this is a thing i found on edmunds.com saying y olds failed i thought it was interesting to c what her opinion was maybe u do to thats y i posted it for u ppl enjoy
Since December 12, 2000, the day GM announced that the Oldsmobile brand, the oldest marque sold in America at the ripe old age of 103, would be killed, analysts and industry observers have blamed weak product for the division's demise.
I disagree with that assessment. The Oldsmobile product portfolio, with the exception of the Bravada up until the 2002 redesign, was cleanly styled inside and out, offering respectable levels of performance and handling combined with interior comfort and ergonomics that sometimes shamed the imports. They possessed the attributes that draw people to Hondas and Toyotas in droves, with a single exception.
Build quality of Oldsmobiles was generally pathetic, leading to numerous trips to the dealership for little repairs that began depleting wallets once the warranty ran out after 3 years and 36,000 miles. We had a 1998 Oldsmobile Intrigue long-term test car that made monthly visits to the dealer for tweaks, recalls, and repairs, some of which never did get sorted out by the time our lease was up. We weren't the only ones. Postings in our Town Hall community areas revealed Intrigue owners who had, after a decade or two driving imports, taken a chance on this exciting, sporty sedan from GM. With the number of problems they suffered with their Intrigues, they had permanently sworn off domestic cars, vowing undying loyalty to the imports as soon as they could unload their unreliable Oldsmobiles.
Beyond this, a Silhouette van we tested had interior trim that was divorcing itself from the cabin at less than 5,000 miles. A recent 2001 Aurora test car suffered obvious build shortcuts and problems with assembly quality. Even the Alero, one of our favorite domestic models, failed to deliver the quality feel that comes so easy to the Hondas and Toyotas that Americans increasingly favor. Then, of course, there was the Bravada, a gussied-up Blazer whose interior could be disassembled with the owner's bare hands.
Oldsmobile, and GM, didn't understand that people buy Hondas and Toyotas because they don't break and they are solidly engineered and assembled. As a result, they hold their resale value better than just about every sedan on the market. Camrys and Accords certainly don't sell for their dramatic styling or stunning performance.
Inferior quality definitely led to Oldsmobile's demise. Marketing, too, played a role. Everyone remembers the "This Isn't Your Father's Oldsmobile" ad campaign of the late 1980s. Who among us can recall the current advertising tagline of "Start Something"? Exactly my point — Oldsmobile is now and will always be associated in the buyer's mind, no matter how old the buyer, as a car for an older generation. The name itself implies that an Oldsmobile is for older people. While admirable, GM's attempt to reposition the Oldsmobile brand as an import fighter was a dismal failure. Besides, attracting import intenders is Saturn's job — a job, we might add, that Saturn seemingly cannot perform.
Finally, Oldsmobile banished long-standing nameplates (Toronado, Delta 88 ) for new ones that didn't resonate with loyal Olds buyers or consumers in general. Particularly glaring was the decision to kill the once proud, million-selling Cutlass nameplate after the 1998 model year. At a time when other carmakers were dusting off old names and applying them with great success to vastly superior modern machinery, Oldsmobile hatched Alero and Intrigue for the volume models, Aurora for the luxury vehicle, and kept relatively new truck names Silhouette and Bravada for the minivan and SUV models. Among them, the latter two had the most mileage on the clock, but with just a decade of use each.
On the subject of the Aurora, when this model debuted in 1994 as a 1995, touted as Oldsmobile's savior and forecaster of things to come, it carried no Oldsmobile nomenclature upon its debut. People liked the car, but didn't know what it was. This was a perfect time for GM to kill the aged Oldsmobile brand and replace it with Aurora, using alphanumeric product names in an effort to create an Acura/Lexus/Infiniti style division for GM. But the opportunity was squandered. Then the avant-garde Aurora, which attracted buyers with styling alone, was revamped and made more conservative in appearance for 2001, alienating some buyers of the unique first-generation car.
Now that Oldsmobile has been taken off life support, GM must find a way to keep the metal moving until it can figure out how to shutter plants, cut jobs, and recoup some of its investment in the 2001 Aurora and 2002 Bravada redesigns. But Americans shun dying brands — just ask a Plymouth dealer. So Olds is offering substantial incentives and rebates, both to current Oldsmobile owners (1996-2001 models) and the public in general. Also, the powertrain warranty has been extended from 3 years or 36,000 miles to 5 years or 60,000 miles in an effort to keep people interested.
These carrots may tempt you, but beware. At this writing, it is not certain how the death of Oldsmobile will affect resale values of these vehicles, many of which may be forced into rental car fleets as consumer demand drops. If this doesn't concern you, deals on Oldsmobiles will only get better as factories and dealers wind down over the course of the next two years. And don't worry about service and repair. Oldsmobiles can easily be maintained and serviced at any qualified General Motors dealership, even though Aurora and Intrigue are equipped with exclusive engines. The V8 and V6 motors found under the hoods of those cars are based on the Northstar V8 found in Cadillacs.
Two years ago, I wrote a column detailing radical changes GM needed to make to its brand portfolio. My plan called for the dissolution of Oldsmobile, donating the good stuff to Saturn and dumping the remaining models from the production plan. Now, just when Oldsmobile's new brand character was evident across the lineup with the introduction of the 2002 Bravada, the division is finally dying, but the appealing models sold under the Oldsmobile banner will be killed too.
This was a necessary step. Of all the brands in the GM portfolio, Oldsmobile had the weakest appeal and the muddiest mission. But the bloodletting at General Motors shouldn't stop there. Next up for review and sentencing? I nominate GMC and Saturn. Pour the money spent engineering product for and marketing these two lame-duck divisions into creating dependable, cutting-edge and exciting mainstream Buicks, Cadillacs, Chevys and Pontiacs, leaving Saab and Hummer to fill the role of attracting niche buyers looking for something different.
