What GM should have done with Oldsmobile

[HoosierRon]

If a consumer looks at an Outlook, and an Acadia, and an Enclave, and then buys something else, there is no way he would have bought a Bravada.

If a consumer looks at the new RWD Impala, and G8, and STS and Lucerne, and then buys something else, there is no way he would have bought a Ninety-Eight.

To anyone under 30, "Oldsmobile" means nothing.

[Bravada]

30 years ago, Saturn as a car brand meant nothing to anybody, and still GM threw billions of dollars at it to make it a more-or-less established name. They could've done the same with Oldsmobile.

And actually Saturn meant nuffink and nuffink to the large-SUV buying crowd, and suddenly you see them coming to get their Outlooks.

PS. And last but not least - under 30s rarely buy midsize family cars and large 7-seater crossovers...

[redfox]

My self i think they should have kept Oldsmobile and got rid of the Saturn name.

[cdp326]

Originally Posted by Bravada

I am glad to hear I am not the only one who's noticed that:

(Picture of W-body Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme Sedan)

(Picture of 1st generation Saturn SL2 sedan)

Members on SaturnFans have known that for a while.

Also, if you look at some of Buick's concept cars from the 1980s, you'll see some similar lines between them and the original Saturn coupes. There was a recent thread going over this on the SaturnFans.com forums, but the site is down right now.

I wish Oldsmobile had been kept around, particularly because they had some of the best products GM had in a long time. An Intrigue ranked 3rd behind a Honda Accord (2nd) and VW Passat (1st) in a 1998 (June, maybe) comparison in Car and Driver, and then in a 1999 (Septemer, IIRC) comparison an Alero ranked third behind an Accord (2nd) and Mitsubishi Galant (1st). Oldsmobile had potential. When GM got rid of Oldsmobile, they seemed to forget what they had just accomplished.