Your Ideal Oldsmobile Lineup

[bowtie8_3]

Oldsmobiles have been part of my family for years now, I just love them. In the case of my Bravada, I think it was the best looking GMT360 body out there. Next I want to get an Aurora with the V8, just super looking car I think. I think Gm screwed up cuting Olds, but they could never shake that grandpap's car image. So they cut the division and use alot of the Bravada's body work for the Buick and Saab, that wasnt right.

[AmericanRevolution]

Originally Posted by bowtie8_3

Oldsmobiles have been part of my family for years now, I just love them. In the case of my Bravada, I think it was the best looking GMT360 body out there. Next I want to get an Aurora with the V8, just super looking car I think. I think Gm screwed up cuting Olds, but they could never shake that grandpap's car image. So they cut the division and use alot of the Bravada's body work for the Buick and Saab, that wasnt right.

I personally like the GMC better... never took to the grille work on the Brav... as for the Aurora, I love the looks of that car, too! And I wish they had kept Olds... But what do you expect from GM with it's issues...

[AmericanRevolution]

Bump. I know there's alotta Oldsmophiles out there. Where are you?

[IAMCANADIAN]

Here's my update:

My Ideal Oldsmobile Lineup
Calais-Delta platform
2.4L ECOTEC L4 180 HP SL
2.0L ECOTEC DI S/C L4 240 HP SLX
6-Speed Manual, 6-Speed Automatic

Alero-Epsilon
3.5L 224 HP V6 SL
3.9L 250 HP V6 SLX
3.6L 270 HP V6 GTX
6-Speed Automatic

442-Muscle Car, Zeta Platform
5.3L 320 HP V8 5300
6.0L 395 HP V8 6000
7.0L 470 HP V8 Cutlass
6-Speed DSG

Toronado-Front Drive Personal Luxury Coupe on Epsilon Platform
3.6L 275 HP V6 SL/SLX
5.3L 320 HP V8 GT/GTX
6-Speed Manual, 6-Speed Automatic

Cutlass Supreme-Rear Drive Zeta Sport Sedan
3.6L 275 HP V6 SL
6.0L 365 HP V8 SLX
6-Speed Automatic

[bhoppes]

I can tell everyone right now that if Olds was still a brand I would be buying a new one right now hands down.

[bhoppes]

Originally Posted by mgescuro

Umm... Let's see...

Saturn Sky
Saturn Aura
Saturn VUE
Saturn Relay

Oh wait... Oldsmobile??

Saturn is far from Oldsmobile. (Olds being the superior.)

[AmericanRevolution]

Bump to see peoples thoughts...

[Bravada]

I like to keep my armchair management anchored in at least some delusions of reality. If GM was to revive Oldsmobile, I believe it should be a limited-volume international ultra-high-tech luxury brand. GM is working on bringing innovation straight to their "production" brands (no more EV1s and the like), but I guess there is still a little margin to carve out (e.g. focus more on eco than performance, which would be inacceptable in a Cadillac and too expensive for a Buick, fuel cell vehicle and the like).

OTOH, I believe with the trend towards "mass customization", where people desire unique and tailor-made even from products previously mass-made (not to mention cars, which could've been largely custom-made in previous decades), I believe GM should cash on that - make Oldsmobile their very own exotic car maker, with the advantage of established sales & service network.

A few vehicles I can think of for the time being:

1. CC - As of now, Cadillac doesn't have an answer for the CLS. A sleek Oldsmobile 98 Aurora revival could cover the market for the time being, with an out-of-this-world, finally serious attempt at an uber-future interior.

A few examples (exterior, we all know how the Aurora looked on the outside):


Fun hi-tech from Volvo


More hi-tech from Saab


Back to the space age with Holden Efijy

Let our powers combine!


2. A neat clean-styled cloth-roof custom-built cabrio on Epsilon in the mold of the last Cutlass Supreme (though I hate the name)

(can't find a good photo, gotta go now - might be back later)

[F14CRAZY]

Originally Posted by acascianelli

442 was a performance package offered on the cutlass. seems stupid to offer a cutlass then a completely different car called the 442.

and 442 stood for 400 cubic inch, 4 barrel carburator, and dual(2) exhaust. how can we have a car called a 442 when we dont have a 400 cubic inch motor, and carburated cars arent made anymore.

You mean 4 cylinders, 4 valves per cylinder, and 2 camshafts?

[AmericanRevolution]

Bravada, I agree.

On the 442 note: How about call it the 862? 8 cylinders, 6 gears, 2 (dual) exhaust. lol Stupid name, I know.

[F14CRAZY]

Originally Posted by AmericanRevolution

Bravada, I agree.

On the 442 note: How about call it the 862? 8 cylinders, 6 gears, 2 (dual) exhaust. lol Stupid name, I know.

No quad exhaust?

[EldoFan]

Bring back Olds?

With Cadillac holding and continuing to develop an upscale, technologically savvy image that allows to to compete with European and Asian prestiege makes and Buick slowly, but surely beginning to redefine itself as a uniquely 'American' luxury brand (in a roughly similar vein as Lincoln) exactly where would they fit?

If they become the technological wonderbrand of GM (as Bravada suggested), that would give Cadillac a headache and possibly do harm to its image as a 'prestige' brand. If a new Olds dumbs itself down, it risks encroaching on territory being developed and coveted by Buick and even Saturn. Go sporty and you might as well kill off Pontiac.

Mass-production or low-production, it doesn't matter......there is and there will continue to be no room for a 'new' Oldsmobile.

[zabraden]

Originally Posted by EldoFan

Bring back Olds?

With Cadillac holding and continuing to develop an upscale, technologically savvy image that allows to to compete with European and Asian prestiege makes and Buick slowly, but surely beginning to redefine itself as a uniquely 'American' luxury brand (in a roughly similar vein as Lincoln) exactly where would they fit?

If they become the technological wonderbrand of GM (as Bravada suggested), that would give Cadillac a headache and possibly do harm to its image as a 'prestige' brand. If a new Olds dumbs itself down, it risks encroaching on territory being developed and coveted by Buick and even Saturn. Go sporty and you might as well kill off Pontiac.

Mass-production or low-production, it doesn't matter......there is and there will continue to be no room for a 'new' Oldsmobile.

I agree with most of this, except for the last statement. Clearly another regular brand, Olds or not, would be a bad move. But Olds was always on the forefront of technology, right? Well, what direction is technology moving right now? That's right, alternate propulsion.

Hear me out. I would have GM take a lot of it's unnecessary dealers, and switch them over to a new Geo/Oldsmobile network. Both would be focused on fuel economy and the future of green automotive technology. An EV-2, or sorts, could be involved, as well as Hybrids, PHEVs, Hydrogen cars, diesels, biofuels, ethanol, and maybe even solar if that technology could be perfected. This is also where GM's self-driving car would go in the future. Geo would be the low-end brand, and Oldsmobile as the luxury alternate fuel brand.

This would help clear out some of GM's excess dealers, especially in urban areas where these kinds of cars would be quickly embraced. This would also give GM a place to try out experimental technology on the buying public. At the Oldsmobile/Geo dealerships, all employees would be specially trained to deal with these kinds of vehicles, something you can't get anywhere else.

To have something like this would also drastically increase CAFE numbers. How many PHEVs could they give to Chevy? Not many. Geo/Oldsmobile would give them a place to sell only fuel efficient models. They could have a few small cars that get great mileage with regular engines to bring in young buyers, almost like a Scion of sorts, and these people would then move into the alternate propulsion vehicles. GM would have to join with an oil company to get filling stations around the country up, but I would imagine that the government, especially after the upcoming election, would be willing to help.

GM needs to be on the forefront of technology, and this would allow them to move forward into the future. GM was always the inventor of the greatest automotive technologies, lets keep it that way.

By the way, I only chose Geo because Geo=earth. I think the logo should be the same as the old Geo, except green.

[mbukukanyau]

It would be a global brand. It would cary all retro designs, it would be high on technology and old school country club interiors... you would get navigation, bluetooth, onstar, stabilitrack etc standard.. and pay full price...we would not go after volume or perfomance... HP numbers would be advertised as adequate.. etc...
The Cars would be as quite as a tomb... We would not have model years, so it would not matter the year the car was built...
The Smaller vehicles would cater to lower budgets.. there would be plastics and fake wood for HHR etc but the techno factor would be there.. there would be no compromises for the top end models

Oldsmobile would have only one dealership in a city. So LA would have about 3...New York , about 3...Portland or a smaller city like San Diego 1.. central location...
Service could be provided only exclusively at Buick GMC or Cadillac dealerships in addation to the store of sale...
exclusive and old country club style...
In Europe it would have one dealership per country.. In Japan perhaps 3 or more...They would be run by Oldsmobile itself...Not Dealers.
The Brand would start around US $25,000.00 and go to about $150,000.00...
China would also get 3 dealerships or more as it grows. Korea would get 1 dealership, and India about 1 in each metro area.
Africa would get 5 Dealerships, Jorhanesberg, Cairo, Nairobi and Lagos, that is where money is.
Australia would get two.. Sydney and Canbera

[t-rex]

I've tried a zillion ways to conjure a lineup that would have kept Olds alive, but none were feasible.

Oldsmobile would effectively become a lineup of "niche" models, rather than a progressing lineup.

A possible Olds lineup:

The Groove as a micro/eco entry.

The retro HHR going to GM's oldest brand.

With Saturn gone, Olds would have the Vue, which looked like an Olds anyway

The Salon would be an enlarged Epsilon sedan, à-la Avalon

Zeta SWB Cutlass (sketch courtesy of a GMI member whose name escapes me...)(I also can't read the scribbled signature)



Profile MPV. Stretch it a bit, give it 5+2 seating...



GM would field a single Lambda minivan, the Oldsmobile Silhouette.

And the Zeta/Sigma Aurora, a four-door "Coupe" would top off the range. Replace the Buick styling of this model with Olds styling, and it would do the trick...


(photo from right here on GMI...)


But no matter how I sliced it, there just wasn't room for Oldsmobile.

No matter how interesting the product, the name itself was just too old-hat.