General Motors' famous brand Pontiac brand may be announced to be eliminated early next week, reported on Friday by Automotive News, citing a source familiar with the company's plans. However, GM indicated that the closure rumor is just media's speculation.
According to the report, this announcement about Pontiac's destiny will be made as part of an updated viability plan to the U.S. auto task force.
In the restructuring plan submitted on Feb. 17, GM had planned to keep Pontiac along with mainstream brands Buick, GMC, Chevrolet and Cadillac while Saturn, Hummer and Saab are up for sale.
But at the end of March, the Obama administration made it clear that GM has to expand and accelerate its restructuring efforts in the following two months, which means it must come up with a more aggressive viability plan for transforming itself into a more viable automaker in order to get 16.6 billion dollars in loans to avoid bankruptcy.
The U.S. Treasury Department granted 2 billion U.S. dollars on Friday to keep GM operating. GM has been staying afloat with 13.4 billion dollars in loans granted in December by the administration of George W. Bush.
GM defined the report of Pontiac's potential closure as "media speculation". In a statement released on the same day, the troubled automaker giant said "contrary to media speculation, General Motors has not announced any changes to its long-term viability plan or to the future status of any of its brands."
Established in 1926 and as a division of GM, Pontiac manufactures vehicle types including the sports car, sedan, crossover and sports wagon. Although the brand was ever considered as the pillar of American auto industry, Pontiac sold only 267,348vehicles in the U.S. last year, less than a third of its 1978 peak of 896,980. This year's volume dropped 43.5 percent through March.
(Xinhua News Agency April 25, 2009)
