operations.

So far General Motors has not revealed any future plans for other overseas divisions including Opel, Vauxhall, Daewoo or Holden.

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