With the first viability plan rejected by the Obama Auto Task Force Administration, and demanding a new one by July 1rst, General Motor's new CEO, Fritz Henderson gave out a press conference to update on the new viability plan, that will be fully presented on the deadline.
The press conference started with bad news for Pontiac. It appears yesterday's New York Times reports were true. GM is "phasing out" Pontiac by 2010. In other wor
ds, GM has officially killed the 83-year old Pontiac, to drop down costs, and convincing the U.S Treasury Department for loans. It's was just nice to see the legendary Pontiac brand ended by a 420 hp 6.2L G8 GXP muscle sedan, and not some re-badged Korean mash-up. Henderson also announced that GM's viability plan will be mainly focused on: Chevrolet, Cadillac, Buick and GMC. Even those, will suffer from cutting down models, and only be marketed within their class. So what about Hummer, Saturn, and Saab? Well, "the resolution" of either selling them or demolishing will be decided end of 2009.
Part of the conference, is factory plants and dealers. Continuing with the major cost-cutting effort, Henderson confirmed that GM will cut 21,000 U.S. factory jobs by next year. The new viability plan also cuts down GM U.S. dealer count from 6,246 in 2008 to 3,605 by the end of 2010. Henderson said that this “will allow for a more competitive dealer network and higher sales effectiveness in all markets.” Not only that, in 2010 GM will offer only 34 nameplates, which is a 29% reduction compared to 2008 when it had 48 nameplates.GM's second viability plan will be more detailed in May, just before the deadline. As for now, we say 'fare-well' to Pontiac, and its workers, and wave 'good-bye' to the 21,000 factory workers.
To watch the full GM CEO Fritz Henderson press conference, this video below is provided by GM.
Source : [General Motors]
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