Who’s going to build excitement now?

So General Motors in their never-ending quest to run their company into the ground, has decided to kill off Pontiac.  Yeah, kill off the brand that’s supposed to be exciting and fun and youthful and performance-driven.  I can understand that Olds was boring, but Pontiac? 

Granted like all brands, there were some models that puzzled me.  Why does one brand have to be one thing for everybody?  The Trans Sprot mini-van.  There’s nothing sporty or performance about one.  The Torrent.  It’s the same thing as the Equinox, and while that’s a peppy vehicle, it’s a truck. 

GM is hanging their hat on the new Camaro.  So kill off Pontiac and any chances of bringing back the Firebird or Trans AM?

Pontiac finally dropped the plastic glue-on pieces and started designing clean models.  But what is a G4, G5, or G6.  Dont’ bullshit a bullshit artist.  It’s not a ‘69 GTO.  Can somebody please explain to me what the hell an Aztec is?  And they were able to correct one of the biggest mockeries of the auto industry, the Fiero.  That Solstice roadster is one cute little vehicle. 

And in this economy, why is going to buy a two-seat roadster?  Even though they’re not that expensive, it’s not something you pile the family into.  So basically it’s a luxury, and it’s no surprise that sales have plumeted.  And that’s no good news for the workers that build them at the GM plant in Wilmington, DE.  They’ve been put on notice that there is no model that plant after 2010. 

And while politicians are clammoring to keep the good-paying, blue-collar jobs here in Delaware, the writing has been on the walls for quite some time.  Forget that the domestic auto industry is shrinking, it’s been leaving the east coast in droves in order to tighten up their supply chain.  They want to be closer to their suppliers, and there is an extra cost in moving parts (and finished cars) over a greater distance.  GM in Wilmington is the only auto plant left on the East Coast.  GM closed in Linden, NJ where they built SUV’s.  Ford closed in Edision, NJ, where I used to see the Ranger pickups roll off the line as I drove past the place to and from work.  GM closed the Trenton, NJ Delphi parts plant over a decade ago.  GM in Baltimore?  Gone.  And most recently, Chrysler shuttered their Newark, DE plant. 

So why are the employees shocked at GM Wilmington that they’re on borrowed time?  I don’t want to see prople lose their jobs, and the assorted shit that follows, but if the writing is on the wall, and you can see the hammer coming down, wouldn’t you be doing something about it other than sit there and hope for a miracle?  I think the new symbol of the UAW is an ostrich with its head in the sand, becuase clearly that’s what they are.

Blog Psychic

How soon until they name the Wilmington, DE Amtrak station after Joe Biden?

Source: preservationnation.com / Credit: Bernardon Haber Holloway Architects

Update 3/16/2009: Saturday’s Wilmington News Journal reported $21 million of stimulus money is being spent on further Wilmington Amtrak station renovations and repairs.  (http://www.delawareonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2009903140350)  No word yet if there’s room in the budget for new signage. 

I joke because there is prescedent for naming train stations after living people…Frank Lautenberg’s name adorns NJ Transit’s Secaucus Junction station.  And they named the Ted Williams Tunnel after Teddy Ballgame, but the jury is still out if he was alive at the ceremony or not.