Wired: GM killed the wrong brand

June 28, 2009 / GM kills the American ute, then its muscle car brand entirely.

This has been burning me for a while. The El Camino was discontinued in 1987. In 2010, Pontiac were planning to reintroduce it with this:

[dead in the water Pontiac G8 ST]
2010 Holden Ute Pontiac G8 Sport Truck (Photo: General Motors)

But even before they killed Pontiac, GM nixed the return of the American ute. Some things are just too pure for this world. Chuck Squatriglia for Wired confirms the people’s choice:

General Motors is unloading three brands and tossing one overboard in a scramble to stay afloat, but the one it scuttled may be the one it should have kept.… It turns out Pontiac, which got the axe, is the brand people wanted to see saved.

Almost 10,000 responses to the article’s poll say the same:

Which brand should have been killed? n = 9,993
Pontiac Saturn Hummer Saab
6% 27% 55% 10%

Ding, ding, ding: we have a winner.

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2 responses

  1. Ryan

    cent 1: They should have killed Hummer before the first one rolled off the assembly line.

    cent 2: GM should be retooled as a wind turbine company.

    June 29th, 2009 at 10:08 am #

  2. Adrian Cooke

    Interesting idea. Something tells me they would make big, wind-guzzling propellers with lots of lights and too many cup holders.

    June 29th, 2009 at 10:21 am #

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