Other than the one commercial for the Grand Prix or something where they have Samuel L. Jackson calling its red brake calipers a "pair of shiny red shoes," I'd say that by and large Pontiac's marketing is hardly ethnocentric.

Anyway, GM sucks with badge engineering crap like this. If someone would smack them upside the head and have them put out actual good product and stop flooding dealers with way too much inventory that can only be sold with heavy incentives, then maybe they might turn a profit.

It's not like American workers can't build decent cars, seeing as plenty of overseas-based companies are able to get people on our soil to screw together their vehicles just fine. Hell, they even have Americans design vehicles for them which look nice too. Why are the American companies not hiring these people?

Everyone talks about Bob Lutz and how he's going to be GM's savior because he's a car guy. Aside from the turnaround at Cadillac, and a couple of mildly interesting Pontiacs like the Solstice and GTO, what has GM achieved under his reign? A half step up in build quality so that its interiors don't look quite as chintzy when compared to import companies?

Hell, I won't even blame it on the unions because the Germans have unions which are probably even harder bargainers than the ones over here, and yet they manage to turn out a reasonably appealing product.

Something is up with the American car companies and even though there are plenty of people outside of the business who can point out these really simple flaws, they keep screwing it up.

Not to mention that the American companies' impression of the tastes of their own home market are overly pessimistic. In England, Ford is praised for its across-the-board nailing of vehicle dynamics! Opel/Vauxhall turns out some pretty nice cars too! If only the American companies would take some of the knowhow of their passenger car divisions in other parts of the world and apply it to their passenger car lineup here, instead of churning out the latest and greatest Avis special, they might even be competitive!