Earlier this week General Motors produced its last Pontiac for the U.S. market, ending the brand’s 82 year run. The final vehicle to roll off the assembly line at 12:45 p.m. on Wednesday, November 25th at the Orion Township plant was a rather unspectacular white G6 sedan which is scheduled to be sold to a fleet. It’s hardly the sort of send-off one might expect for a brand that has produced such memorable legends as the GTO and Firebird.

There was no pomp and circumstance as the last 100 vehicles rolled off the line and no GM executive was on hand.

The Pontiac brand was highlighted for elimination on April 27, as a part of General Motors’ viability plan. GM agreed to kill-off Pontiac and try and find buyers for Saab, Saturn and Hummer in exchange for a bailout by the U.S. and Canadian governments. To date, both the Saab and Saturn deals have fallen through, leading to the scheduled elimination of Saturn with the same fate likely for Saab. The sale of Hummer to Chinese heavy machinery company Sichuan Tengzhon is still pending.

Watching the Pontiac brand come to an end isn’t an unfamiliar event for may of the plant workers, as many of them were building Oldsmobiles when GM decided to retire than brand in 2000. For workers there is a glimmer of hope as GM has announced that in 18 months it will begin producing a new small car at the same facility.

In the mean time, the plant will stay open as it wraps up final production of the Pontiac G3 Wave, which is sold in Canada.

Since the brand’s inception in 1926 it is estimated to have sold as many as 41 million cars.

[Source: TheDetroitNews]

In a surprising move, a potential buyer for Saab has been found from the company’s home country. Nope… note Swedish automaker Volvo, but Swedish supercar maker Koenigsegg.

The news comes from the newspaper Dagens Industri and is so surprising because of Koenigsegg’s mass-market obscurity.

Koenigsegg has, however, made a success out of its supercar business, selling machines like the CCX and 1,000 horsepower CCXR (pictured above), for over one million dollars.

It is expected that were Koenigsegg to be a contender in the bidding process it would likely need one or more partners, and with the supercar maker’s client list including some of the world’s wealthiest people, partners might not be all that hard to find.

Saab has yet to officially announce a list of buyers and did not comment on the Dagens Industri report.

[Source: Channel4]

[Photos Credit: CarStudio.it]

A day after filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, General Motors has announced it has found a buyer for its Hummer brand of SUVs. GM has not, however, named the party.

Earlier reports indicated that of the short-list of three potential buyers none of the companies were automakers. One is apparently a U.S. company and the two others are from overseas. The list apparently included wealthy individuals and private equity firms.

General Motors has also not revealed the deals of the sale, including just how much it got for the Hummer brand. The deal does give some hope to Hummer as the new company has plans to aggressively fund the development of future vehicles. The success of that plan would of course depend on if buyers return to their massive SUV buying ways once the recession subsides.

In 2008, 27,485 Hummers were sold in the U.S., down 51 percent from the year previous.

The good news in the interim is that the sale will save almost 3,000 jobs in manufacturing, engineering and at Hummer dealerships. GM will also continue to assemble the H3 and H3 SUT for the new company through 2010.

The deal is expected to be finalized by the third quarter of this year.

In the next several weeks GM is also expected to announce buyers (or at least lists of potential buyers) for Saab and Saturn.

[Source: Automotive News]

According to the reliable folks over at GMInsideNews, on Monday the Obama Administration will announce a bankruptcy deadline for both General Motors and Chrysler. 

It has been rumored that the government will release more details about its aid for the U.S. auto industry on Monday, but now it appears the announcement will include this strong-arm measure by the feds. The “brankruptcy deadline” will be a specific date by which both companies will have to have their finances in order. For General Motors this means a date by which it will have its ongoing issues with the United Auto Workers and bondholders resolved. If the companies cannot comply with the request of the Auto Task Force it will force both U.S. auto giants into a “pre-packaged” Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing.

[Source: GMInsideNews]

General Motors has announced that it is putting a hold on a plan to bring a new 4.5-liter V8 diesel engine to market. The new engine would have been used in the light-duty Silverado and Sierra pickup trucks and estimates have it rated at anywhere from the mid-20s to the high-20s in miles per gallon. This would even be a significant improvement over GM’s current Silverado and Sierra hybrids, which get 21 mpg city and 22 highway.

The move is just one of many tough choices GM has had to make to cut costs ahead of a U.S. government decision to see if the struggling automaker will get an additional $16.6 billion in bailout funds.

What makes this pill even harder to swallow is that the new engine is just a year away from being ready for production – which would take place at GM’s Tonawanda, N.Y. plant.

As for the engine itself, it has a unique cylinder head design that eliminates intake and exhaust manifolds. The lightweight block also has “advanced castings” for the crankshaft-bearing journals and oil system.

GM secured several new patents in the design of the 4.5-liter diesel engine and it apparently is both as smooth and as quiet as a gasoline engine. With most of the ground-work already complete, General Motors has stated that it would be willing to work with another company on bringing the new diesel V8 to market if there were any reasonable offers.

[Source: AutoNews]

General Motors has just announced that it’s European operations, including brands Opel and Vauxhall will split-off from GM.

The deal would see anywhere from 25 to 50 percent of of GM Europe sold off to private investors, however, GM would continue to hold a majority stake in the company. (Call us crazy, but who would want to invest in a company that was still controlled by the same people who drove it into the ground)?

The news comes a day after thousands of Opel workers in the city of Ruesselsheim protested and asked that Opel split off from GM after 80 years of ownership by the U.S. company.

GM Europe is asking for $4.18 billion from European governments in loans to facilitate its restructuring efforts that would see the company profitable by 2011.

The German government, however, isn’t jumping at the chance. Economy Minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg asked that GM first take very other measure possible before the German government would even consider a bailout. Zu Guttenberg even hinted that were the German government to get involved it would most likely like a say in where the money goes and what the restructuring plan would look like. GM Europe, after all, has plants in Germany, Belgium and the U.K.

[Source: AutoNews]

General Motors has just released its fourth quarter “earnings” and they are anything but. GM posted a net loss of $9.6 billion, with an operating loss of $5.9 billion.

The loss is the sixth consecutive quarterly loss by the struggling automaker, and is considerably worse than the $1.5 billion the company lost in Q4 last year.

GM has a cash reserve of $14 billion, including the $4 billion it has already received from the U.S. Treasury, however, at the current rate of loss all those fund will be depleted by Q4 of 2009. It goes without saying then that the additional $16.6 billion GM has requested is much needed to keep the company afloat.

GM posted loss in all four of its sales regions with the largest loss in North America, which accounts for $2.1 billion of the $5.9 billion deficit. GM Europe posted a $956 million loss (four times as bad as the Q4 loss in ’07), while GM Asia Pacific declined by $879 million and the remaining Latin America, Africa and Middle East regions lost $154 million – down from an actual revenue the year before.

CEO Rick Wagoner had this to say: “2008 was an extremely difficult year for the U.S. and global auto markets. We expected these challenging conditions will continue through 2009, and so we are accelerating our restructuring actions.”

Wagoner will meet with Obama’s task force,  headed by U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and White House economic adviser Larry Summers, later today.

Over the past year General Motors has seen its stock value decrease by 89 percent.

[Source: AutoNews]

After Saab’s request for “reorganization” was approved by a Swedish court today, the carmaker has announced that it will look to restructure itself as an independent entity.

This move is the first step in a process that would allow Saab to restructure itself and renegotiate terms with creditors. This, after Saab said it estimates a loss of $340 million last year and expects a similar loss for 2009.

“We explored and will continue to explore all available options for funding and/or selling Saab,” said Managing Director Jan-Ake Jonsson. “It was determined a formal reorganization would be the best way to create a truly independent entity that is ready for investment.”

The move comes after General Motors announced in its viability plan submitted to the U.S. Treasury that it would not cover further losses at Saab, but that it would assist financially in the reorganization process. A request to the Swedish government, asking it to take over Saab was also rejected.

General Motors has put forth a “substantial” amount of money to help Saab and has asked the Swedish government for loan guarantees of $600 million to keep Saab afloat. GM has also agreed to help with development and tooling costs of the new 9-5,94x and 9-3x which are scheduled for launch in the next 18 months.

Saab has also applied for 500 million euros from the European Investment Bank and is looking for private investors.

The independent Saab would be centralized in Sweden with design, engineering and manufacturing all taking place in that country.

Saab, which currently employs 4,000 people in Sweden, was sold, in part, to General Motors in 1990, with GM taking full control in 2000. Since the purchase the Swedish automaker has only turned a profit once.

[Source: AutoNews]

Official Saab Release After the jump:

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As a part of GM’s restructuring plan the company has made the drastic decision to “temporarily” close its High Performance Vehicle Operations department.

“All high-performance projects are on indefinite hold,” said spokesman Vince Muniga to Auto News  “The engineers are moving into different areas of the organization, and they will work on Cadillacs, Buicks, Chevrolets and Pontiacs.”

GM’s High Performance Vehicle Operations Department is responsible for many of the amazing vehicles that have come out of the company in recent years, including the Chevy Cobalt SS and the V-Series Cadillacs.

Generally the department deals with developing all SS models, including the upcoming Camaro SS. With the exception of that vehicle Muniga said that General Motors has no plans to release high performance versions of any new cars.

I guess we can kiss goodbye any hopes of a V-Series CTS Coupe then…

The decision was made as a part of GM’s viability plan, which strictly states that the company’s focus will be on fuel efficient cars and crossovers. GM has also said it would offer 14 hybrid models by 2012 and 26 hybrid models by 2014.

Muniga did say that the High Performance Vehicle Operations department could be reinstated once GM reaches profitability, however, we’re certain some of the better talent responsible for vehicles as impressive as the new Cadillac CTS-V will be searching for work elsewhere rather than engineering econoboxes. It’s also likely some other manufacturers might be head-hunting those qualified individuals.

[Source: AutoNews]

After General Motors made it clear in its viability report submitted to the U.S. Treasury that the future of Saturn was uncertain at best, it appears as though Saturn’s network of dealers has its own plan.

Dan Januska, owner of Saturn of Scottsdale, told the Wall Street Journal that the dealers have been in talks to work with a foreign automaker from either China or India. The deal would see Saturn dealers keep their dealerships and retain the Saturn brand, and sell vehicles badged as Saturns, but made by another manufacturer, possibly Chery, Tata, Geely or Build Your Dreams (BYD).

“There are not a whole lot of alternatives,” said Januska to the Journal, “Someone is going to see the value of us and I don’t know who it will be.”

GM’s CEO Rick Wagoner commented on the possibility of the sale of the Saturn name (something General Motors would certainly like to see happen), stating that, “It’s a good distribution network. If someone comes up with an offer, we’re very open to that.”

As we already reported, General Motors stated in its viability plan that it will continue to produce and deliver vehicles to Saturn dealers until 2012, after which GM has no plans for the brand.

[Source: LeftLaneNews via the Wall Street Journal]