NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- General Motors is preparing to announce that the Pontiac car brand, once marketed as GM's "Excitement division," will be killed off, according to a source familiar with the decision.
An official announcement is expected Monday. GM spokesman Jim Hopson declined to comment on Pontiac's fate, saying the automaker has no announcements to make at this time.
In its most recent "viability plan" - which will be updated to reflect this new brand cut - Pontiac was not named as one of GM's four "core brands." Those are Chevrolet, Buick, GMC and Cadillac. But Pontiac was also not to be killed or sold off, as were Saturn, Saab and Hummer.
Instead Pontiac was to continue on as a "niche brand" focusing on just a few models.
Pontiac has long been known for muscular cars like the GTO, the Grand Prix and the Firebird. A friend had a 69 Firebird when we were in college and that was always a fun car to drive around in.
Just last week as we were driving home from Northern California we passed a truck that was towing a beautiful 1960 Pontiac Bonneville. The 60's were the glory days of the brand.
On a recent trip up north I had a Pontiac Grand Prix rental car. I felt like I was sitting on the ground, but that car got the best mileage of any car I've ever driven on that 1,000 mile round trip. They still made some pretty good cars.
However, GM has basically built the same car under multiple product lines and sooner or later the duplication was going to have to get them. Do you really need 6 or 7 brands when you could cover the market with 3 or 4?
Purists will hate to see the end of Pontiac, but such is the auto market these days.
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