GM to keep GMC, Pontiac, exec says

A senior General Motors executive today denied reports that President Barack Obama's automotive task force has pressured the automaker to dump GMC and Pontiac.

Company sales chief Mark LaNeve also denied rumors that GM plans to terminate the franchise agreements of poorly performing dealers before June 1 to accelerate its dealership consolidation campaign.

"The strategy we laid out for you [in February] is still the strategy," LaNeve, GM's vice president of vehicle sales, service and marketing, said today in an interview with Automotive News.

"Are we working it, tweaking it, examining every aspect of it? Yes, but nothing has changed with our strategy," he said. Reports that "GMC is going away are just unfounded, unsubstantiated and untrue," LaNeve said.

In a Feb. 17 report to the U.S. Treasury Department, GM said it planned to go to market with four core brands: Chevrolet, Cadillac, Buick and GMC. Pontiac would remain as a much smaller brand. GM is trying to sell Hummer, Saab and Saturn.

And that is still the plan, LaNeve said. "They're not pressuring us to give up on anything," he said. "Buick and GMC are very profitable brands, and we have plans to make them even more profitable."

Targeting metro markets

LaNeve confirmed that GM will target metro markets to consolidate dealerships, but the company does not have a June 1 timetable to do so.

As part of its consolidation effort, GM will consider such criteria as the operator's effectiveness, location and working capital when it targets those stores for closure.

Meanwhile, GM's new CEO Fritz Henderson has scheduled a conference call with journalists tomorrow at 10:15 a.m. to update the company's restructuring plans.

"We anticipate that this will be the first of a series of updates designed to provide perspective on GM's situation, decisions and actions," according to a statement released by GM.

Philip Nussel contributed to this report.

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