I've read a large amount of speculation about General Motors over the past few weeks but nothing floors me like the rumor that Pontiac will be scrubbed. I discovered this ugly rumor while posting updates on my auto racing site and to be honest I think opinion is knee jerk.

Sure GM needs to reduce the badge count but is Pontiac really on its death bed? As one commentator pointed out Pontiac has just released several new rear wheel drive (RWD) models based around the GM Zeta platform. I for one applaud the return to affordable RWD vehicles and can easily see Pontiac as the poor man's performance arm of GM. On the other hand I can't see the value of Oldsmobile or GMC. Olds in particular lives up to its name as I know of no one under 60 who drives one these days. GMC, on the other hand, is a venerable brand but shares a lot of crossover with the GM line. In fact I can't name one unique vehicle off hand and doubt many Americans could either.

Regardless of what happens to Pontiac and the like, GM has a real image problem. Though Peter De Lorenzo declares the image war over GM has failed to back down its campaign to win the hearts and minds of Americans. Recently they launched a quasi-wiki site (GM Facts and Fiction) that addresses nasty rumors and outright untruth's about the business. Still it's going to be hard sell to folks especially the market segment that was born after GM began it's slow decline.

So what do you think? Is Pontiac legitimately on the chopping block and if not who is?