GM closed 6,200 dealerships, cut 21,000 jobs and will phase out it’s Pontiac brand. This comes as a huge tragedy for enthusiasts of the Firebird, Trans Am, GTO, Grand Am and Grand Prix. Thanks to the recent auto crisis GM said Pontiac will cease to exist by 2010.

After 83 years of making fine muscle cars, Pontiac will be no more.

“If you’re a car lover then this has to come as a real shock,” said automotive historian John Montville.

“Pontiac had become a repository for anything GM could muster,” said independent auto industry analyst Erich Merkle. “It’s very sad. But my sadness is for the brand as it was, not for what it had become.”

The car company will give their controlling stake of stock to the government in exchange for taking their bad loans.

The Pontiac brand has been on a recent decline and was the first thing to go in the restructuring movement.

“Pontiac had become a repository for anything GM could muster,” said independent auto industry analyst Erich Merkle. “It’s very sad. But my sadness is for the brand as it was, not for what it had become.”

GM also plans to phase out other brands sold in the United States. It plans to cease production of Saturn vehicles, sell the Hummer SUV line and will let Swedish brand Saab go independent after its reorganization.

Although Pontiac’s latest G8 model was critically acclaimed it was too little to save the brand from the knife, a decision GM CEO Fritz Henderson said had not come easily.

“A tough decision… for many of us because this is a brand that has a considerable heritage,” he said on Monday. “It is an intensely personal decision in many ways, but one that needed to be taken in light of the circumstances.”