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Another TACH'er Letter... OLDS is DEAD

13 December 2000

Oldsmobile is gone and GM has shown us again just how inept they can be.
They have walked away from a 3 billion dollar investment at Olds without
giving their new models a chance to catch on.

Agreed, Oldsmobile had a stale and stodgy image.  They invested billions to
change this by creating a whole new lineup of vehicles at Olds.  As a result
of this investment they got a whole new line up.  The Intrigue and the new
Aurora especially, were very successful designs.  These new models were just
beginning to bring in the younger, more affluent and sophisticated customers
that would usually, buy Camry, Acura, Lexus or BMW.  These were the
customers Oldsmobile needed to survive.  But rather that doing some creative
marketing and being patient while the perception of the public towards
Oldsmobile changed, GM panicked, pulled the plug and ran away from a $3
Billion investment.  If GM wasn't willing to stay the course, they shouldn't
have overhauled the Oldsmobile line-up in the first place.  It took GM
decades to destroy Oldsmobile's image, they should have known it would take
a couple of years to change their image back.

All this is confirmed through personal experience.  I was aware of the
Oldsmobile's image, but I drove an Intrigue, decided I liked it and bought
it despite it Olds image.  The typical reaction of my friends when I told
them about my new Intrigue was "You bought a OLDSMOBILE??!!".  In spite of
my friends skepticism, I still love the car for its performance, comfort and
style.  If GM were still marketing and developing the Oldsmobile, I would be
one of hundreds of thousands of new buyers who's word of mouth along with
some creative marketing that probably would have turned Oldsmobile around.

But that's all ancient history now.  What can GM do to make the best of a
badly botched effort at Oldsmobile.  Perhaps they can use some of the
people, technology and design quality in some of their new models at Buick
and Pontiac.  Maybe then, when I go to look for my next car, GM will have
something worth considering.

Mike Cohen

CT