Pontiac, Saturn the Next Endangered Car Makes
Why Our Car Culture Makes us Cling to Familiar Brands
Feb 23, 2009
General Motors Corp., which, according to the Wall Street Journal, is seeking $16.6 billion in new U.S. government financial assistance, on top of $13.4 billion it received in December 2008, unveiled a reorganization plan Feb. 17 that calls for eliminating or scaling back some of the car brands it sells, including one with a long history.
Pontiac Demoted to 'Niche' Brand
Pontiac, a nameplate dating back to 1932, is to become a “niche” brand within GM and will no longer be its own division, according to the company. American car enthusiasts remember the heyday of the Pontiac brand perhaps from the 1960s, when its GTO sports car was popular during the “muscle car” era when gasoline was cheap and horsepower ample for the car’s young buyers. In the 1970s, Pontiac’s TransAm was a hit as well.
GM, which has suffered with other U.S. automakers from foreign competition and the decline in popularity of its SUVs, also said its Hummer SUV brand is for sale and may be discontinued altogether if it doesn’t find a buyer.
GM’s Saturn division will disappear after the 2011 model year, GM added. Saturn, launched in 1990 as an alternative to Japanese imports from Toyota, Honda, and others, was initially popular with sensible car buyers who wanted economy and reliability but also wanted to buy American.
But while car owners may be emotionally attached to models they remember fondly, they’ve had their hearts broken before. General Motors killed off its Oldsmobile division in 2004, after a 107-year run. Chrysler Corp., which this month requested $5 billion in federal bailout money on top of $4 billion it received last year, discontinued its economy-price Plymouth division in 2001.
Emotional attachment
It’s hard for some car lovers to let go.
“I love Pontiac and always have. I don't know what I would do if they went away, or didn't offer a vehicle to meet my needs. That would be a very sad day for me,” wrote Joe Morgan, a Pontiac owner, at the online G8Forum.com, named for one of Pontiac’s current models, the G8.
Affection for classic cars has been reinforced in popular culture as well. A haunted 1958 Plymouth Fury starred in the 1983 Stephen King book and film “Christine,” while Burt Reynolds tore up the asphalt in a TransAm in the 1977 chase movie “Smokey and the Bandit.” Car-based pop songs range from “In My Merry Oldsmobile” in 1905 to Ronny & The Daytonas’ “GTO” in 1964.
Cars Big Part of Americana
Automobiles are a particularly important part of the American culture because they represent the idea of freedom, wrote Crescent Moegling in a December 2006 study, “The Automobile’s Contribution to Identity in America: Nostalgia, Nationalism and Status.”
“The car becomes the extension of an individual and provides a certain commonality of nationalism, pride and community,” Moegling wrote. “The everyday culture of cars, driving and driving habits all lend to one’s sense of national belonging, grounding one to an everyday culture, especially if the car you drive is made in America.”
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