Does any know why GM discontinued Oldsmobiles?

Question

I just always wanted to know. they never did talk much about why they had dropped it. i liked some of the Oldsmobiles productions. my favorite car of the oldsmobile was the Aurora. i still see that on the road. were their cars no good in the end? my grandmother had a 1978 delta 88(which she brought brand-new , and she had that for years, and even when she brought her cadillac she still used the delta 88 as an extra car. what happen with the Oldsmobiles?

Answer 1

The Oldsmobile's sales went down. Once the sales go down so far it doesn't make sense to keep the brand around because you have to keep more plants running and have to produce a wider variety of parts. Oldsmobile by the time they got rid of it only made up a very small portion of their business. By getting rid of it, they would still keep most of those customers but could consolidate plants and parts, which would drive down costs. By cutting it, it also freed up money to create new designs for some of their other brands to help bring up sales. New good looking designs normally mean more sales. Basically, they were trying to focus their money on where it made the most bang for the buck.

Yeah, a number of people hated to see it go, but it needed to go. It was a good business decision. Actually, Buick and Pontiac also almost got discontinued, but closing Oldsmobile freed up some money to allow new designs to be built and those new designs raised the sales of Buick and especially Pontiac.

Also, sometimes when you have too many brands, you are recreating the same care but just under a different brand name. Daimler Chrysler did that on a number of their cars. That is partly why Plymouth is gone.

Answer 2

This Site Might Help You.

RE:
Does any know why GM discontinued Oldsmobiles?
I just always wanted to know. they never did talk much about why they had dropped it. i liked some of the Oldsmobiles productions. my favorite car of the oldsmobile was the Aurora. i still see that on the road. were their cars no good in the end? my grandmother had a 1978 delta 88(which she brought...

Answer 3

I've had a couple of Oldsmobiles and a Buick with an Olds 307 engine, and other than a couple of electrical problems, absolutely no trouble. The Oldsmobile V8 was one of the finest engines ever made. While I like their styling, too, I realize that everyone was starting to go for the "suppository-with-wheels" look, which made the Olds "boring". I tell you what, I'd rather be flying down the road in an '83 Cutlass, bored by the styling, than sitting by the side of the road because my Toyota hit a pothole and puked the transaxle!

Answer 4

Who Made Oldsmobile

Answer 5

I was flabbergasted when I first heard that GM was going to drop Oldsmobile!~
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Oldsmobile is the oldest of the car makers, even older then Ford!
Olds was a family owned carriage maker and it was Ransom Olds who convinced his father to motorize some of their carriages. From 1897 to the merger into General Motors under Durant in 1908, Olds made some of the finest little cars in it's time. It was Olds who raced his cars and drove them all over America to prove their durability. It was Oldsmobile that lead in styling , long before Ford painted any of their cars in a color other then black.
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Once the lawyers and accountants took over General Motors the future of the American automobile was doomed.
If anything they should have dropped the GM name!

Answer 6

For the exact same reason they may soon drop Buick and Pontiac, marketing decisions by the manufacturer.
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DETROIT — General Motors Corp. (GM), which issued a shock profit warning last week and has been losing market share, may phase out one of its weaker car brands if sales fail to meet projections, company Vice Chairman Bob Lutz said Wednesday.

GM's Buick and Pontiac are both "damaged brands" due to lack of investment over the years, and GM is working to correct that with an array of new vehicles coming to market, Lutz told a Morgan Stanley automotive conference in New York.

But if some of its brands fail to meet sales projections, "then we would have to take a look at a phase-out. I hope we don't have to do that. What we've got to do is keep the brands we've got."

Answer 7

I think gm just doesn't like building quality cars they should have dumped buick and pumped up olds and pontiac with unique models that car lovers want.While chevy has the corvette to help sales it was always meant to be general motors entry level car by stripping the other makes they have made chevy a monster that takes sales away from the upscale models.If they keep this up only chevy and cadillac will exist in the future.

Answer 8

I have a 2000 oldsmobile Intrigue and it is the biggest piece of junk, the motor is great and fast, but the wiring on the car really sucks, things short out all the time, not to mention their brakes aren't worth a damn, i've replaced the rotors twice due to much pressure from the calipers. They were to pricy and just couldn't compete quality wise. I looked for an Aurora but never had any luck on purchaing one so i went with the Intrigue and got the shaft!!!!!!

Answer 9

Back in the late 80's my dad had an oldmobile cutlass supreme brougham (i think that's how you spell it), anyways, the car was garbage. That's my lasting impression of oldsmobile...I'm surprised olds went on long after that....

Answer 10

Read this article,
http://money.cnn.com/2004/04/28/pf/autos/olds_dead/index.htm?cnn=yes