Why The Alero Was Too Little, Too Late To Save Oldsmobile

The Oldsmobile Alero was introduced for the 1999 model year and remained in the Oldsmobile lineup until 2004, when the Oldsmobile division of General Motors (GM) was discontinued. In fact, the last Oldsmobile to be produced was a 2004 Alero GLS Final 500 Collector's Edition, which came off the line on April 29, 2004, nearly 107 years after Oldsmobile was founded. 

The Oldsmobile Alero shared its 'N-body' platform with the Pontiac Grand Am and the Chevrolet Malibu. It was available in two-door coupe and four-door sedan body styles, and was intended to appeal to import-brand shoppers. Unfortunately, the Alero wasn't enough to save Oldsmobile, largely due to Oldsmobile's declining sales. It may have been made worse by GM's announcement in 2000 that it would stop making Oldsmobiles in 2004. Why buy a car from a brand whose dealers would be disappearing? 

Another issue was the perennial problem faced by Oldsmobile's parent GM, which had numerous mouths to feed with limited funds. GM's many U.S. brands included Oldsmobile, Chevrolet, Pontiac, Buick, GMC, Cadillac, Saturn, and Saab. Dropping Oldsmobile was merely a prelude to the much larger event of the GM bankruptcy a few short years later, when Pontiac and Saturn would be dropped, and Saab would be sold. At that point, GM would be pared down to four brands — Chevrolet, Buick, GMC, and Cadillac, which has remained the norm up to the present day. 

The Oldsmobile Alero was Oldsmobile's final attempt to produce a car that was relevant to what mainstream car buyers in the 1999-2004 timeframe were searching for — a car that came off well against its two primary competitors, the Honda Accord and the Nissan Altima. A comparison test of 1999 models showed that the Alero was competitively priced against its Japanese-branded competitors. The Alero GLS came in with an as-tested price of $21,400, compared to $22,124 for the Honda Accord LX and $20,357 for the Nissan Altima GXE. Like its competitors, the Oldsmobile Alero had front-wheel drive and a choice of inline four or V6 engines. The Alero GLS was the top trim, coming standard with automatic climate control, leather seating, cruise control, power driver's seat, power door locks, power windows, power mirrors, AM/FM audio system with cassette and CD players, and anti-lock brakes. 

Performance of the 1999 Oldsmobile Alero GLS with the V6 engine was on par with its competition, scoring a 0-60 mph time of 7.8 seconds, which matched the Accord and beat the Altima by 2.0 seconds. In the quarter-mile, the Alero put down a 16.0-second time at a trap speed of 85.1 mph, a skosh better than the Accord's 16.1 seconds @ 86.7 mph and a notch ahead of the Altima's 17.4 seconds @ 78.0 mph. While the Alero was no Oldsmobile 88, it could keep up with its competitors.