GM’s strategic review may reach beyond HUMMER

Earlier today the Wall Street Journal reported that General Motors is getting ready to slash thousands of white-collar jobs, and may be considering shedding a brand or two beyond HUMMER. Citing those close to top GM Executives, WSJ reported that discussion about the total number of brands has intensified in the last few weeks. Those same sources claimed that “nothing is off the table,” apart from Cadillac and Chevrolet, which GM considers its core brands.

Bloomberg later published GM’s rebuttal of the WSJ article of ‘no comment’ on the job cuts, and added that HUMMER is the only GM brand currently up for ‘strategic review.’ The truth, more than likely, is somewhere in between.

If GM was run by a bunch of buffoons, I may believe there hasn’t been a single discussion among top executives about reducing the overall product lineup. After all, GM’s closest competitor for the crown of world’s largest automaker is Toyota who has only three brands, compared to GM’s eight. But GM is run by some pretty smart people, so we’ll assume the complete denial of any restructuring conversations was just the PR department caught off guard.