Chevrolet Alero - For those who never thought Oldsmobile sold cars in Europe.

[Kowalski]

Oldsmobile Imported the Alero rebadged as Chevy to the East Europe (Russia, Ukraine) and other Europe countries (Belgium, Netherlands, Norway, Switzerland).

Why they didn't bother to sell it in France, Italy, Germany, Sweden nor even in the UK market???

Why they didn't sold the Chevrolet Alero to these stronger markets, is a mystery we will never know, once Oldsmobile is dead.

Chevrolet Alero.





It's easy to see why the car was a Flop in Europe.

- GM didn't even bother to replace the Oldsmobile badge with the Chevy bowtie - They just stuck a "Chevrolet" name plate on the boot lid and there you go:

The Chevrolet Oldsmobile Alero...WTF???

Interior pics:





That Dashboard looks Dull - The Car looks nice though.

Do you speak Russian? So you will enjoy this Russian Comparison test:

Chevrolet Alero vs Chrysler Sebring - Check it out: http://www.autoreview.ru/new_site/ye...ca.htm#Scene_1

It's a pity that, the Alero didn't do well in Europe and Probably led Oldsmobile to its death - Or we all should blame Mr. Lutz Insanity, for Oldsmobile's death?

I read several negative owner reviews about the Alero, regarding serious Reliability issues: http://www.carsurvey.org/model_Oldsmobile_Alero.html

Is it True that the Alero was really a Very Unreliable Car?

[T-Type]

Originally Posted by Kowalski

It's a pity that, the Alero didn't do well in Europe and Probably led Oldsmobile to its death - Or we all should blame Mr. Lutz Insanity, for Oldsmobile's death?

Just to set the record straight. The decision to kill Oldsmobile happenened waaay before Lutz. This is one thing that can not be pinned on him.

[AdmiralViscen]

"It's a pity that, the Alero didn't do well in Europe and Probably led Oldsmobile to its death - Or we all should blame Mr. Lutz Insanity, for Oldsmobile's death?"

The failure of the Alero in Europe sure as hell didn't lead to Olds' death, and Lutz sure as hell had nothing to do with it. Not only was he not with the company when the decision was made, but he was only a design chief when he came in. Only the man at the top could sign off on closing a brand.

[tama z71]

load gun...

aim at foot...

fire

[griswold44]

GM is getting worse at this rebadging business since they didn't even remove the badge. Bad GM Bad.

[AdmiralViscen]

That was years ago.

Guess what? Toyota sells the Pontiac Vibe, WITH THE PONTIAC BADGE STILL ON IT, in Japan. That's right now in 2004 and 2005. Bad Toyota Bad.

[SonicAerio]

Originally Posted by AdmiralViscen

That was years ago.

Guess what? Toyota sells the Pontiac Vibe, WITH THE PONTIAC BADGE STILL ON IT, in Japan. That's right now in 2004 and 2005. Bad Toyota Bad.

I agree.....Toyota it seems has a different badge for each of their vehicles in japan(like crown, Bb, etc) So selling the Alero in Europe and keeping the olds badges, is what the little deer badge is to the impala, just a seperate "special" badge

[Hudson]

Chevrolet also sold the Trans Sport in Europe.

And the Toyota Voltz (exported version of the Pontiac Vibe) ended production in the 2004 model year.

[HEMI300C]

Voltz:

[powervette]

in the 90's it was a very nice,well equiped car.I saw a few in Poland and I was very positive about it.But people who come up with such stupid ideas to sell a car as Chevrolet with leaving Oldsmobile badges should know that IF YOU DO SOMETHING DO IT RIGHT! I hope those guys don't work at GM anymore...but wait i forgot CHEVROLET NIVA!

[Hudson]

Let's not forget the Chevrolet Astra, Chevrolet Vectra, Chevrolet Vitara/Grand Vitara, Chevrolet Carry, Pontiac Tempest (1990)...

[Kowalski]

Originally Posted by Hudson

Let's not forget the Chevrolet Astra, Chevrolet Vectra, Chevrolet Vitara/Grand Vitara, Chevrolet Carry, Pontiac Tempest (1990)...

So...what about them? At least GM put a Chevy bowtie and not just the Chevrolet name on them - even though, they are GM rebadges.

- Unlike what they did with the Alero, leaving the Olds badge and just adding a Chevrolet on the boot lid - that was one of the lamest rebadges ever.

Is like putting a BMW badge on a KIA and leaving "KIA" name on the boot lid.

Dear AdmiralViscen...

I Said that the Alero's failure in Europe market "PROBABLY" (Which doesn't meant, it was the Factual Cause) was one of the thing that killed Oldsmobile.

Maybe they were trying to save Oldsmobile at the last minute, to do with Oldsmobile what they were doing with Buick in China - But then the Alero failed in Europe.

This is just my Thought not an Affirmation.

I Don't know what really killed Oldsmobile - GM Stupidity perhaps...go figure.

If you know what really killed Oldsmobile, please tell me, because I always wanted to know what the real cause of Oldsmobile's death.

[Hudson]

Originally Posted by Kowalski

...Unlike what they did with the Alero, leaving the Olds badge and just adding a Chevrolet on the boot lid - that was one of the lamest rebadges ever.

Is like putting a BMW badge on a KIA and leaving "KIA" name on the boot lid....

It's really not that big of a deal. Chevrolet is a brand that was being exported to Europe and the Alero fit a need. Volumes were never expected to be large enough to allow for additional custom badging. Introducing another badge to an existing market just to sell a vehicle or two would have been the stupid move. As was said before, individual models have their own "logos" in many markets...so it could be taken as the Alero badge.

I don't see the big problem. If Kia had a logo that didn't include the actual name, rebadging the Kia as a BMW would make sense in markets were BMW had not already been introduced.

[GMMediumDutyMQ]

There were also the A-body variants in Mexico.....the Chevrolet Buick Century, and the Chevrolet Oldsmobile Cutlass Eurosport. The latter was simply an International series Ciera; both had NO Chevrolet emblems on them whatsoever. However, the Century Limited had some neat flush-mounted opera lights on the driver's door pillar - would be kinda neat on my A-wagon....

Global rebadging is one of the most unusual, disgusting, yet intriguing aspects to GM's history. I personally kinda like the big old Bedford by Isuzu trucks sold down in Africa - sometime before the Midi and the like were brought to the UK. I also remember seeing tons of S/T Opel Blazers and U-van Opel Sintras at TPC....in fact, I think the Tech Center still has a few Sintras running/sitting around.

[GMMediumDutyMQ]

Originally Posted by Kowalski

I Said that the Alero's failure in Europe market "PROBABLY" (Which doesn't meant, it was the Factual Cause) was one of the thing that killed Oldsmobile.

Maybe they were trying to save Oldsmobile at the last minute, to do with Oldsmobile what they were doing with Buick in China - But then the Alero failed in Europe.

I really don't think that was it. If they were trying to save Olds by doing so - especially if they were going the same route as Chinese Buick, as you suggest - they would have attempted to sell it as an Olds. Not a Chevy.

Additionally, the sales counts of these cars would have been recorded under GM Europe; the Chevy Europe division to be precise. NOT as an Oldsmobile. So, perhaps a better explanation of this curious piece of product planning was that GM wanted to keep N-body production going in Lansing. I have some reasons for this, but to keep from offending anyone here, I'll keep quiet.

Also, if you also look at international sales disasters, the market termination of the Japanese-spec Saturn S-Series cars didn't kill Saturn. It didn't help them either, but they didn't sink as a result. At that point in the game, I don't really think that Saturn was nessecarily better than Olds in terms of revenue, but I could be mistaken.

Making lemonade out of lemons, Saturn actually turned around and sold the RHD cars as USPS delivery vehicles. The ill-fated SWP. I've got some brochures on that.

(Always thought they could advertise that neatly. "What did we do when our cars wouldn't sell in Japan? We went postal." )

I personally wonder why Olds sank as well(I rather love the Intrigue and the 1st Gen Aurora), but I really don't think this Euro-folly had anything to do with their demise. Let's keep searching.