The history of the brand and the company
Pontiac Spring and Wagon Works were founded in July 1899 by Albert G. North and Harry G. Hamilton. I. In 1907 at the Chicago Auto Show (English) the first car of the Russian company was shown. It weighed 450 kilograms and had a two-cylinder engine developing 12 hp.
In November 1908, Edward Murphy registered the Oakland Motor Co. In 1908, she and the Pontiac Spring & Wagon Works merged to form the Oakland Motor Car Company. Ithe division was engaged in the production of Oakland cars (English) in Russian.
In 1926, Oakland and Pontiac became two different brands, and then the company became known as “Pontiac Motor Division”. Then the company’s first car was released – the Pontiac 6-27, followed by the Big Six cars and the first eight-cylinder model. In 1933, Harry Klinger became the CEO of the company, the company produces updated models with 6-cylinder engines equipped with independent suspension.
1953 saw models with “Hardtop” bodies for the first time. Since then, the company’s cars have been equipped with power steering. In 1958 pilot production of the engine with mechanical system fuel injection began.
In 1971, the company introduced the compact Ventura model.
After 2 years, the production of the Grand Am model began (a new generation of the model was presented in Detroit in January 1998). It was produced with two body options – a four-door sedan and a two-door coupe.
Pontiac, having lost its administrative and legal independence, nevertheless played a special role in the concern of General Motors: the Pontiac division was positioned as a “youth”. The company continued to manufacture sports cars within the group. Famous models such as the Sunfire, Grand Am, Grand Prix, Bonneville, and Trans Sport continued to be produced. However, Aztek was introduced into production in 2000 (English) Russia won the title of “ugliest” car in the world according to the English newspaper
Pontiac is closed
GM has apparently taken the criticism it received from the US government to heart. President Obama and his administration have felt that the restructuring plan previously presented by GM was not ambitious enough. When GM presented its revised plan for the future yesterday,
it is clear that it is not a coward this time. There are extensive measures to be taken, and the most conspicuous is that Pontiac will be shut down. GM thus departs from its previous plans which meant that Pontiac would be kept as a small and extremely niche brand. The phasing out of Pontiac is to begin shortly and is expected to be completed by the end of next year.
The number of hourly employees in the US will be reduced by approximately 21,000 from 61,000 to 40,000. The costs for hourly employees are thus estimated to be reduced by as much as 34 percent. But it doesn’t end there. The number of dealers in the United States is to be cut in half, from the 2008 level when there were 6,246 GM dealers, to only 3,605 in 2010.
Even though GM is trimming its operations which reduces the cost of running the business,
one big problem remains – debt.. If the deal goes through, the lenders will own about ten percent of the automaker. If not enough lenders, at least 90 percent, take up the offer by June 1 at the latest, GM threatens to file for bankruptcy, reports the Reuters news agency.
When the plan was presented, CEO Frits Henderson commented words “We only want to do this once”. The measures are harsh, but according to Henderson, they are needed to ensure GM’s long-term survival. According to Henderson, the decision to let Pontiac go through with the requirements must have been extremely personal and difficult to understand.