Which should've been dropped Olds or Saturn

[IAMCANADIAN]

I personally think GM should've dropped Saturn instead of Oldsmobile here's my reasons why:

1) Oldsmobiles were better built
2) They were more refined and had style
3) Better interior materials
4) Higher class

They could've done the exact same thing with Oldsmobile as they are doing with Saturn, offer rebadged Opels, Oldsmobile had a longer history plus a better reputation. What do you guys think, even though it's been a year, I'm still mourning the death of Oldsmobile

[mgescuro]

Oldsmobiles had the stigma of being for "old" people.
Their designs, though praised, were not bought by their target segment.
Saturn was going after an entirely different target market than Olds. Plus they had a better and far more well known customer service ranking than Olds could hope for. Saturn was the wave of the future. Olds was just old.
GM didn't need yet another "higher class" car. It was either Buick, Cadillac, or Olds.

I'm glad Olds is dead. It's best years were behind it. GM failed to regain it.

[IAMCANADIAN]

Well after owning a saturn thats the only GM car that I absolutely hate and I find it hard for me to say that. The last good saturn was the 95-02 S-Series otherwise all others to me are crappy. The alero was a sporty car to me but I agree that they don't need another luxury type brand

[yoblues]

Both of them.

[pupp1]

Neither.
I think Olds could have made it with the right designs and right pricing.
Just my 2 cents.

[jro4566]

The Oldmobile Aurora is still one of my favorite GM vehicles, so Saturn IMO would've been the better choice to drop.

[AdmiralViscen]

Buick deserved the axe more than Olds, I think. Look at their lineups at the time. GM should have gone for the Oldsmobile name change when they introduced all of their great models.

[RWD60]

yeah, Buick could have been dropped and olds taken it's part of the market with "quiet tuned" options on its models. the current Buick lineup is alot like the old olds lineup, only i have a feeling olds branded versions would have been more attractive and easier to sell. the lacrosse is a W-body with optional caddy based V-6 (intrigue), the Lucerne is a G-body with a northstar variant (aurora), and the rainier and terreza are the bravada and silhouette reborn. olds had the alero that could have been awesome on the epsilon chassis (an olds hardtop convertible with a HF V-6 anyone?), and if zeta ever actually shows up olds could have gotten a Cutlass/442 sedan and coupe.

[runningshoes]

problem with dropping buick or saturn was...






they were getting more sales.

[JoeT]

Oldsmobile and Saturn are just GM US based brand names. Nothing more.

Marketing wise, Saturn sounds much more sellable then Oldsmobile, so I'll say Olds was the best brand name to cut.

[nailhead425]

Dropping product lines is never a good idea. They should have refined their offerings a decade ago. Hindsight is always 20/20.

[JoeT]

Its not a bad thing when you have three or more brands trying to sell similar type of, or the the same, products. Its counter productive and is part of the reason GM NA is in the mess it is today. The rest of the GM world is running fine with just one brand in its other global markets. There is no reason why it US operation can't function excellently with only three.

Saturn or Pontiac = Small to Medium segment, much like Saturn does now. Personally, I prefer the Pontiac name.

Chevrolet = Medium Large, Large and Long Wheel Based cars, much like Holden. Corvette, GTO (Camaro), SUV's & Suburban included.

GMC or Buick = The work horse's, like pick ups, utes & trucks, much like now with the Chev trucks sold under this brand. Personally, I prefer the Buick name even though it isn't historically known as a work horse brand.

Cadillac is not included in this as it is a global brand with its own global products.

I know the traditionalist wont like this but its the way of the future if GM wants to survive and grown in the US market.

[nailhead425]

Originally Posted by JoeT

Its not a bad thing when you have three or more brands trying to sell similar type of, or the the same, products. Its counter productive and is part of the reason GM NA is in the mess it is today. The rest of the GM world is running fine with just one brand in its other global markets. There is no reason why it US operation can't function excellently with only three.

Because there are huge product overlap situations isn't a justification to drop an entire brand. As we saw with Oldsmobile, the majority of the Olds customers went elsewhere. The issue isn't the brands, it is the overlap. The products are too similar and too numerous. How many mini-vans does one company need? But the real question is why is Buick selling a mini-van? Much less an SUV?

By cutting the number of models per brand down to 2,3 or 4, each brand can target their respective customer without overlaping into the other brands. The most common argument was the blurred lines between Olds and Buick, but the Olds people didn't cross over. The North American market, specifically the U.S., is very different from the rest of the world. Dropping an entire car line, only alienates the customer. Pushing the customer into other car lines only further perpetuates the concept that GM isn't building cars people want, GM is building the cars the company wants.

Fewer models, with greater differences, within the same car lines.

[nsap]

I compare Olds and Saturn like a do Pontiac and Buick...

Pontiac could be fixed in a year if GM wanted to. Give it high-performance cars, with top quality and BMW-like interiors, and you have it...Pontiac is fixed. Now with Buick it would take a long time to restore the Buick image to appeal to potential buyers that are not 50+.

I think the same with Saturn and Olds. Saturn can and will be fixed in a year or two, while it would have taken years to repair Olds brand image. Not olny that, but Olds really was overlapping with Buick, and it still would if it was here today.

It can be argued forever about whether or not GM made a stupid move, but the facts are there to support their move, and they know it.

[FoMoCo Fan]

Olds was weakest. Saturn had the dealership experience going for it, and at least it didn't have "Old" in its name. They should have made the Aurora a Saturn though.