ThatChevy

Well it's hard to believe that its already been almost 10 years, but it was in this month back in 2004 (April 29th to be exact) that the last Oldsmobile, a 2004 Final 500 Alero rolled off the assembly line in Lansing, Michigan ending 106 years of car production. The brand is a part of automotive history and continues to live on today through its owners and enthusiasts alike.

A link to an article from 2004 talking about the final Oldsmobile ever made is posted below.

http://www.nbcnews.com/id/4862841/ns.../#.U0raiVeBca5

prod

It's a shame they killed Olds just as it was establishing an identity, but I have to admit Pontiac hurt more.

Frenchy42

I agree. I always wondered why they gave Pontiac the axe, but kept Buick. Both Buick and Cadillac are marketed as luxury brands(albeit Cadi is a notch or two above buick), whereas Pontiac was becoming a sportier name, IMO. I feel it would have been a better move to keep Pontiac and drop Buick. But, I'm sure they had there reasons.

843de

That decade went fast, and even down here in "The Land That Rust Forgot", you just don't see many Oldsmobiles on the road.

Well except the old A-Body Cutlass Ciera's, those never die, and their owners all seem to be north of 80 years old.

Maybe they know something we don't. Drive a Cutlass Ciera, never exceed 30mph, and live forever.

And why are they always white?

2oodoor

I have to agree with every thing said. As an observation though Pontiac was losing its identity more as time passed they were just Chevys with bulging contours and air ducts everywhere you can imagine, heh like you see now on most Asian designs. I wont critique the pos quad four engine, a deal breaker for resale values, unique to Olds & Poncho.
Olds RIP
Buick has outstanding cars now you gotta admit, that Enclave is one hellova ride and retro beautiful like our hhr's ,the Lucernne (sp) is basicly a luxo version of the Impala pursuit-very cool cars but too small for Shaquil right.

db/sb

Yeah, the only thing "Pontiac" to me on my GTO is the emblems. The style is not even Chevy on these since they used the Australian Holden body.

I always thought that was the reason they took him out and put Peyton in it....

prod

I mean after that, when gm was getting rid of the extra plastic and re badged chevs. The solstice and g8 were nice cars going in a good direction, then killed off.

2oodoor

Absolutley, G8 was hope, maybe the Caprice pursuit cousin of the Holden and G8, will make it to public sales. Heck it may be, Im not up on my magazines this past year. I thought we'd get an el camino "Ute" or a magnum style nomad wagon on that platform at least... one can hope.

843de

With GM and Ford both closing their Australian factories by 2016, Holden will become rebadged American and Korean assembled Chevrolets.

Ford will begin exporting various American assembled models to Australia, both companies say it makes sense economically. The Australians are furious, and despondent.

The Chevrolet SS and Caprice PPV will eventually be killed off, and despite teases over the last twenty years, no "Utes" will come here either as El Camino's of Ranchero's(For the Ford fans).

Detroit and Dearborn have decided to turn Australia over to Toyota, Mazda, and Honda.

Snoopy

I'll just ad something from my GM conference days.....

The Pontiac Group had been losing money (even the beloved Firebird.....almost $800 per sale/vehicle) for the company for over a decade (and you can't operate a company with serious financial negatives). Before the Oldsmobile was considered for extermination, Pontiac was also in consideration. After some consideration (debate), GM Truck Group stepped forward and said they would assume responsibility for Pontiac and make it profitable. So Oldsmobile, as the other non contributor to the Corporation's bottom line was selected. For the last 2 years of it's existence it proved profitable....although slightly.

And remember this was in the mind set days of market share. GM was grossly losing it's status and market share so, build and push vehicles to maintain, or increase the market share. Well, we now know that philosophy didn't work.....thus, the New GM.

Oh by the way, Pontiac continued to lose money and market share under the leadership of GM Truck. Thus, the elimination of Pontiac.

Buick was funded largely on the growth of the China market, which continues to expand (I have some interesting and stories regarding the start up of the China market in the late 90's, which I was directly involved in). I'm not a supporter of China or Buick (although they are creating some nice vehicles), but the Company did what it had to do, to stay in business (kind of).

EDIT:....I also should indicate I have condensed this information considerably...it transpired over some period of time.