FIRST OFF!
GM Now Says It Has No Plans to Kill Buick or Pontiac
Date Posted 03-28-2005

DETROIT — Jittery auto dealers were reassured Friday by General Motors' top sales executive that there were no plans to phase out any brands, following last week's comments by Vice Chairman Bob Lutz that struggling divisions could be killed if sales continue to fall.

According to The Detroit News, Mark LaNeve, GM's sales and marketing chief for North America, told dealers in an e-mail message that "we are not discussing or planning the elimination of any of our brands."

The e-mail was a swift rebuttal to Lutz's comments Wednesday that "damaged brands" such as Buick and Pontiac could be dropped from the GM lineup if they failed to achieve sales targets.

LaNeve said GM will slim down a brand's offerings if necessary to focus marketing efforts on promising products.

"If there has to be four or five [models] as opposed to nine or 10, I'll make that trade-off," he said.

What this means to you: GM hustles to do damage control after its vice chairman's comments about phasing out Buick or Pontiac rattle dealers. But there is a precedent that was called Oldsmobile...