Saving Olds

[Marc]

Two things have to be done to save Olds...first, all Olds enthusiasts have
to spread the word around that Olds is making some great cars now,
particularly the Aurora and the Bravada. Secondly, Olds has to bring
back the Cutlass. The Cutlass was the most popular car that Olds ever
built, and the reappearance of a familiar and well remembered name
would help a lot in getting Olds going again.

[speediva]

No offense to you my dear, but what makes you think that anything can be done at this point to save the name??? Has not GM already decided to scratch the name??? I sincerely doubt that any form of intervention will change the mind of such a predominant motor company. But that's just my take.

[Marc]

What makes me think that anything can be done to save Olds? I'll tell
you what! A big upswing in sales! That's my point! If several hundred
thousand Olds enthusiasts start spreading the word around about what
great cars Olds is building right now, hopefully that will cause sales to
pick up, and maybe GM will change its mind. Olds is still going to be
available for a while, so why not try to help generate sales?

[speediva]

Originally posted by Marc
Olds is still going to be
available for a while, so why not try to help generate sales?

But playing the Devil's advocate... Why buy the Olds version when you know another version will be around even longer??? And to be quite frank, the Olds Silhouette my family bought has been nothing but trouble since day 1!!! Why would people who have had Olds problems (and I know a number) support such an idea?

[Hudson]

How big of an uptick in sales do you think would be needed? Ten percent? Twenty percent? Fifty percent?

Do you really think they'll go back on the deals they've already made with dealers to move away from Oldsmobile?

A few points you're not seeing.

GM needs to eliminate one, two, or maybe three of its nine brands (Chevrolet, Pontiac, Buick, Oldsmobile, Cadillac, GMC, Saab, Hummer, Saturn), not to mention the four other brands (Subaru, Suzuki, Isuzu, Alfa Romeo) it has a stake in. Oldsmobile wasn't making money. Oldsmobile wasn't reacting to the turnaround plans that had been put into place two or three times in the past 15 years. Except for Saturn, all of the other US brands were making money in 2000. And Saturn could be kept because Saturn is bringing in non-GM buyers....something that no other GM brand can say with any conviction.

If Oldsmobile sales were to rise to the point of making GM think about keeping the brand, GM would have to reduce the production of another brand's vehicles. Say that the Alero suddenly takes off...you have to reduce the output of the (profitable) Grand Am or Malibu. If the Intrigue sales rise dramatically, you have to reduce production of the Grand Prix. Silhouette would take down the Venture and/or the Montana and the Bravada would bite into the Trailblazer/Envoy. Only the Aurora could take an upswing without too much damage because they don't sell many Auroras and the plant is underutilized already.

Eliminating a brand, which is something GM desperately needs to do, is a complicated process. You can't just stop making the cars because thousands of dealers need those products. GM is currently in negotiations with the Oldsmobile dealer base getting them out of their deals and paying them nicely for it. Oldsmobile only has about 62 stand-alone dealers (those not paired up with another GM brand). This makes things a bit easier.

If one of the other brands were on the chopping block, you'd get plenty more push-back from their followings than you've seen from Oldsmobile fans. I don't see that huge influx of Olds fans coming to dealers to prop up the brand. GM even attached a money-back guarrantee to their cars with an extended warranty...Oldsmobile sales blipped, but not all that significantly. Wouldn't you think, if Oldsmobile had such a fan base, they would have rushed to save the brand by now? It has been 13 months since GM announced the end of Oldsmobile.

It's hardly the rush that Ford saw when they threatened to move the Mustang to a FWD platform.

I'm all for remembering the brand heritage of such a glorious name as Oldsmobile. But the public doesn't care enough to keep it alive today. Put your efforts to forming another Oldsmobile museum...Oldsmobile owners club...making Oldsmobile the honored marque at car shows...anything that will have more impact than trying to revive the dead.

You said that Oldsmobile will be around for a few more years...when do YOU think it'll go away? My guess is in 2003.

[327belair]

they have stopped prouction of oldsmobiles, they will be gone when the current inventory is sold, which shouldnt be a very long time

[SolTheHoelessPimp]

honestly, what hudson said was true, when gm said it was dumping the f-body chevy and pontiacs (for those who don't know thats the firebird and camaro) gm was inundated by chevy lovers everywhere who wanted to know what they were gonna race against mustangs? i seriously doubt the olds brand getting dumped will generate near that responce, plus they dumped the f-body's anyway.

[Ssom]

What point does Buick serve????? Get rid of them too

and Mercury while they are at it

[SolTheHoelessPimp]

uhm, dude? Mercury is possibly being dumped, they have to see how the new maurader does first, and it's owned by ford. I don't know about buick, olds is getting dumped because gm owns three luxury car makers and olds has the crappiest sales.

[JayG]

As someone who has owned three Olds vehicles, I hate to see them go as well. I've had great experiences with Olds.

I'm especially sad to see the trend towards imports in this country. The Detroit automakers build a fine product, and so do the imports and implants, but if you look at the "North American Content" posted on the stickers of all new cars, they range from about 65% to 95% for American namplates, and much less for the import/implants. People mistakenly believe that because thier Camry is assembled in Ohio that it's as American made as the American brand.

It's sad to see people driving around in their imports, with American flags displayed. If they are so patriotic, why don't they support other Americans? Don't they care that a great American icon like Olds is being eliminated because they percieve that their import is a better car?

Of course the problem with the lower American content is JOBS LOSS and ECONOMIC LOSS. It's simple really. If you spend a dollar in your town, that same dollar will came back to you soon in the form of a wage or other benefit. If you send that same dollar half way around the world, it won't come back to you during your lifetime. For this reason, and because I like American cars better, I PREFER AMERICAN. (I currently drive a '97 Saturn SL2, which is 95% American content...reliable, effecient, fun to drive, a great little car!)