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Last Oldsmobile to Roll Off Assembly Line

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#1 ·
Last Oldsmobile to Roll Off Assembly Line
Tue Apr 27,11:04 AM ET

LANSING, Mich. - The Oldsmobile, the line of cars that started out in 1897 and featured models such as the Rocket 88 and the muscular 442, is coming to an end this week.

The last Olds, an Alero, is due to roll off an assembly line Thursday in Lansing, the same city where the brand was born.

General Motors Corp. had announced in December 2000 that it would discontinue the Oldsmobile, the oldest automotive brand name in U.S. history.

"Generations of people in Lansing have been touched by Oldsmobile, either by making them in the plant or driving them down the road," GM spokeswoman Kim Carpenter said.

"I can understand GM's business decision, but seeing Oldsmobile go is almost like a death of someone in the family," said Ken Nicholas, a longtime Olds enthusiast from Eaton Rapids.

On Wednesday, GM will unveil a series of 500 Special Edition Aleros, which will bear special logos and certificates of authenticity.

However, no one will have a chance to buy the absolute last Olds off the assembly line — it is destined for Lansing's R.E. Olds Transportation Museum.

The Oldsmobile was named for its founder, Ransom E. Olds, who started the Olds Motor Vehicle Co.

Worldwide, only the Daimler name — of Daimler, Mercedes-Benz and now DaimlerChrysler — is older.

GM later absorbed the company and the Olds became the middle-class, middle-age car in GM's lineup — more expensive than Chevrolet and Pontiac but below Buick and Cadillac.

Oldsmobile was among the pioneers in using chrome-plated trim and the mass production of automatic transmissions. It gave drivers the V-8 Eighty Eight series, the front-wheel-drive Toronado and the Cutlass, which included the 442 muscle car.

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#3 ·
Sadly true. It is in GM's best interest to end Olds. :(

With so much foriegn competition, GM needs to reduce non-performers and dated makes. Rather concentrate on the models with promise - Pontiac, Chevy, Caddy, Saturn.

Each brand should meet specific and exclusive market needs.
 
#4 ·
olds is the reason i'm a GM fan today. my first car was an '88 olds cutlass calais (aka grand am). maroon 2-door, 2.5L 4-cyl, 3 speed auto. fantastic little weapon. a little underpowered (probably had all of 98 hp), but the transmission was perfectly suited to the powerband. hummed along at 120 km/h all day long. with 200,000 kms i prefered it to my '92 tempo with 85,000 kms... same general specs, but the olds felt much tighter and powerful; it shifted and handled like a much more significant car than the tempo. had it been a dud i might be an import fan today, but your first time is the most important!
 
#5 ·
Hmm, the first car I got after college was a '98 Intrigue. I was impressed with it. To bad the rest of the world didn't feel the same way I did about it. It was a dealer demo and was one of the first ones out. The only way you could tell who made it, was via the radio trim piece, and the new swirl logo on the hood. It also had 'Oldsmobile' etched into the back up light which you could barely see.

Really cool car. Yes it was "one great car".

But now we have Buick, Cadillac, Pontiac, and Chevy ALL with real cool products coming out.

"The futures so bright I gotta wear shades"

B)
 
#6 ·
Originally posted by New_Mexico_Sunset_on_Rt66@Apr 27 2004, 02:31 PM
Hmm, the first car I got after college was a '98 Intrigue. I was impressed with it. To bad the rest of the world didn't feel the same way I did about it.
The Intrique got good initial press. It did very poorly on some long term test drives, notably Edmunds, and never really overcame the poor quality image in my mind. I almost bought one in 1998, but decided to skip it since it was the new brand model that year.

Mark
 
#7 ·
As my name suggests, I am a diehard Oldsmobile fan. My immediate family has owned a total of eight different Oldsmobiles throughout the years. My father instilled the idea of great Oldsmobiles in my mind from an early age. His first car was a ’68 Cutlass. And from the age of 10 to as far back as I can remember, my mother drove a ’77 Cutlass. I have countless memories of these superb vehicles. Currently, we collectively have a ’68 442, a ’71 Cutlass, a ’95 Achieva, and a ’99 Alero. I am truly saddened by the loss of Oldsmobile, and I even hopelessly dream in vain that someday, GM will restore the Olds brand once again with the triumphant return of the almighty 442. But, knowing the ways of the world, and the ever-changing market, I can understand the conflict that GM was facing with Olds. None the less, Olds has single handedly established my faith in the General and I will faithfully buy their vehicles as long and the Lord is willing.
 
#13 ·
Mark - You mention poor quality "image". Again as many on this site have mentioned, it's about "perception over reality". The "reality" IS the Intrigue was a solid car. I think many consumers didn't know what to make of a high-qulaity GM product. Interior trim was nice, etc.

Too bad. But as I stated, Buick, Caddy, Pontiac and Chevy are all kicking a$$.

<_< <_< <_<
 
#14 ·
I see both Buick and Olds being in basically the same boat. It had to be one or the other. I honestly wouldn't have taken Olds away but rather Buick because both the Alero and Aurora were very good cars in my oppinion. Now GM can concentrate on one brand and making it great (aka Velite) rather than trying to save two brands.
 
#15 ·
the oldsmobile line up of cars was so ignored it was sad. they had some really nice cars. the auroa was really nice. the alero i prefer over the grand am. they were really good looking cars. but GM just has too many names under it. I can understand why it was discontinued. If it were up to me i would have GM drop all of their ties with SAAB, suzuki, and izzuzzu. And maybe even GMC since all they are are rebadged chevy trucks. Then they can focus better on building a better product. I never knew where oldsmobile was in the picture, above or below buick.

Alan
 
#16 ·
Is this article correct? I had heard this date a while ago, but later I could have sworn that I read in more than one place that it was originally supposed to end this week, but that demand for the Alero caused them to extend the run until June.

Anyway, I maintain this is a near-criminal actto do to Olds instead of Saturn. But it's too late to unkill them now, the deed is done. Hopefully they won't be the only one....
 
#17 ·
RIP Olds, my current car is a 2001 Alero and I love it, even though I knew when I purchased it that the brand was finished it didn't stop me. The Alero, Intrigue, and Aurora where some of the best cars GM was making. I know that it's all about profits and market share, and since GM ignored the division for years this is pretty much the only option they had, but why not Saturn? I will never purchase a Saturn, their current line sucks (Vue not's bad) and I don't see that brand ever expanding it's market share in fact I believe that Saturn is the next brand Gm will desolve. Anyway that's my two cents.

B)
 
#20 ·
I completely respect the history of Oldsmobile. It used to be a premium brand in its prime. I think that back in the muscle car era, Oldsmobile and Buick were hot cars that people used to dream of owning, much like BMW and Mercedes-Benz today.

I must admit, though, that when I was a kid I thought it was funny if you owned an Oldsmobile because it meant you were old since it has "old" in the name. :) Only when I learned the history of the Oldsmobile brand did I know that Olds is the name of the founder and it all made sense then. Honestly, I think that's why GM killed Oldsmobile. It's because today's younger generation associates Oldsmobile with an old person's car, which in the past, especially the muscle car era, was simply not true. I can imagine young people today would not want to drive an "Olds"mobile and unfairly ridicule the brand. It's really a shame. I'm sad to have Oldsmobile disappear.

The Alero N-body and Intrigue W-body are shared with other platforms and are similar to cars like the Malibu, Grand Am, Impala, and Grand Prix. However, the Aurora was unique to Oldsmobile. Does anybody know if the Aurora platform will possibly be sold as a Buick? How does the Buick Aurora sound?
 
#21 ·
I have an Alero and it's a shame that the production run is about to end. I think everyone is in agreement that Olds shouldnt have been the one to go and I bet if Lutz had been there in 2000 this wouldn't have happened. They should have changed the name of the division as they proposed at one time and kept on moving. Replacement models for the Intrigue and Alero would've been nice. The only consolation is that Pontiac and Buick are making better cars now. But Olds still had the best overall styling of any recent GM cars.
 
#24 ·
Yeah... I never cared much for Olds but now I kind of feel bad after reading this. Anyway, I feel that the general management at General Motors sucks. Saturn would be long gone if I were in charge, that's for sure. What the hell do you think Chevy's for? That's the bottom buck brand. Not to say all Chevys are like but but it is. Why do they even need that wanna be import brand anyway? Hell, they should sell the name off to Honda considering the VUE uses their V6s as is. Besides, Saturn has no reputation except for building cars that are on par with imports from Korea. What kind of rep is that? Just move a model or two over to Chevy because GM, like any other brand, needs intro level cars. That's my two cents.
 
#26 ·
I never looked at oldsmobile when buying my car because of its image of being old, but the cars are actually quite sporty looking. All that needs to be fixed is the interior and the rear lights on the Alero.....and change the name from olds to something else. The cars are actually quite nice and saturn better produce soon or I will cry for there heads....the ion is such a pos to drive.
 
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