TOP 100 RACING SITES
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| Pontiac: R.I.P. General Motors is expected to announce Monday that it plans to kill its Pontiac brand, rather than maintain it as a niche brand with one or two models into the future as had been previously announced by company officials.The move comes as GM is being forced to make a lot of hard decisions to restructure itself. The automaker has until May 31 to demonstrate to the White House that it has a viable comeback plan that will justify further tax-payer loans.Most Pontiac showrooms have been combined with GM’s GMC and Buick brands. But there are about 40 stand-alone Pontiac stores.The company killed the Oldsmobile brand in 2000. It currently is in process of closing off its Saab brand, waiting to see if investors want to buy it and keep it going. It is also trying to sell its Hummer and Saturn brands. In Europe, it is in negotiations to possibly sell its Opel and Vauxhall brands.Pontiac has been almost a lost brand at GM. It once was positioned as the company’s performance brand. “We Build Excitement” was a long-standing ad slogan. It's twin-kidney grille design was taken from BMW's. The high-water mark for Pontiac’s brand clarity, most agree, was the 1964 Pontiac GTO, which many point to as the start of the muscle car era.In the 1970s and 80s Pontiac offered the Firebird as a legitimate street rod. But GM got lazy, and began dumping “badge engineered” cars into the showrooms. That meant, for example, Pontiac Grand Ams, Grand Prixes and Sunfires were nothing more than Pontiac-badged versions of the cars that could also be bought at Chevy, Buick and Olds dealerships. rss.businessweek.com |
IndyCar Series taking fast track to Brazil in 2010 The IndyCar Series is taking its season-opening race to one of its best training grounds next season Brazil. rssfeeds.usatoday.com |
Briscoe edges Dixon by a nose, wins IRL race at Chicagoland Points leader Ryan Briscoe went wheel-to-wheel with fellow championship contender Scott Dixon on the last lap and came out on ... rssfeeds.usatoday.com |
Season of thrills and spills MotoGP is over for another year and the 50th season threw up the normal thrills and spills, with a few unexpected twists, writes twowheels editor Jeremy Bowdler. foxsports.com.au |
Renault to stay in F1 Renault have confirmed they are to remain in Formula One after selling off a large part of the team to Luxembourg company Genii Capital. foxsports.com.au |