GM: Oldsmobile is history

DETROIT (AP) - The Oldsmobile is coming to the end of the road.

General Motors Corp. said Tuesday that the oldest brand name in U.S. automotive history will be retired over the next few years.

GM executives admitted they had failed to erase the stodgy image of a brand that once was synonymous with American prosperity and dependability.

''Phasing out the Oldsmobile brand was an especially tough decision for us,'' said Ron Zarrella, president of GM North America. He said new customers were younger and more educated, but ''there weren't enough of them.''

GM also announced production cutbacks and a series of moves that will eliminate 13,700 jobs in North America and Europe next year.

But the most emotional move involved Oldsmobile, a venerable brand that has been part of the world's largest automaker since 1908.

The decision is ''unfortunate, because the Olds brand on the car side had some of the better products in GM,'' said Wes Brown, an industry analyst with Nextrend. ''It's just that no one 45 and younger wants to be seen driving an Oldsmobile.''

Oldsmobiles will be built and sold as long as GM can make money on them. GM declined to give a more specific timetable but said the 2002 Bravada sport utility vehicle coming out next year will be the last new Olds model.

Oldsmobile was started by Ransom E. Olds as the Olds Motor Vehicle Co. in Lansing in 1897. Worldwide, only the Daimler name - of Daimler, Mercedes-Benz and now DaimlerChrysler - is older.

GM later absorbed the company and the Olds soon assumed its place as the middle-class, middle-age car in GM's lineup - more expensive than Chevrolet and Pontiac, but a step or two below Buick and Cadillac.

Oldsmobile was among the pioneers in using chrome-plated trim and the mass production of automatic transmissions, giving drivers the Eighty Eight series, the front-wheel-drive Toronado and the Cutlass.

Oldsmobile grew steadily over the years and in 1977 became the first GM division outside Chevrolet to sell more than 1 million cars. Its high point was 1985, when it built 1,168,982 vehicles.

Since then, Oldsmobile has been in a slow decline.

Buyers have moved from the midsize cars that Oldsmobile was known for to minivans and sport utility vehicles. Imports took larger shares of the midsize market.

Oldsmobile tried to follow the trends, adding a minivan and an SUV. It also struggled to shed its image as a brand for older people, running an advertising campaign with the slogan ''This is not your father's Oldsmobile.''

In addition, the company dropped popular but plain models like the Cutlass Ciera and the Eighty Eight in favor of sleeker, more luxurious cars like the Aurora and Intrigue.

But those models have not caught on. Oldsmobile sales totaled 352,197 in 1999, and through November of this year, the brand had sold 265,878 vehicles - an 18.5 percent decline.

Under the other plans detailed Tuesday, GM will use attrition and early retirements to cut its salaried and contract work force in North America and Europe by 10 percent, or 7,700 jobs.

GM also will reduce hourly jobs at its U.S. plants by 4,000 through the idling of an engine plant in Lansing, Mich., and previously announced production cuts at Saturn plants in Wilmington, Del., and Spring Hill, Tenn. Production will also end in 2002 at the GM car plant in Luton, England, eliminating 2,000 jobs.

GM said the moves will lead to a special pretax charge of $1.5 billion to $2.5 billion in the fourth quarter.

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On the Net:

http://www.gm.com

http://www.oldsmobile.com