What if Olds never died?

[kilcher]

Originally Posted by eurohazard

The Intrigue was starting to be such a good import fighter (Accord/Camry/Maxima).....so I'd like to think they'd keep it.......but they'd probably have renamed it.

I always thought they should have kept making the Intrigue and Alero and just rebadged them as Saturns. They seemed to sell really well.

[MCGARRETT]

Good call.....a totally forgettable vehicle it was! I mean I remember the Buick Rainer, Isuzu Ascender and the Saab 9-7. What was GM thinking?

Remember that the Oldsmobile Bravada actually lived through 3 generations!

It came out in 1989 or so on the old S10 style Blazer platform, was redesigned in 1995 and again for the GMT 360 in 2000.

Saab and Buick should have never had one, (GMT 360) when the Bravada was last re-done, Buick also got the Rendezvous, which was as far a Buick should have gone down that road(meaning no BOF SUV's, the Enclave is cool, it is a more upscale Rendezvous replacement, more or less)

I read that Saturn's were styled like Oldsmobiles are the time in case they were to be merged, which I do see if you compare '90s Olds' and Saturns

The plan was in the works but Oldsmobile dealers balked, good move in hindsight...

At the time that Saturn was pushing no haggle prices, 30 day returns, 24 customer assistance and etc, Oldsmobile started test marketing one price "value editions", 30 day returns and 24 customer assistance too(1-800-442-OLDS, I always remember the number because of the "442" in it)....you be the judge.

And yes, the first gen S-series Saturns look like small Cutlass Supreme sedans, because when they were finalizing the design for the S's they were going to sell Saturns through Oldsmobile dealers, Olds would no longer have to peddle Firenzas and Calaises(?) with Saturn as their entry level line, and Olds would sell everything from the Cutlass Supreme to the Toronado. It would have been less expensive to retrain current Olds dealers(via shock therapy and water boarding no doubt) revamp the Olds showrooms into Saturn-Oldsmobile retailers rather than Saturns "from scratch" stand alone dealerships.

Auroras were originally not totally within the Oldsmobile line either, the first Auroras only say Oldsmobile on the radio, and for a little while only Oldsmobile dealers that went to "special training" (ZZZZZZAP!) were allowed to sell Auroras in 1995.

I imagine that the ultimate goal(or final solution?, depending on your view) circa 1997-2000 would have been to have a Saturn-Oldsmobile-Aurora dealer network with SLs SC's and VUE's as Saturns, the Alero( no L series or Aura), Intrigue, Antares and Bravada as Oldsmobiles and the Aurora(and other never developed Aurora models?) as the flagship of the line up.

[AndrewGS]

Imagine an Oldsmobile that was made up of truly sporty luxury cars, leaving the traditional American luxury to Buick and making room for Cadillac as a higher priced, high-end, world class luxury division, all sharing Sigma and other high-end platforms?

Cutlass would be a compact Sigma coupe, sedan and wagon, sharing it's size and structure only with Regal and Catera.

Aurora would sit on a stretched version of Sigma along with Seville and Century, also coming in coupe, sedan and wagon form thanks to the Seville's global presence, lowering costs.

The Intrigue would be the big car, available in sedan and coupe form, sharing it's Zeta-Sigma-like platform with the Deville (and LWB Fleetwood) and Park Avenue (also with a LWB version, Roadmaster), but like all other models feature a uniquely tuned suspension and sporty, monotone styling, unlike the soft, conservative Buicks and flashy, solid Cadillacs.

What about SUVs or CUVs? Olds would share a smaller, AWD-only CUV with Saab while Buick gets a luxurious Lambda to share with Chevrolet and Cadillac got their big Escalade.

Meanwhile, over at Saturn, the purpose would be an affordable, youth and value-oriented brand with the SL series as compact sedans, SC series as compact coupes, SW series as compact wagons and SX series as compact crossovers. All Saturns would share their platform and 4-cyl. powertrain, be built in Spring Hill and be covered with high-tech composite body panels to resist dents and rust, and making body repair easy and inexpensive.

[tom3]

Originally Posted by baby-vortec2900

Interesting concept...

I am kind of glad that they did not keep Olds around as they would be a brand of nothing but rebadges more then likely. Hardly any personality at all. IMO its time the car makers realize that it is time to axe rebadges as the main composition of a brand and make more models unique to the brand. This makes for brand identity and does away with there being 5 different cars that are all built on the same platform. And the difference between a Chevy and a Olds should not be a different cheap platic logo on the front and a different name on the back of the car.

We've had five Olds and pretty well satisfied with them all, especially the dealer service, but I'd have to agree totally with the above. And to be honest, I didn't see anything in the last couple years of the company's products that had any appeal to me. Considering their position in the late 70s and through the 80s, a real shame.

[LAMRONH]

GM should have killed Saturn and incorporated their no-haggle price (closer to wholesale, though), 30-day return, etc. customer-friendly aspects into Oldsmobile.

Saturn is still weak, the Rockets would be stronger if properly managed. Which is always the sticking point at GM.

[2002 Caddy]

Originally Posted by LAMRONH

GM should have killed Saturn and incorporated their no-haggle price (closer to wholesale, though), 30-day return, etc. customer-friendly aspects into Oldsmobile.

Saturn is still weak, the Rockets would be stronger if properly managed. Which is always the sticking point at GM.

Yup. IMO Saturn was a mistake from day one.

Saturn was originally the GM brand for people embarrassed to buy GM... What the heck does that say about how well you are selling the rest of GM cars...

Lets create a "different kinda car company" Don't like the crap at GM? Try Saturn... This pure marketing genius must have come from the same guy who dreamt up "Not your fathers Oldsmobile"

This was followed by the "debranding" of Oldsmobile cars. The only place on the Intrigue that it said Oldsmobile was in tiny letters on the radio.

I still remember driving the Toronado also debranded car... It only said Oldsmobile on the wheel caps and in tiny embossed letters on the headlight door... More then once I was told "Wow, Is that the new Legend?"... One time in "back woods" Montana I was told "We don't like "Japaneese"(slur) cars in our town"

As was pointed out above Olds was probably killed because it wasn't a "re-badge" of other cars... The Intrigue had a unique engine, as did the Aurora.

[newdude]

might not be the best comparison but i have told many people that my 97 achieva is mechanically similar to a 97 grand am and nobody belived me. that is untill i pulled it up to a 97 grand am and they took a look at the roof line. I do agree that they were not just a rebadge though. I have always like olds, and i still wish they were around to this day instead of saturn.

[Sal Collaziano]

I often wonder where the Aurora would be today had it still been in production.....

[PAULSTS1]

Olds also was the testbed for Cadillac. When GM ventured into the front-wheel drive luxury Coupe it was premiered by the Toronado, followed by the 1967 Cadillac Eldorado (a absolute market hit). The Aurora was the first to test the NorthStar Overhead Cam (4.2) architecture, later to be rebored and sold as the Cadillac Northstar. 4.6

If Oldmobile had survived GM would never had to launch the ill conceived Baby Cadillac in europe, if old had first tested a SAAB rebadge, it would haveeither sold in the USA, or been called a "dud" and repackaged for Cadillac.

Now every car Cadillac releases it does so "Cold Turkey."

[eurohazard]

Originally Posted by PAULSTS1

Olds also was the testbed for Cadillac. When GM ventured into the front-wheel drive luxury Coupe it was premiered by the Toronado, followed by the 1967 Cadillac Eldorado (a absolute market hit). The Aurora was the first to test the NorthStar Overhead Cam (4.2) architecture, later to be rebored and sold as the Cadillac Northstar. 4.6

Sorry, but the Northstar debuted in a Cadillac (Allante 1993). And the Olds Aurora had a 4.0 not a 4.2.