With the Chevy Camaro making it’s rebirth by 2010, and the addition of a possible Cerberus partial ownership – maybe Chevy fans will be able to throw a Dodge HEMI engine inside the beloved Camaro sports car. With GM creating all the vehicles for Transformers films, could we expect to see Jeep Liberty Decepticons?

One concern is the struggling pickup and SUV market – what will become of the Chevy Silverado or Dodge Durango? Will the Chrysler Caravan and Chevrolet Uplander become one? The Uplavan?As with any corporate merger, job slashing and production cuts are to be expected. Recently, General Motors terminated 2500 truck shop employees at one of their Michigan plants. If these two giants become one, we could see the beginning of an ugly employment situation.

This is, of course, just for fun. Bob Lutz stated on 7/15 that brands (except for HUMMER) were all safe, as were plans for new vehicles for each.

Here’s some not news: June 2008 was a tough month for auto manufacturers. Here’s GM’s figures, compared to their daily sales numbers from June of ’07 (from Autoblog).

Buick: -34.4%
Cadillac: -3.1%
Chevrolet: -3.5%
GMC: -14.6%
Hummer: -54.2%
Pontiac: -5.1%
Saab: -51.7%
Saturn: -1.9%

That’s a lot of brands for a company, and doesn’t include non-U.S. brands like Opel, Vauxhall, Holden and Daewoo. Toyota has 5 brands (Toyota, Scion, Lexus, Hino, Daihatsu) and Honda a tiny 2 (Honda and Acura). Creating great vehicles is not GM’s problem, they have competitive models in every range. A portion (arguably a large portion) of the company’s struggles are industry-wide, like a changing marketplace due to fuel costs. But could GM just have too many brands? Could a part of the problem be creating vehicles for Chevrolet, Saturn and Pontiac that compete with each other? And trucks and SUVs from Chevrolet, Buick, Hummer and GMC all fighting for the diminishing heavy vehicle market?

We all know trucks took a big hit, and the GMC sales figures reflect that. With the popularity of the Chevrolet Silverado, why not move the more popular GMC vehicles into the Chevy brand (like the Yukon Hybrid and Sierra) and eliminate GMC?

Buick, Cadillac and Saab target many of the same people, with the Cadillac brand being strongest at this point. Saab could be sold for cash, but what about Buick? Could Buick’s offerings become Cadillac’s? The Cadillac Enclave has a nice ring to it.

It’s no secret Hummer’s for sale with GM hiring CitiBank to investigate the possibilities. Let’s assume it’ll sell.

Then there’s Saturn. Saturn seems to be largely providing the U.S. with Opel vehicles. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, but GM admits there’s a problem with the volume of sales with Saturn.

We go to Pontiac for a Chevrolet with extra power and a bit more aggressive styling. It does beg the question why there isn’t just an option to add that power, and little more flair, to your favorite Chevrolet. Does GM need the Pontiac brand? Is the question heresy?

There’s savings in consolidating brands, from advertising to overhead. Not all customers of one brand will be lost, they can be recaptured as Chevrolet or Cadillac buyers (ok, I kept Cadillac, it is GM’s other strong international brand).

What do you think of the thought-experiment? Way off base? Sad but true?

The Chevrolet Malibu continues to impress users like running water wells in the center of the Sahara.

The 2008 redesign had stunning reviews right from the start. Focusing on competitive prices, a beefier engine, safety, and performance, it has been labeled as the “car America has been waiting for.”

It’s a great sign when a new design receives multiple positive reviews. It is especially rewarding when statistics support the Malibu Chevrolet impacting foreign makes. Most of the feedback that boasts the Malibu all seems to be contagiously optimistic because of how much improvement the Malibu has undergone. It is also arguable that the Chevy Malibu is more fuel-efficient than the Camry and Accord.

The Car Blog reports Florida sales up 91%, NY sales up a booming 135%, and California sales exceeding 180%. More importantly, the success is due to the all around car design of a safe, powerful, efficient and low cost vehicle.

In-class comparables such as Toyota and Honda now have to shift their rival attention. According to Moto Authority, the Malibu is now the “fifth best-selling mid-size sedan” in the United States.

Just to put that into perspective, Auto Blog reported Chevrolet sent 3,000 cars to dealers in the first month. With so much demand, GM underestimated their sales by 2,500 cars in just the first month.

Pretty amazing for a car that was label “Beached by the sea of competition” in 2006.