Car Throttle

The cutting of Pontiac and Saturn has a lot of implications for various models and plants that produced those models. Nowhere is that more apparent then in Wilmington, Delaware. The plant produces two models; the Pontiac Solstice and Saturn Sky.

Both are being cut and GM doesn’t seem to have any plans for the plant in the future. If all goes to plan, this plant along with the jobs (and sales) that go with it will dissappear. GM CEO Fritz Henderson revealed on Monday something that – for once - is common sense! He said the company would be “very open” to a proposal on the plant and the tooling to produce the two roadsters.

The Solstice and Sky have proved in their short lifetime to be successful models for GM. Everyone talks of the revered MX-5 Miata, right? Well, the Solstice came along and in 2007 outsold that car by 1,900 units.

In 2008, the Solstice and Sky sold 19,901 units compared with the MX-5 10,977 units. Pretty impressive I would say! I think it’s a testament to the power of the Pontiac brand name. I’ll say it again; Pontiac was GM’s third best-selling brand last year.

This is a marketable proposition for General Motors that I think they should be actively pursuing. Buyers clearly like the car! I’m sure whoever is interested would get a much better deal then going and spending the millions to produce a similar vehicle themselves. A sale could work both to an established brand or a group of investors looking to sell the vehicle as a niche manufacturer.

This is a smart move to be open to this. If it’s going to be cut, why not try to make something off of it? Not to mention hopefully saving all those jobs.