SANTA MONICA, Calif. — April 24, 2009 — Pontiac, General Motors' one-time "Excitement" division and creator of legends such as the GTO and Firebird, will receive its death sentence on Monday, according to Edmunds' Inside Line in its current cover story Pontiac is Dead.

"Just as the G8 reawakened our interest in 83-year-old Pontiac, the brand falls victim to bad times and old mistakes," reported Daniel Pund, Senior Editor of Inside Line.

The news is expected to come on Monday as part of GM's new "faster, deeper" reorganization plan.

"Pontiac owners can expect that General Motors will continue to honor both standard and extended warranties," relates Edmunds.com's Senior Features Editor Joanne Helperin, author of Orphaned Car Brands and Dead Dealerships found at http://www.edmunds.com/advice/warranties/articles/145006/article.html.

Pontiac's inventory is much higher than that of the rest of the GM brands, according to Edmunds.com's data.

"They still have a lot of inventory to get rid of before they can disband the brand," noted Edmunds.com Analyst Jessica Caldwell. "Even if they stopped production of all Pontiacs, they have well over 3 months supply in stock at this time — over 80,000 cars."

Edmunds.com predicts that most of those vehicles will be sold to fleets, but that bargains will abound for consumers who seek them. Used car shoppers will also be able to pick up great deals as Pontiac resale values will only continue to fall.

Edmunds.com predicts price trends for all vehicle models at http://www.edmunds.com/tmv/alerts.html.

Pontiac market share has fallen to 1.9 percent so far this year, the lowest year on record. Sales in March 2009 represent about 11.3 percent of General Motors' total.

Edmunds.com March 2009 data indicates that on average, Pontiac vehicles currently sell for 21.9 percent off sticker price compared with the industry average discount of 16.4 percent.

The Pontiac brand originated as the Oakland Car Company of Pontiac, Michigan, in 1907. In the 1950s, its Bonneville model was a breakout hit, offering equal measures of performance and luxury. The Pontiac brand truly came into its own in the 1960s when it introduced the first "muscle car," the GTO option for the Tempest. Pontiac also enjoyed tremendous success during the latter part of this decade with the launch of its Firebird and Firebird Trans Am.

A complete Pontiac history can be found at http://www.edmunds.com/pontiac/history.html.

Edmunds' CarSpace.com, home to the Internet's largest automotive community, features many discussions about Pontiac. In the GM News discussion at http://townhall-talk.edmunds.com/direct/view/.f16697b/5224, a visitor with the screen name "lilengineerboy" suggests, "If there is such a positive legacy attached to some of the makes, retain the names as trim levels. Chevy can have the Super Sport, and Cadillac or Buick can have a "Pontiac Edition" with more aggressive suspension tuning and red dials instead of 60s blue-green."

About Edmunds.com, Inc. (http://www.edmunds.com/help/about/index.html)
Edmunds.com, Inc. publishes four Web sites that empower, engage and educate automotive consumers and enthusiasts. Edmunds.com, the premier online resource for automotive consumer information, launched in 1995 as the first automotive information Web site. Its most popular feature, the Edmunds.com True Market Value^® , is relied upon by millions of people seeking current transaction prices for new and used vehicles. Edmunds.com was named "Best Car Research Site" by Forbes ASAP, has been selected by consumers as the "Most Useful Web Site" according to every J.D. Power and Associates New Autoshopper.com Study(SM), was ranked first in the Survey of Car-Shopping Web Sites by The Wall Street Journal and was rated "#1" in Keynote's study of third-party automotive Web sites. Inside Line launched in January 2005 and is the most-read automotive enthusiast Web site. CarSpace launched in February 2006 and is an automotive social networking Web site and home to the oldest and most established automotive community. AutoObserver.com launched in 2007 and provides insightful automotive industry commentary and analysis. Edmunds Inc. is headquartered in Santa Monica, California, and maintains a satellite office in suburban Detroit.