So, Pontiac will soon join Oldsmobile, its once sister GM division, in the dustbin of automotive history. For those wondering what that opening line means, General Motors earlier this week announced that it was eliminating the fabled brand from its line-up, part of still another effort by the company at downsizing enough to become viable.
 

Soon the Pontiac cars will become collector's items, a staple at the classic car shows, eventually even its more current models will reach antique vintage... in short, it'll begin to enter the realm of nostalgia. Better the end of this brand, though, than General Motors, itself. But who would have dreamed 10 years ago or even five of t he scenario that's unfolded for our Detroit automakers during the past years starting first with $4-a-gallon gas, then the collapse of the Wall S tree financiers and the ensuing near freeze of credit, and finally the unsympathetic Congressional Republicans from the South and the equally hard-eyed Democrats on the West Coast and in Washington, D.C., a confluence of events that's sent the Domestic 3 reeling.

I'm not a car aficionado. My blood doesn't run with 10W30. My admittedly layman's view is that General Motors-- in fact all of the car companies-- have had too many brands. Unless you are an enthusiast, it's too hard to keep track, to be knowledgeable about them when you're only an occasional buyer.

When you go to the party store, Budweiser has filled the shelves with a multitude of choices, attempting (I assume) to cover every base of the beer-drinking publics multitude of tastes and to keep competitors, no matter how exotic or tiny their niche, from getting too much of a foothold in the market. The automobile marketeers, it seems, have been operating under a similar strategy.

When I was a youngster, Chevrolet had three models-- an economy brand, an intermediate-priced one, and a more luxurious alternative. If you prospered, you could move up the ladder-- either with an Oldsmobile or Buick. No one I knew, back then, ever reached the top rung with a Cadillac. But then, even if they had the finances, it wouldn't have been good business to actually own one. Envy was as prevalent then as now. Our friends and neighbors usually wish us well, just not too well.

I've always thought that dichotomy made sense. It didn't take a lot of expertise to figure out where your rung was (i.e. what you could afford), it gave one an easy view of where to aspire to, and it kept customers more loyal to the brand.

General Motors is now, essentially back at that marketing spot. There's the truck division, but otherwise its' Chevrolet, then Buick, and then Cadillac. A ladder that goes from economy to luxury. As simple as 1-2-3.