On the death of Pontiac

Members of the news media get a look under the hood of a 2004 Pontiac GTO at the Los Angeles Auto Show, Jan. 3, 2003 in Los Angeles. The original Pontiac GTO began as an option for the company's 1964 Lemans model, and evolved into one of Detroit's most desired muscle cars. (Robert Galbraith/Reuters)

It comes down to this, as General Motors and Chrysler struggle for survival.

GM had too many vehicles of various brand names, often overlapping each other, to refine in a streamlined world.

Somehow, the company was slow off the line to distance itself from the days when, decades ago, "they had pretty much the whole market sewn up,’’ said auto industry analyst, Erich Merkle.

Back then, GM could be sure that its loyal customers would start with a Chevrolet, move up to Pontiacs, Oldsmobiles, Buicks and the ultimate dream, a bad-ass and luxurious Cadillac. But maintaining that range in a faster, more competitive world proved too distracting.

And the distractions kept the company from focusing where it should have — on a leaner, cleaner lineup.

And so, even while announcing Monday that it is killing yet another 21,000 factory jobs, closing several more factories, and slicing its dealer network by 40 percent, it also offered what could be an object lesson in what went wrong with much of the American car industry.

GM is killing Pontiac, home of once-iconic models that roared to the dreams of America’s open roads.

Chrysler, on the other hand, had plenty of trucks and big cars, but lacked the factory lines and basic auto architecture to build small cars. And so they have turned to Italy’s Fiat, a builder of far finer small cars than we remember when they were on these shores in the 1970s.

Fiat, a global company compared to what Merkle called Chrysler’s "North America-centric’’ focus, had lost its North American presence.

In a merger, a symbiotic swap would occur on two fronts: geography and architecture.

Chrysler could use Fiat’s small car architecture to manufacture the mites in demand today, and build them in North America. And Fiat could build its own small cars here, with shared architecture, but different design.

Chrysler and Fiat are filling gaps, GM is creating some in a bid for sharper focus.

And thus, the demise of a once legendary brand which, Merkle said, "has become a stable of rebadged GM product’’ with nothing different or exciting to offer.

Make no mistake, Pontiac once had big names for itself: Bonneville, Tempest, Firebird.

But the big mama was the GTO.

America’s first muscle car, it pulled Ford and Chrysler into the muscle car field.

And it was a field with international appeal, if not huge overseas sales. But back in the day, an Australian cruising in a GTO, an Italian in a throbbing Mustang, a Japanese driver at the wheel of a thundering Camaro, really stood out.

http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/wheels/090427/the-death-pontiac