GM gets another $2B in taxpayer loans, expected to scrap Pontiac

General Motors got another $2 billion emergency loan, the U.S. Treasury department said Friday, and is expected to announce soon it will kill its slow-selling Pontiac brand as it scrambles to slice underperforming units.

Treasuary said it made the loan Wednesday, bringing taxpayers' investment in GM to $15.4 billion.

GM has until June 1 to complete restructuring plans that satisfy the government's auto task force.

GM has been saying that it would shrink to "core brands" — Chevrolet, Cadillac, Buick, GMC — and would make Pontiac a niche brand, possibly selling a single model. It hadn't suggested it would discontinue the brand.

The first quarter, Pontiac sold just 40,887 cars and trucks, according to industry tracker Autodata. Only GM's Saturn, Hummer and Saab brands did worse, and they've been up for sale for months.

Trade publication Automotive News reported Friday that GM will announce the death of Pontiac when it gives the Obama administration's auto task force its updated viability report in the coming week. Automotive News said the information was from anonymous soucres who know details of GM's planning.

GM and Pontiac wouldn't comment.

The automaker's CEO, Fritz Henderson, said last week that GM would need $4.6 billion during the second quarter — another $2.6 billion after the recent loan.

The automaker's financial arm, GMAC Financial Services, has received $5 billion in government aid, plus GM received a $1 billion loan to buy more equity in GMAC.

GM said in a statement that it appreciates the Obama administration's support "as we undertake the difficult but necessary actions to reinvent our company."

Meanwhile, with a government-imposed deadline for restructuring less than a week away, Chrysler and Treasury Department officials are still holding out hope they can reach deals to keep the automaker out of bankruptcy courts.

Chrysler is living on $4 billion in government loans and could get another $500 million in temporary financing. Chrysler must take on Fiat Group as a partner, cut debt and reduce labor costs by Thursday if it wants another $6 billion.

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I suppose so. Really, who can predict what might happen? I think the best we can do is try to shoot for the best outcome. I would hope GM manages to survive and bring successful electrics and plug-in hybrids to market. In my mind that would be fair payback for them having contributed greatly to the demise of public transportation after WWII, but at any rate, it seems to me that anyone arguing against GM bailouts has to be doing so based more on personal political ideology or a shade of self-centeredness rather than an honest look at the big picture. I suppose in the long run, if GM were allowed to fail, people would recover and someone would fill the niche, but I think the point o trying to save them is that we want to avoid the massive disruption such a thing would undoubtedly bring in the short run.