It is dead to me too as I remember it. Pontiac will never be the way it was during the 60's and early 70's when my Pontiac Custom-S was built. The realities of the world today make Pontiac irrelevant and redundant to GM's other brands. As the only North American brand, it is weak compared to the other American brands that have connections to other brands in other parts of the world. As FOG said in another post, I would rather Pontiac be taken out now, head held high, instead of waiting a few years when the brand goes out with a whimper.
Pontiac should be retired and Saturn needs to have it's name changed to Opel and it's vehicle lineup needs to be exactly the same lineup as it is in Europe. That Opel brand needs to be moved into the Buick GMC sales channel as Pontiac is moved out and retired.
GMNA has to many brands, in a market, that on a good day is only 20% of that market. GM has 3 major car sales channels in North America, Cadillac, Chevrolet and BPG, by retiring Pontiac and moving Opel in, you strengthen the old BPG sales channel by changing it to BOG and offering a European arm into that sales channel, the sales channel survives stronger that it was before and offering a more varied MID/LUX product portfolio with a European flair. Let Chevrolet offer the entry level GMDAT cars and volume leading vehicles, while Cadillac offers American luxury to the world.