It’s always a treat to find a special edition version of one of my favorite cars. The Alero La Femme was one of Olds’ last ditch efforts to carve out some territory in the market. I’m afraid it wasn’t a very successful effort.
This appearance package consisted of a number of items that were of course painted pink.
Starting with the logo badge in front. Maybe they should have changed the logo to this: ♀; the Olds logo looks a bit too much like ♂.
In addition to the spoiler and rear badging, most dealers also threw in a pink license plate surround. Well, those that could afford it; most Olds dealers weren’t exactly flush in 2003.
Sadly, there was no pink in the interior. GM’s bean counters at work again. how much would it have cost for apink letaher steering wheel skin? Or a few soft trim pieces? But this owner has added a few pink flourishes.
Ok; no gender stereotyping about the ding.
It’s a bit of a stretch to imagine why Olds thought this would work when it didn’t in 1955, but maybe they thought Dodge was just a bit too far ahead of the curve.
Well, at least it doesn’t say “Woman 1 – Oldsmobile 0” above that scrape over the rear wheel.
Holy cow, that reference made my day.
You could lighten the wheel color on your Scion Xb and rebadge it to Scion XX in order to join the club. ?
Is this inspired by Huffy? Our girl’s bikes are pink and just as junky as our boy’s bikes!
https://www.curbsideclassic.com/cars-of-a-lifetime/coal-2000-oldsmobile-alero-by-any-other-name/
and read Cunucknucklehead’s comment in this: https://www.curbsideclassic.com/my-curbside-classic/my-new-curbside-classic-2001-oldsmobile-alero-brougham-there-is-a-special-and-totally-irrational-feel-in-my-merry-new-oldsmobile/
I seem to recall that the La Femme had extra large dual airbags and a capacious booty, er, trunk.
I hasten to add though that I am sure that these were because of the womans’ market interest in safety and shopping cargo space….
When I was in Japan I noticed a few cars that were…. “dressed up” like this car and a few auto parts stores there sold pink accessories like wheel covers and seat covers.
BTW, saw both white and a few red small hatchbacks with the “Hello Kitty” treatment.
In the late 80’s you could buy a whole host of pink accessories in US auto parts stores.
Both “Alero” and “Olds” were answers in today’s WSJ crossword.
102 down – “1998 auto debut”
115 down – “102-Down make”
Alero is a common crossword answer; lots of very common letters.
And yet, every time I enter “CIERA” first if I don’t have any of the crossing letters.
I’m surprised at the effort put into the wheels. Most people who go this route just spray the whole thing including the logo on the center cap. Of course most use black which is even worse in my opinion.
Hmmm. It’s not April 1….
The #PinkBeetle seems to have sold reasonably well so I won’t laugh too hard. The Alero though found marketplace indifference with two large demographic groups – women and men….
Back to the fuschia?
Sadly, this beauty is missing it’s headlamp eye lashes. Guess they don’t hold up too well going through automatic car washes.
This was actually a factory effort? Looks like something an owner would do on their own volition – actually I have a colleague who recently did something similar with her car.
If my young daughters saw this car, they’d be begging me to buy it.
I did like the Alero when it debuted, but in retrospect it offered prospective buyers far too little, too late.
The La Femme was not considered offensive in its day, but now, it is. However, that is because it was almost certainly a man who decided that adding pink (along with a matching handbag!) was enough to convince a male buyer to purchase it for his little lady. With the Alero, I can only assume that the current owner customized the car to her tastes. She (or he, let’s try to be non-judgemental) is probably enjoying this car much, much more with the pink added, and at the end of the day, that is what matters.
Oh, and to that special pink badging…. if it was gold, as was commonly done by OEMs and dealers on brougham-mobiles, is that any better or worse? Or is it just pink that offends?