(first posted 4/4/2017) Apple. Converse. Ray-Ban. Old Spice. Tina Turner. Throughout history, numerous struggling “brands”, including the aforementioned, have successfully reinvented themselves, staging successful comebacks through innovation, and saving themselves from the brink of obscurity. Sadly, Oldsmobile was not one of them.
Although various attempts were made at bringing new life and meaning to Oldsmobile, in what would prove to be its final years, whatever plans and goals for the brand ultimately went unrealized, and Oldsmobile continued its slide from relevance right up until the end in 2004.
Beyond efforts made to boost Oldsmobile’s appeal to younger import buyers, there just wasn’t any clear direction or intent for what the brand was supposed to become or who its target competition was. To make matters worse, in-house competition was fiercer than ever, as the boundary lines between GM’s growing plethora of brands were as ambiguous as ever. GM simply was selling too many similar flavors of the same car in the same segments, with little reason to purchase one brand over another. With the most muddled image, Oldsmobile was undoubtedly hurt most by this.
The single most powerful effort at bringing new life and meaning to the Oldsmobile brand somewhat ironically failed to even bear the Oldsmobile name, a possible indicator of just how volatile the Oldsmobile nameplate was by this point. Marketed as “Aurora, by Oldsmobile”, it was indeed a major game changer for the brand, though unfortunately it proved to be just too little, too late.
What’s even more bittersweet about the Aurora was that it was truly a successful example of taking an intriguing concept and putting it into production with few compromises. Its design based on the 1989 Oldsmobile Tube Car, the Aurora stayed relatively true to form, unlike so many captivating GM concepts of the era.
In both theory and execution, the Aurora was truly an exciting expression of innovation and new life for the Oldsmobile brand, which had clearly been ailing and in denial about it for some time. Despite its seemingly “good times” in the early-to-mid 1980s, Oldsmobile’s high sales volume during this era was largely attributed to the cautious reapplication of qualities that gave it success in the 1970s. Unfortunately, as Olds found out, these themes could only be photocopied so much.
Once the popular quiet status symbols of so many middle-class Americans, by the late-1980s/early-1990s, it became very clear that qualities such as loose-pillow seats, vinyl roofs, and wire wheels had become blasé. European and Japanese brands had become decidedly mainstream and were still growing in popularity, and without any unique or redeeming qualities, Oldsmobile simply lacked appeal.
With little drawing new buyers to the brand, let alone retaining current owners, and an aging current customer base regardless, Olds was in serious trouble. Even having trouble retaining current owners such as my aunt Kathy, a 3-time repeat Oldsmobile buyer who switched to Toyota in 1992 and never looked back, Oldsmobile was in desperate need of new products and a new marketing strategy.
The whole marketing strategy of targeting younger buyers may seem counter-intuitive to some, as after all, middle-aged to senior adults typically have greater financial stability, with greater disposable income allowing them to purchase larger, more expensive automobiles. While this may be true, brands must think long-term in order to survive.
If you alienate the younger potential consumers, even if they are a few years away from affording your core product, then you’re not gaining any new business. The truth is, people don’t like to look or feel older than they are, and as a result, few will purchase a product that makes them appear this way. It’s a very fine line to walk, and unfortunately, Oldsmobile failed to bring in younger consumers while somewhat alienating its older customers in the process with its ill-fated “Not Your Father’s Oldsmobile” ad campaign.
Furthermore, this was only part of the equation. As stated, in-house competition from other “core” GM brands was fiercer than ever. Despite this and its continuous loss of market share, GM was adding and acquiring additional brands including Saturn, Saab, and Geo, making things even more complicated and bleak for Oldsmobile. Regardless of any “brand image” Olds had by this point, in reality it was competing against every GM brand from Chevrolet to Cadillac, and everything in-between and beyond.
For Oldsmobile, the Aurora wasn’t just a breath of fresh air… it was like a high-strength inhaled steroid. Looking like no other car within Oldsmobile’s or even GM’s broad lineup, the Aurora’s sharp, sleek, and sculpted styling helped set it apart in a crowded field of luxury-sports sedans. Which brings up the important point that the Aurora had a much clearer mission in life than anything else sold at Oldsmobile dealers in some time.
Unfortunately, the Aurora’s mission in life just wasn’t clear enough. At 205.4-inches long, the “midsize” Aurora was lengthier than flagship sedans including the Infiniti Q45, Lexus LS, and even the long-wheelbase Mercedes S Class and BMW 7 Series. Along with its coupe-like styling, frameless windows, V8 sending power through the front wheels, this sporty-luxury American touring sedan lacked any direct competitor, confusing buyers even more to what this pseudo-sub branded Oldsmobile was supposed to be.
The Aurora’s competition covered a broad spectrum, from smaller cars within its price class to similarly-sized vehicles of similar or higher prices, coming from Europe, Asia, and North America. Though it was neither the quickest nor the most luxurious, neither the tautest handler nor the most tech-laden, the stylish and high-content Aurora was an all-around competitive luxury-sports sedan, offering proficiency in these key areas and more importantly, a firmer vision of Oldsmobile’s possible future.
The Aurora was in fact very Japanese in approach, offering contemporary, organic styling, a well-crafted interior using components of high quality fit-and-finish (arguably the best of any GM car of that time, even more so than any Cadillac), and a lengthy list of standard features with few available options. Whether or not it was most frequently cross-shopped with these cars, in truth, the midsize to large cars from Acura, Lexus, and Infiniti were the Aurora’s closest competition.
Technically speaking, the Aurora rode on a new GM-G platform derived from the Cadillac Seville’s K-platform, and the 4-door-only Aurora’s sole platform mate was the reincarnated 2-door-only Buick Riviera. Like the Seville, both the Aurora and Riviera were transverse-engined, front-wheel drive cars, riding on 113.8-inch wheelbases (2.8 inches longer than the Seville’s).
Unlike the Riviera, which made do with Buick’s ubiquitous 3800 Series 3.8L V6 (in both naturally-aspirated and supercharged versions), the Aurora received an exclusive Cadillac Northstar-derived 4.0L V8 shared with no other car. Code-named the L47, the Aurora V8 put out a very impressive for the era 250 horsepower and 260 lb-ft torque.
Now unlike most GM cars of the era, designers did not go overboard with raiding the corporate parts bin for the Aurora. Exterior and interior door handles, along with side mirrors were shared with its Buick Riviera platform mate, yet beyond these elements, just about everything in sight about the Aurora was quite exclusive. Underneath the unique sheetmetal covering its distinctive silhouette, the Aurora welcomed drivers with an ultra-cockpit interior layout, so heavily sculpted that the passenger air vent was located on the side of the center stack!
Apart from the radio, steering wheel, and Mercedes-like power front seat controls shared with other large Oldsmobiles, just about everything else one saw, touched, and sat on was exclusive to the Aurora. This included minor details such as distinctive HVAC controls/vents, gear shift lever, and front bucket seat design. Rich genuine burled walnut accents complemented the beautiful interior, adding warmth and dapperness.
Unfortunately, whatever high-strength steroid qualities it may have had, the Aurora turned out not to be a steroid that was performance-enhancing for Oldsmobile. Oldsmobiles that came after it were clearly influenced by the Aurora, but in most cases this was limited to styling. The Aurora may have had a specific positioning as an upscale, import-fighting luxury sports sedan, but Oldsmobiles that followed lacked the same premium levels to make them any imaginable Acura/Lexus/Infiniti competitor, and rightfully were not positioned so.
Despite new looks and new names, the process was still the same — Oldsmobiles like the Alero, Intrigue, Silhouette, and Bravada were merely different sets of clothes on a common car shared with other GM divisions. In the end, the Aurora’s impact was little more than that of a concept car put into production.
Oldsmobile was ailing, rapidly losing health, but then came the Aurora. Everyone held their breath, not entirely sure of what to make of it or what it would do for Oldsmobile. Would the Aurora be an overnight success, instantly becoming a household name? Would it be the halo car Oldsmobile needed to restore its prominence and bring buyers back into showrooms? Would future Oldsmobiles benefit from the Aurora’s luxury-performance nature? Would a whole separate line of Aurora luxury vehicles supplement or even replace Oldsmobile?
Ultimately, it soon became clear that a sigh of relief for the brand was not to come. Following the initial hype and extended introductory year of impressive sales, Aurora sales, general interest in the car, and even Olds’ promotion of it fell flat. Oldsmobile may have experienced an artistic revival in styling influenced by the Aurora, but its overall brand sales and market share continued their decline and fall.
Quite literally meaning “dawn” in some contexts, Aurora was an impressing and promising car that represented a true glimmer of hope for the future of Oldsmobile. Unfortunately, for a number of contributing reasons, it just wasn’t the spectacular sunrise that Oldsmobile needed and other Oldsmobiles did little to offer any greater rays of light.
Related Reading:
1991 Oldsmobile Ninety-Eight (GM Deadly Sin)
The vehicle classification is interesting. ’95 Oldsmobile Aurora is classified as midsize by EPA, while it’s longer than ’17 Lincoln Continental classified as large car by EPA ( for the interior volume ) and in real life new Continental somehow looks indeed larger than Gen I Olds Aurora, despite Aurora being few inches longer.
Also, the larger American sedans always make international luxury sedans appear less. It’s not quite easy to explain why there are always offerings at similar/larger size, moderate performance, good comfort and good NVHs at only a fraction of the price, such as Chevrolet Impala. For the affordable models, the advantage of price is undeniable, but the mid-brands would have the endless confusion over how luxurious those cars should be and how worthy the premium is. It was not uncommon to see those mid-price cars sold around price range around BMW in some international markets before.
The EPA classifies cars primarily by interior volume, which is why the 2008 Accord was rated as full-sized and the coupe a mid-size. I would assume the Aurora’s inside space is exceeded by the new Conti (which is a very handsome car, by the way)
EPA rates on interior volume. If you’ve ever been in either generation of Aurora, you’ll realize why it was a midsize. It has all those swishes and a steep windshield rake and low top, meaning 1970s level space utilization. Very confining for such a large car.
I owned a 1998 Aurora and the interior was smaller than my 1995 Riviera’s.
20 years later, this is still a striking design.
If it wasn’t for the potential expensive of maintaining an aging Northstar, I might well have one today.
A coworker owned one and loved it, right up to the point where the computer (under the back seat?) went on the fritz and was going to cost a ton to replace.
Always loved these. Sadly I can attest to the expense of keeping a Northstar on the road. Part of my Love/Hate relationship with me ’05 Bonneville GXP.
Yes, I very much liked the looks of them when new, and I still like them.
“What’s even more bittersweet about the Aurora was that it was truly a successful example of taking an intriguing concept and putting it into production with few compromises.”
I see what you did there.
My 2000 Intrigue was a blast to drive. The 3.5L “Shortstar” packed a nice punch, and steering & handling were probably the best of the W-bodies. Like GM products are wont to do, however, it began piling up expensive repairs after 120K miles.
It carved a striking silhouette. A design with a lot of bravada.
Bravada, of course, being what the Oldsmobike Bravada DIDN’T have.
I give you a score of 98. Perhaps celebrate with a Fiesta or a Holiday by setting off a rocket.
A truly Supreme answer!
98 is quite an Achieva-ment. I’d be more inclined to give it an 88, but really the Delta between those scores isn’t much.
A very dynamic design, to be sure.
Nice write up, Brendan. I think the question to ask here is whether or not this design should have been used as a Cadillac or Buick (sedan) instead. I’m not so sure, simply because it’s a pretty radical design that clearly separated itself from the mainstream luxury brands. Ford had an equally polarizing exterior with the 3rd gen Taurus, and the result was the Camry winning the mid size sales war, so I don’t think the failure of the Aurora was purely due to the tenuous position of the Oldsmobile brand. We may find the Taurus and Aurora attractive, but our opinions don’t match the tastes of consumers shopping for a vehicle in the late 90’s. These designs were simply too far ahead of their time.
“We may find the Taurus (gen3) and Aurora attractive”
Speak for yourself. 🙂
Although I’m not a huge fan of the Aurora, in part because its mission/positoning was a bit vague, but it’s a much better design than the sad gen3 Taurus. And frankly, I suspect that the majority of buyers/potential buyers tended to agree. But I could be wrong.
Perhaps both are a bit “sad” in their design? I think you can make a case for the Aurora being a bit of a downer.
Anyway, I’m sure you would agree that Ford and GM made some poor choices when choosing these designs when a more conventional setup could have helped both automakers with their respective products.
The Aurora’s unconventional design didn’t hurt Olds any more than the rest of their utterly conventional (read boring) designs did. GM only needs one brand to fulfill what became Buick’s mission. Many people don’t/didn’t really see a difference between Buick and Olds. And besides bad body cladding, Pontiac either for that matter. Aurora (gen 1 anyway) was the right design at the right (or maybe even too late) time, but they should have embraced it considering the actual eventual alternative.
The 3rd gen Taurus flopped not due to being too daring, but being daring and largely being considered flat-out ugly as well. Similar to what the Prius is experiencing currently. Prius has always been unconventional looking, but this time got hit with what most consider ugly as well as opposed to just “different”.
Excellent article, Brendan! Concisely sums up Oldsmobile’s final days. The Aurora was the car that should have saved Oldsmobile but it didn’t, for all the reasons you’ve mentioned.
Reading about these when I was younger made me an Olds man. And then Olds was axed and I was a Pontiac man. And then….
At least my Cadillac is safe.
The Aurora was a stunning car. And I even love the second gen too, a design that has aged remarkably well.
The dash looks almost like they plucked it out of a Saab.
As a matter of fact, it does look very post-facelift Saab 9000-esque! I never made that connection before!
Wow….intriguing for sure. LOL
They do share a similar silhouette 😉
I especially liked the 1st gen Aurora, with its “Robbie the Robot” rear end treatment which was largely lost on the 2nd gen model.
Still, those large windows and slick styling made me want one, and I got to ride in the earlier version that a friend had once or twice.
Sadly, these were way out of my price range, along with the Buick Riviera and Olds Intrigue.
Even now, would I buy one if they were available? Not new, since I am now retired as of last Friday, but a nice CPO used one? Perhaps. Unfortunately, that question is now moot, but still worth wondering “what if?” from time to time.
Very pleasant article, and yes, I miss Oldsmobile.
Congratulations on your retirement! Getting a new-to-you car is always a good way to treat yourself 🙂
Thank you, Brendan. It’s been a very long ride, but it was a door I jumped through without looking back!
Hey! You made it! I’ve only got 12 more years to go!
The Aurora was arguably the most attractive car GM produced during the nineties. Though clearly a period piece, it still looks fresh and modern twenty years later, it’s taut lines offering a refreshing counterpoint to the current crop of angry looking cars littered with jarring, abrupt angles.
While it may not have been the smashing success that Olds hoped for, the Aurora did succeed in garnering a small but loyal following. I still see plenty of first generation Aurora’s in use as daily drivers, and very few of them look like the typical GM beater. Most are as immaculate as the example Brendan found – which is clearly loved by its owner.
I loved the Aurora when it came out. The problem was that it both was and was not an Oldsmobile. Oldsmobile had such a strong brand image as a middle class car for middle America, an image that became tainted by old-fogeyism as the 90s dawned.
Those who might have liked the car were turned off by Oldsmobile and for those who liked Oldsmobile, this wasn’t what they were looking for when they went to the Olds showroom.
If GM had decided to keep Saturn and ditch Oldsmobile, the Aurora might have been a great Saturn flagship car. One of your best pieces yet, Brendan.
You bring up an interesting point with keeping Saturn alive over Olds. Saturn was already dying as Olds was running out the clock. They were selling Opels as Saturns, and constantly misread where it would be cheaper to build them (building in Europe first and then in North America when it would have been cheaper the other way around due to economic issues). As a Saturn, the Aurora would have probably been a miss rather than a hit. It was too much for a budget/youth conscious brand like Saturn, and would have been priced too high for many sales. At an Olds dealer, they had a chance. This is becoming a very interesting topic again, since Opel is going to PSA, which leaves Buick without a source for platforms for their sedans. What will Buick sell in the USA that makes it a viable choice for survival here? The SUVs can all revert to GMC badging and sell for prices above Chevy and below Cadillac. Will GM revert to form and badge engineer Chevy models as Buicks? Will they downgrade a Cadillac to sell at Buick price points, diluting whatever momentum Cadillac is growing? Or will they just throw in the towel and move Buick to China and be done with it in the USA?
Interesting point indeed. Buick really does seem to be struggling for relevance in the US market, and I’m wondering as the Impala appears to be trending more up-market, the Malibu is so well styled and the Chevy and GMC versions of the various badge-engineered SUV/CUV’s (forgive me, I just can’t keep track of the model names) pretty much cover all viable segments, Buick’s offerings seem redundant a’la 90’s GM. For the life of me I can’t see anything that makes Buick stand out besides the Cascada, which doesn’t appear to be making much of a splash.
The Opel-sourced Buick Regal doesn’t sell very well, and the Verano has already been discontinued. Buick survives because of its crossover sales, none of which are sourced from Opel.
And now that Opel has been sold to Pegueot-PSA, Buick is likely in BIG trouble here. GM says moving forward the cars will be either Korean or Chinese sourced. So basically expensive Chevrolets all over again. Why bother when GMC is in the same showroom?
Korean Buick? Meh!! I’d be more likely to take my business to Hyundai or even Kia because of the warranty.
Chinese Buick? Automatic “No Sale!!” My keister would be outta the showroom faster than you could say Dynaflow. (Regrettably, it seems Chinese Buicks are already in the US.) 🙁
The Regal doesn’t sell very well because it’s an elderly design. Started sales in 2010 in the US market, but it’s older than that, going on sale as an ’09 in China.
All this will be fixed with the new Regal just announced for 2018. Still Opel-based, as the design as presumably finalized before the split. No sedan, only hatchback and wagon. Looks very promising, though we’ve seen that before. I drove an ’11 Regal recently and was impressed, so if the ’18 keeps it up, we just might have a competitor.
MTN, I think it’s time for Buick to become a China-only brand. They’re doing gangbusters over there.
But here, I don’t think there’s anything they currently sell – or have on the drawing board – that can’t be successfully be sold as a Chevy.
It just may be that what hurt Aurora the most, was Oldsmobile’s having to fight for marketing and development dollars with…ahem…SEVEN!!!!!! other nameplates. It was one giant whack-a-mole at GM, and that one dynamic was as much a driving factor in the company’s bankruptcy as the crap they built in the 80s or the suffocating legacy costs.
Chevy needs to match and then beat Ford in every segment. The current Impala and upscale Silverado variants are good signs but unless and until Chevy’s offering something to beat King Ranch and other such F-150s, perception problems will remain.
Yes, in this scenario, GMC becomes as redundant as Buick. Cadillac has to BE CADILLAC…so no moving downmarket. Remember Cadillac once competed with Rolls-Royce. As late as 1965 in fact. Aim there.
Chevy = mass-market covers 95% of the bases.
Cadillac = takes care of the upper end of the market.
Two brands. And…take some of the money saved on GMC/Buick and get an actual marketing department?
“Real People. Not Actors” is NOT an effective Tier 1 strategy.
This was…
Chas108, you are exactly right about the adverting. That was John DeLorean’s big gripe when he got there, that Chevrolet spent a ton on advertising but nobody could remember any of it.
This ad reminds me of another peeve of mine: Chevrolet needs to stop calling itself “Chevy”. It is Chevrolet, a name they should be proud of. Let their fan’s use “Chevy” as a term of endearment, but the full name ought to be used in all advertising and on every car.
I never knew Casey Kasem did voices for GM commercials! Thanks for posting this clip.
Chas108; From what I understand about Buick, actually making it China-only would kill it in China, its’ presence in its’ traditional US home market gives it an authenticity that’s really prized in China, land of the clone knockoff. That, of course, leaves the problem of selling them here without artificially restricting the Chevrolet line’s growth.
JPC: Ads are one thing, but I don’t think GM’s put “Chevy” on the badging of any recent products. Lately, not “Chevrolet” either – the bowtie, like the Mercedes star, is well-enough recognized to stand on its’ own.
When was the last time you saw a family of four posing in with *any* coupe in a car advert?
Coupes are now hawked solely as cars for singles and couples, or an extra car for weekend getaways. Never basic family transport.
“… which leaves Buick without a source for platforms for their sedans…”
Check the sales charts and see it doesn’t matter anymore.
With Utility vehicles selling more and more, and sedans declining, Buick can get future cars from GM US. The real money is made with Utes.
When they share the same showroom with GMC? Those Denali models make a hell of a lot more money for GM than anything Buick has been doing. The distinction will evaporate, and Buick with it, I assume.
Thanks James! And interesting theory you raise about Saturn. Personally, I think a car of this caliber would’ve made a good Saturn flagship where the brand was about a decade later, positioned as a somewhat European alternative to brands like VW.
In 1995, however, Saturn just wasn’t there yet. They didn’t even have a midsize vehicle or SUV yet, and I don’t think a large luxury flagship would’ve fit in with their very value-oriented mission at the time.
It is funny that by the mid-00s Saturn essentially became what Olds was in its final years. I always thought the Aura would’ve been a natural Intrigue successor. And is it any coincidence that “Aura” is so similar to “Aurora”?
The Aurora wasn’t even all that unique in its styling being radical. The contemporary Chrysler LH sedans were of similar profile and the Dodge Intrepid, especially, made use of similarly advanced styling cues. Their promotion and advertising differed, though. “This changes everything” put both of Dodge’s feet forward, suggesting a sea change in that brand, while Oldsmobile remained firmly mired as Yesterday’s Car. True, Dodge didn’t have the same marketing base to “protect” as Oldsmobile’s “Your Father,” that was Chrysler’s domain.
Comparatively, the LH sold like hotcakes and did prove to be the vanguard of new and greater things to come, until Daimler took over and meddled with success a few years later.
Honestly…I simply cannot come up with a reason to buy an Aurora over an LH car…though a better comparison would probably be an Eagle Vision Tsi. The Tsi gets performance suspension and tires, along with the potent SOHC 3.5 V6, which was, I recall, only 15hp short of the Aurora V8. (And which lacks the Northstars problems.) Though…an Interped properly-optioned might get the same hardware, for less coin…
Honestly…I would take the justly-famous L67 (supercharged 3800 Series II) over the Aurora V8.
I’ve always thought that this was the car that finally drove it home to GM just how badly they were hurting, and how the desirable part of the market was completely rejecting them.
If there was ever a car in the past forty years that should have succeeded, this was it. Finally, an original GM car, not just another cross-marque rebadge. Probably as close to an Acura or Infinity that GM could ever build. And it went nowhere, most likely because the customer would have to walk into an Oldsmobile dealership to buy one. This was the decade when they were badging cars as Geo, but titling them as Chevrolet, because is was hard enough to get an import buyer to walk into a Chevrolet dealership, but impossible to get them to buy the Chevrolet badge. And you had to sell past that rebadged Corolla (which CR was screaming at its readership to buy, because they were cheaper than the Toyota badged car, and not selling as well).
Quite frankly, by the late Nineties GM would have taken S-Class models off the Mercedes production line, priced them against a C-Class, put on an Oldsmobile badge, sold them out of Oldsmobile dealerships . . . . . . . . and watched the car tank completely.
Because it would have been an Oldsmobile. And would have been sold out of an Oldsmobile dealership.
They were “your father’s Oldsmobile”. And GM had finally lost my generation, once and for all. And finally realizing it.
My ex father-in-law bought a ’95 Aurora to replace his much loved ’89 Ninety Eight Touring Sedan. I had many opportunities to ride in and drive both of those cars, and despite my disdain for GM in the 90’s, I’ve got to admit that both of them were pretty impressive cars. Ultimately his Aurora spent a good deal of time in the shop with some of the common maladies of the Northstar era Cadillacs, and fit and finish were less than stellar, as interior bits rattled themselves loose, weather stripping failed and electronics went wonky. It’s hard to say in retrospect whether that car was any worse quality-wise than many other american luxury cars of the era though. We gave him a good deal of ribbing for his stubborn tenacity in holding onto it for quite a few years and putting up with some really exorbitant repair bills, but in truth I could understand it to a degree, as I secretly admired the car and really enjoyed driving it when I had the opportunity.
MTN: that “stubborn tenacity” is called “love”.
Nice article! I had a 2001 Aurora that I stupidly traded in Dec 2016. Should have kept it for no more than they allowed for it. Bought on Thanksgiving of 2012 with 124K showing. And Just turned 210K the night before I traded it. I spent a few bucks on repairs – air diverters, weird ground issue, clockspring in steering wheel. on occasion the trans would go into a fault mode and shift harshly – would usually reset itself after cutting car off and restarting. Can’t remember anything else. Oh yeah camshaft sensor. And it would fail randomly, throwing a code but not affecting how the car ran. Car never left me stranded, managed 27 mpg avg (V6). I bought it because I was riding motorcycle daily to job that was 45 minutes away from where I was staying with relatives and 3.5 hours from “home”.
That car felt big and luxurious and still modern. Had plenty of bells & whistles. Only thing it was missing was the seat heaters. The V6 did fine. Plenty of power and the good mileage. Leather was a bit worn when I got it but no rips or tears and looked the same when I traded it. The pass rear window never worked, but rare that anyone was back there.
We took it to MS (700+ miles) 3 years in a row to a blues workshop with my son. Fully loaded with 3 ppl, drum kit, guitar, piano, and luggage. Managed 25 mpg fully loaded with the AC cranked.
I really loved that car and am now tempted to go take a look at a first gen sitting in a used car lot off to the side with a flat front tire. Wonder what’s wrong and how cheap it could be had??? Would make an excellent 3rd car to enjoy….
Aurora by Oldsmobile sounds hokey. This should have been the new Olds 98. When an old man buys a new suit, people comment on how nice old Joe looks in his new suit. When old Joe wants to be called Sergio at the same time people usually back off. Everyone else was going alpha numeric in their names to be modern. Olds already had such heritage names with the 98 and 88 but wasn’t smart enough to reinvent them.
“When old Joe wants to be called Sergio at the same time people usually back off.”
Lol! Thankfully I did not have coffee in my mouth when I read that.
Overall, I agree with your comment and have thought the same thing many times. But, I suppose like the Olds marketing people, I wonder if the 98 name had become too damaged by the time the Aurora came along.
Aurora by Oldsmobile was definitely wrong. And, failing to put Oldsmobile badges and logos on it was also wrong. If you can’t go forward boldly with your brand, it is probably time to give up.
“If you can’t go forward boldly with your brand, it is probably time to give up.”
Good point. But for a counterpoint, look at Chrysler at right about that same time. Not only were they coming from a showroom full of cars that appealed only to the elderly, they had a reputation for quality issues as well. But look at Chrysler from, say, 1992 to 2006 – a total reversal in image. I think the difference is that Chrysler knew that doing nothing was a death sentence while GM could not let go of what it had been.
Chrysler reinvented itself by marrying another lover that left them stranded a few years into the marriage. However, like a Zha-Zha, they were good housekeepers and kept the house. They got the cab-forward LH from Renault, they got the MB old platforms, and now they are using Fiat architecture to underpin things and provide commercial vehicles. GM, good or bad, went at it alone, and in the process shed some historic brands. As long as Chrysler holds the key to Jeep, there will always be a suitor coming to call in times of distress.
I expect Jeep and Ram brands to be auctioned off whole, the rest liquidated…with proceeds going to the the Italians. It will hurt…a lot…but it will be over soon.
GM was hindered by its own arrogance, which was based on decades of success. Chrysler always knew that extinction was always a possibility, given its history. GM leadership had a tough time wrapping their minds around that fact in the 1990s.
That sums it all up.
+1!
Agree. Hard boiled eggs and nuts…..and agree Dave B.
Right on!
That 1991 Olds brochure line up really emphasizes how lost Olds and GM were when trying to figure out what to offer. Even the order of product presentation is wrong – they were trying to maintain a product hierarchy in an era when Toyota was putting a variety of vehicles in a showroom that sold each on its merits. The Bravada got last billing because it was a “truck”, yet it was really the sort of vehicle that was fast becoming popular with “mid-price” buyers. I had a late 20s aged female co-worker at the time that was incredibly excited about her new Bravada. The odds of her buying almost any of those other Olds models was zero.
That brochure should have been set up with separate pages featuring sedans, coupes and family haulers on separate pages. And wow, that Cutlass sub brand thing that was never called a sub brand was just bad marketing.
The sad part is this was similar for all GM passenger car brands at the time, though for sure Oldsmobile’s lineup seemed the most lost and confused. GM just couldn’t let go of archaic designs that they counted on for fleet sales and their large crop of elderly buyers who didn’t like change.
Newer, more modern vehicles better in tune with the times were welcomed additions to brands, but they created a dichotomy that couldn’t be ignored. Pontiac arguably did the best job at this, ditching most of their boxy-80s designs by 1991.
I’ve always liked these end of the line Oldsmobiles. Had a rental Alero sometime in ’02 and thought it was a fantastic car. The look of these cars really set Olds apart and was a huge leap from what came before. The Aurora is really grown on me over time and when I have my own LeMay collection someday I want an Aurora for it.
Excellent article and intriguing (pun intended) comments. This is a perfect example of GM putting too much faith in one product to drive a turn around. Yes, the Aurora was quite nice for the time–the styling was fresh and fashionable, inside and out. But it was one car, really occupying the “specialty car” slot where the Toronado had been (high style, not especially practical), which was a small niche. The vast majority of Oldsmobiles sold in ’94/’95 were Cieras, Supremes, Eighty-Eights and Achievas–all just about as frumpy and out-of-style as could be imagined. The Aurora was truly a fish out of water in that context, which would have been utterly repellant to the target audience.
An interesting contrast is the Chrysler brand. For their re-invention, they essentially ditched all the frumpy old designs quite rapidly as they shifted emphasis to the LH cars and the Cloud cars. The process started in ’93 with the LH introduction, and by ’95 all the boxy K-based Lido mobiles were gone at Chrysler. So at least from the standpoint of the showroom experience, the cars all seemed more modern and the line-up more cohesive than Oldsmobile’s did.
As for the car itself, I had a bit of experience with it, as a man (his name was Les) who was dating my sister in the late 1990s drove one. The car was nice enough (though material quality was not up to the standards of a brand like Lexus), and I always liked the looks. But–and it is a big BUT–as my sister expressed with some derision, it was (hold your nose) an Oldsmobile (that was the kiss of death for virtually any and every Baby Boomer at the time). Les, who lived in Manhattan and commuted to Jersey, was not a car person at all. He simply wanted the cheapest possible decent big car, and he didn’t care one bit if it was trashed in the harsh New York City driving environment. Apparently the Auroras were basically being given away at the time, so he got the car for a screaming deal. So he was cheap, got what he paid for and threw it away when done–kind of like what GM did with Oldsmobile.
Oldsmobile was, to a large extent, a victim of its past success. The comparison to the Chrysler brand brings this home.
At its peak, Oldsmobile sold over one million vehicles annually. It could never realistically reach even 75 percent of that figure by the 1990s, but that one million figure was always trotted out when the decline of the brand was discussed in the media. It reinforced the “has been” aura that engulfed the brand by the mid-1990s. I’m sure that GM management also had that figure in mind when it judged the success of any revival efforts.
Chrysler, in contrast, had hit a peak of about 350-400,000 sales, if I recall correctly, in the late 1970s. That wasn’t an unrealistic figure for the brand to approach in the 1990s, particularly when it received an upscale version of the corporate minivan, and received more advertising and marketing support than Plymouth.
Here’s my take on the Aurora: The problem with it (and quite a few other GM cars) is that GM was still stuck in the 1963 Bill Mitchell mindset, convinced that it was still the styling powerhouse that it had been back then. And that it could Wow! buyers by building cars like the Aurora, the Dustbuster minivans, the Fiero, etc. that were as close as possible to their Futurama concepts. It clearly was an obsolete and failed idea.
Look what was really selling well at the time. Was the Lexus LS a Wow! design? Hardly. It bordered on being dowdy. And frankly, the same went for a lot of the hot-selling cars of the time.
What GM lacked is an actual understanding of what sold cars, and how crucial image and conviction were. Especially conviction. GM had established a long-running cycle (and resulting image) of coming out with Wow! cars, which invariably resulted in good/hot first year sales, and which then quickly dropped off.
For folks already suspicious/jaded/turned off by GM, this repeated cycle was seen as perverse acts of desperation. One could easily have bet that the Aurora was going to follow the same mini-boom then bust cycle.
It’s the result of thinking and acting that it’s still 1963; we’ll drop a drop-dead gorgeous Riviera (or Aurora) on these folks, and happy days will be here again. Except that it wasn’t 1963 anymore. And folks weren’t buying it, except for those that did still think it was 1963, or pined for it to still be 1963.
GM never got out of its 1963 mindset, and that’s what killed them. Times change.
To your point, the final generation of the Olds 88 was typically a decent seller right up until they cancelled it after the 1999 model year. A far more pedestrian vehicle that was generally among the General’s better built cars.
I think you are very right with what GM intended for the Aurora, but I think it goes farther than that. If it was sold anywhere else but a GM dealer it probably would have faired better. Acura and Lexus showed the way with dealership service that was beyond exemplary, but also largely unnessesary. The Aurora? Your still stuck sitting in a shitty ass waiting room for your warranty repar to be completed and would be lucky if they serve you a cup of stale Foldgers. GM shot themselves in the face with Saturn showing everybody they were capable of doing better in this regard, but diddnt want to. The Aurora could have literally been the 1990’s 300E and it still would have failed because of the dealership mentality GM was still allowing to exist at that time.
Well put. The failure to kill off old models when their replacements came out is another good example of this lack of conviction.
One thing I remember repeatedly from friends and family (including myself) who switched to Japanese cars in the 80s was a sense of how well built they were, and how well the details were sweated – things that weren’t always said about Japanese cars, to be honest. While the market was looking for better, GM stuck with different.
Personally, I was never confused about the intention or positioning of the Aurora: It’s an avant-garde 5-series. Had it been rwd with a 5-speed automatic, it would have been truly competitive (though perhaps still a failure).
What went wrong?
1. Avant-garde buyers gave up on Oldsmobile long before the Aurora arrived.
2. Engineering compromises: fwd, low-tech transmission
3. Stunningly unreliable, even by “old GM” standards. (Though I believe it’s fair to ask, how much worse is the E39 5-series?)
4. Price… maybe? I don’t know if these were expensive cars at the time.
Anyway, I’m pretty sure that reason #1 is the biggie. #2 could have been overlooked by many buyers. #3… well, having owned an E39, I can attest that they have their own expensive, frequent “foibles.”
If Oldsmobile had become a “Toronado” brand instead of a “Cutlass” brand, the Aurora would’ve been a natural fit, and probably successful, too.
I’ve always liked the Aurora, well the first gen at least. I don’t think it’s the most attractive design, but I think it’s cohesive and I think it works well. I don’t know if I would ever own one, but it would be nice to drive.
The problem with Aurora is the same problem that plagued otherwise decent cars of GM from making as big an impact as they needed too. Timing. The Aurora came out in 1995, by that point, Oldsmobile was no longer on buyer’s radars, they had developed an outdated image amongst the public, and the few loyalists left, were getting burned by the mediocre cars in the showroom. The Aurora was all new and it was unique, but it came too late for it to revitalize Oldsmobile. If GM released this car in the mid-late 80s, it would’ve had the impact and revitalization that GM was looking for in Olds. Whether it would’ve been a runaway success or a flash in the pan is anyone’s guess, but it would’ve done something. I even argue that if this car was out when GM was running the “This is not your father’s Oldsmobile” campaign, that campaign might’ve actually worked. Because, this wasn’t your Father’s Oldsmobile, but unlike the Cutlass Ciera or the downsized 88s and Cutlass Supremes, it actually was more worthy than an eye-roll or a snort of derision.
Just another fine example of GM’s problems, release a car that could change it forever, and you release it at the wrong time where the impact is non-existent. Too little. Too Late.
One of the bagpipers I hire occasionally to work funeral services drives a 2nd gen Aurora…goofy SOB replaced all the emblems with Maserati Trident emblems…he’s not foolin’ anyone.
Aaah, where do I begin. I have so much love for this car. But it didn’t start that way. When they arrived to market I was immediately turned off by the fact that they only offered a V8. That was a non-starter for me. I completely ignored it.
Then a few years back my vehicle at the time died and I needed a new ride, quick. I saw a ’97 for sale for a song. ‘What the hell’, I thought, I’ll buy it. This car was amazing, not like the GM cars that I had owned before. I felt like a clean sheet design, uncompromised by committee. It was unexpectedly fun to drive, nimble, confident for such a heavy car. The styling was perfect, jellybean-ish but masculine. It looked good from every angle.
A true apparition. In Vancouver Canada I hardly see any, maybe one per year. Most folks weren’t into keeping these things on the road. They just used them up until the computer or tranny went. Sad. Luckily, my sister still owns the one I had, maybe I’ll get it back some day. This is an image of when I first bought her.
Thanks for the write up, Brendan.
I think the Aurora could have saved Oldsmobile had GM been interested and not so plagued with problems everywhere else.
Oldsmobile was less dying than was widely thought: although at its peak in 1985-1986 it sold a million cars a year, in 1996, it sold approximately 331,000 cars, (almost all of which were Cieras to rental fleets, no, I’m kidding.) Acura, Audi, Infiniti, and Volvo, just to name a few, are still alive and well despite yearly sales lower than Oldsmobile even in its declining years. Even in 01, the year the axe fell, Olds moved 233,745 cars.
The biggest problems Oldsmobile faced were endemic to GM, as has been stated.
Oldsmobile was given a rental grade product line for years with doddering Achievas and Cutlass Cieras. The Intrigue was by far the nicest of the W bodies, inside and out, with a high quality look and feel. Rich looking gauges, high quality vinyls and leathers, nicely styled. . . the Alero, other than its stupid name, was the nicest of the N bodies and had an upscale feel, the Aurora was an interestingly styled car, the 88 LSS was a huge leap forward for someone who didn’t want something as geriatric as a Buick nor as plasticky as a Pontiac.
I drove an Aurora once and it had a generic GM FWD feel to it. It wasn’t really any better than my ’93 Cutlass Supreme with the 3.4 DOHC v6, and after that high tech nightmare I wasn’t touching another high tech GM anything.
Sales went from 304,759 in 1997 to 352,163 in 1999. Oldsmobile had also adopted some good ideas from Saturn like the Oldsmobile Edge, packaging options into groups, a one price strategy, roadside assistance, and an enhanced dealer experience.
The downfall came from several points:
One was traditional GM quality. GM built some cars well but quality took a downturn in the late ’90’s. Intrigue and Aurora owners suffered electrical gremlins, window regulator failure, fuel pump sending unit failures, dashboards that discoloured (anyone seen a beige Intrigue dashboard turn algae green?) engine intake gasket Dexcool failures, and a multiplicity of minor failures that sent buyers back to Toyota, Honda, and Acura. A more nicely trimmed Chevy Impala wasn’t going to cut it against a Camry, whose owners expect it to go 300K with oil changes.
Two was GM’s hiring of a bunch of Brand Managers from Proctor and Gamble. You had a bunch of execs who didn’t understand the car business, didn’t understand car branding, and had been used to selling the Newest Improved Version of Gain versus Tide and managed Olds to death. Old brands can frequently be revived as cited earlier in the article, but they didn’t feel like it.
GM had/has quality problems, brand problems, product problems, and management problems. I don’t think most of those have disappeared or really been resolved in the 20 odd years since the Aurora appeared. Consider this: When the Aurora appeared, Hyundai was on the ropes, suffering from quality issues, a “I’d rather walk than drive a Hyundai” brand perception, and wretched product. Hyundai cut prices, improved quality, offered a 10 year warranty, and gradually improved product from “it’s this or the bus” to “it’s cheaper enough than an Accord/Camry that it’s worth trying” to “it’s one of the top choices.”
The Aurora, at least, was a DESIRABLE GM car and offered some advantages over its competition. Name a modern GM car that honestly is a better pick than its competition. The Impala is the best impala ever made, and same for the Malibu, but there are a number of competitive sedans which offer better reliability, resale value, dealer experience, driving experience, lower cost . . . and Buick is a real mess with its volume coming from a compact Korean mini ute and a Chinese crossover.
I can easily see GM going the way of Oldsmobile, except for the trucks, in another 10-15 years. They haven’t gotten anything sorted out.
The one thing that always confused me about Oldsmobile is that with cars like the Aurora and Toronado is that they seemed to be going for a hi-tech, futuristic, image. Which was pretty cool, but at the same time you’d go to the dealer and the brand new Aurora would be sitting next to the antiquated Cutlass Ciera. And then you had the Cutlass Supreme, which seemed to be a sporty, fun car. A fine vehicle, but why is it not a Pontiac? And then there was the Bravada which was clearly a truck. And the Silhouette – I was fine with it being an Oldsmobile at first because it really fit into the hi-tech, futuristic image, but it soon became another dowdy minivan. Why does Oldsmobile need a minivan anyway?
It’s like GM really didn’t know what to do with Oldsmobile. And I guess that’s what killed it finally.
The short answer to that: GM simply had too many brands selling essentially the same product.
There’s only so much you can do to make four versions of the same midsize car different from one another and appeal to different buyers without cannibalizing sales of one another.
“… [W body] Cutlass Supreme, which seemed to be a sporty, fun car. A fine vehicle, but why is it not a Pontiac?”
They did. It was called the Grand Prix, but agree that it was overlap. But, also, the days of 50% market share and people buying often were gone, and no where to go but trucks.
During the height of the investigation of Bill Clinton’s alleged lying to Congress about the nature of his relationship with Monica Lewinski, Special Prosecutor Ken Starr was shown on CNN getting into one these in a DC parking lot. I thought well of him for it….especially since it was a V8 version….!
My friend had one with lots of electrical problems and oil leaks and burning and it got horrible gas mileage. It had hard seats and if you had the windows open the wind buffeting was awful and you could not have a conversation. It looked like a taurus if Saturn made them. It got hit and totaled by a ford Ranger at low speed. The Ranger had no damage but a cracked grill.
I thought at the time, and still think, this is one of the better styling jobs Oldsmobile ever put out. Just a great-looking car from almost every angle. It was big, and didn’t hide its big-ness, which might have been a turnoff for some. But it just looked fantastic, and seeing a well-maintained one will still turn my head every time.
Having dealt with the upkeep of an Olds of the same era (2000 Alero) for 7 years, I imagine there was some frustration to the ownership experience. Hopefully the interior was better quality (one of my main gripes with the Alero). But that car was attractive, drove well, and found 10,000 ways to annoy and inconvenience you. If the Aurora followed anything resembling that path, I’d wager there were few repeat owners. Plus the general toxicity of the brand at the time.
A shame for such a beauty.
On the interior plastics: Both my 1995 Riviera and 1998 Aurora had rough finish on the plastics on the doors. The pictures above don’t show this. The Aurora got some wood trim, and then also got a rough finish plastic on the dash. My Riviera’s dash had a smooth finish plastic, which gave it a much nicer look. The Aurora’s interior feel was much smaller (at least for the driver) than the Riviera’s.
I kind of suspect that the interior design was left till last, and a lot of time/cost was taken up designing the body’s stiff architecture.
I was never impressed with this car. It didn’t look like an Oldsmobile, it looked like a big gray something, trying to be something. It didn’t look roomy. It didn’t look rich. It just look like it wanted to be different without actually being different.
Then there was the hype. Everyone was told it wasn’t an Oldsmobile, but then it was.
Chicago was Oldsmobile country. I grew up surrounded by them. They always looked like a better proportioned version of what the other GM divisions were selling. Pontiacs tried too hard, Buicks weren’t Cadillacs, Chevrolets were usually affordable and beautiful but filled with reliability problems, and Oldsmobile usually hit the bull’s eye market-wise.
We shopped the Aurora new… and bought a Riviera. My biggest misgiving was the Northstar V8. Anyone who admired those engines has zero experience with the repair history. We really liked the Riv, and got compliments on the car wherever we went. Downside… and this is what I think really killed GM… was the reliability. Or lack of it, to be more to the point. Added to this issue was that the Riviera was a relatively rare car, so hardly any parts were normal dealer stock items. Some things GM wouldn’t even sell you. Supercharger snout bearings? Nope… gotta buy the whole blower unit. $3500. Struts for the rear decklid? Unique size, $75/ea, have to be ordered. Just two examples. We kept it three years… and it was our last GM passenger car. Replaced by a ’98 Grand Marquis, which proved to be as reliable and dependable as any car I’ve ever owned.
Many folks thought the Riviera was actually a Jaguar, based on the looks. I always thought to myself “it’s about as reliable as that make too, and just as expensive to maintain.”
I found the Auroras look at the time it came out to be less than impressive and as it has aged the look really became stale and out of place. The “not your fathers” campaign and the new logo all felt like a extremely poorly thought out way to promote a car. Was this during the Roger Smith era at GM? If not , it sure seems like his finger prints should have been all over it.
Ahhh, an old friend. I had a 95 about 13 years ago,and loved the car. I’ll always remember reading how the unibody frame of the car was so strong, and rigid it broke GM’s crush machine. That to me is fascinating because of how most of GM’s cars of the 90’s had the rigidity of a cooked noodle. Don’t understand how they couldn’t give their other cars stronger frames.
This did actually. The 95 Aurora and Riviera were the first stiff bodies, followed by the 97 Park Avenue and then the 98 Seville. The Bonneville and Lesabre were 99 or 00 and the de ville was last. Smaller cars have all been upgraded since.
I currently have a 2003 Lesabre. I would call it many things, reliable, comfy, why yes, a rigid platform…LOL
It was the same body as the Aurora, just a shorter wheelbase.
One point perhaps to make is that the Aurora is a European style car, not exactly what Oldsmobile customers were buying in the past. Oldsmobile introduced European style cars with the International Cutlass (about 1988 I think) as well as the Oldsmobile Turing Sedan (the full sized C body I think). Buick had introduced T-types on most of their cars for the 1983 model year, but the Electra T-type was a trim line on the 1985 models. The T-types were European style too. Sales of these for both Buick and Oldsmobile were good enough as an optional trim, but were a fraction of total sales.
For Oldsmobile to go full European style only on everything could only result in reduced sales it seems to me. The Aurora was a full size European style sedan in this new Oldsmobile line up. The midsized car was the Intrigue. Sales of the Aurora were about 20,000 to 25,000 annually, which is not bad, but probably half what GM’s top executives wanted for Olds to be considered profitable. If they had looked at the sales of the European style cars (Chevy, Pontiac, Olds and Buick all dabbled in them), they should have known that sales would be limited. Perhaps that was the whole idea, to dump Olds.
Though I wasn’t in the demo for a sedan at the time, I still recognized the remarkably fresh/futuristic design of the car.
I wouldn’t be opposed to a cherry one showing up in my driveway, now.
The Oldsmobile Aurora was very much ahead of its time for a domestic car. Its streamlined design, superb structural rigidity, thorough modernism inside and out, and excellent ergonomics were all a blast of fresh turbulence entirely worthy of a brand with a rocket ship for its logo. Yet, it was still unapologetically and unabashedly American. Unfortunately, future Oldsmobiles would share virtually no similarities with this inspiring potential “halo” car. “Intrigue” anyone? Didn’t think so (unless you were Hertz or Budget). Were it not for China’s deep fascination with and fierce loyalty for the Buick brand, I don’t think Oldsmobile would have been the first major GM brand to bite the proverbial Detroit dust. The Aurora could have been the prologue of a triumphant American comeback. Instead, it became the epilogue of a tragic American death.
My opinion is that it’s probably the best looking sedan GM built in the 1990’s, if not ever in the modern era. It “should” have saved Oldsmobile.
I remember my dad who had been sold on Mercedes looked at one when they were new (he had been an Olds guy in the past) but just couldn’t get past the price. It was like $45k on the sticker for a loaded one. That’s $86,000 today. It was just too expensive, I could completely understand buying a 1-2 year old Mercedes instead in that era. And once you got past the sheetmetal, it was still a GM product and my understanding is these cars were disasters in terms of quality.
Aurora should have been a Pontiac or Saturn, which had younger clients. Can go on and on how “Olds had good cars at the end”, but GM was shrinking and playing “musical chairs”, miss a seat, and you are out.
I’m not sure a budget brand could have done a design like that at the right price point. Maybe a Bonneville?
The funny thing is, Oldsmobile was still a “valuable” brand since it wasn’t that long ago when EVERYONE in the 1980’s had an Oldsmobile in their family and it actually had several sales titles. It was a perfect upper middle class brand.
My opinion is GM lost buyers for good not over bad positioning or marketing, but simply over quality control. Nobody really wanted a Toyota Camry until they took their new GM to the dealer 20 times.
There is an Olds 98 prototype with open rear wheels that should have been the basis for the
the 1991 production model. It was pure Oldsmobile, yet very modern and up to date. To boot, Olds already had the alpha numeric names, 88 and 98. Instead, they dropped their heritage names, dropped their heritage styling cues, and proceeded to engineer their own extinction.
They might have done better if the Intrigue came out when the Aurora did. By the mid 90s, RWD with IRS was needed in Aurora’s price range and intended demographic (see the wacky CTS’s success a decade later). But the big RWD investment in Cadillac and targeting it against BMW were probably what forced the Kill-Olds decision as GM’s finances deteriorated.
The Shortstar was a great engine in my Intrigue, but the rest of the car was one irritation after another that made it difficult to love. The recurring clunk in the steering and pulse in the brakes are two examples.
I was working at a GM dealer just as the Aurora was coming out of warranty and man, were these cars junk. Major repairs started right after warranty, with front struts and transmissions the big ticket items. Both engines, the Northstar and the Shortstar, leaked like sieves and the only repair was pulling the engine and splitting the cases.
GM tried to remake Oldsmobile with these things but they were not cheap and it was all old guys who bought them anyway. The quality was so bad GM saw these customers walk across the road to the Lexus dealer.
I wonder what GM was thinking with all the goofy stuff they did like Aurora and Saturn.
I’m not sure how Mattel picks subjects for Hot Wheels but I got a couple Aurora’s from the 90’s in my collection