It's Official: GM to phase out Pontiac in 2010

General Motors Corp. said Monday it will phase out the Pontiac brand name by the end of 2010 as the automaker unveiled another restructuring plan that includes cutting more manufacturing jobs.

GM said its 82-year-old Pontiac division is being eliminated as it concentrates on its Chevrolet, Cadillac, Buick and GMC brands.

The company also said it will complete its plans for the Saab, Saturn and Hummer brands by the end of 2009.

GM said it will reduce its number of assembly, powertrain and stamping plants in the U.S. from 47 in 2008 to 34 by the end of 2010, and to 31 by 2012. The locations of the plants that will close was not revealed.

GM will also cut more of its U.S. hourly workers. The company said its U.S. blue collar workforce will decline from roughly 61,000 in 2008 to 40,000 in 2010, and level off at about 38,000 starting in 2011. Details on any Canadian job reductions were not immediately available.

The latest job cuts are between 7,000 to 8,000 more than what the company spelled out in a February viability plan that was turned down by the U.S. government.

The company said it is also speeding up consolidation of its U.S. dealer network.

GM said it expects to reduce its U.S. dealer network from 6,246 in 2008 to 3,605 by the end of 2010. That is 500 more dealers, and four years sooner, than the company laid out in the February restructuring plan.

Source;

http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2009/04/27/gm-pontiac-gone.html