Olds Resurrection?

Back during the late nineties, a conversation at a swank Auburn Hills, Michigan, French bistro turned heated when the talk shifted from personal pleasantries to discussing the ending of one of the most storied names in the automotive world: Oldsmobile. Gathered together in a separate room, the eight men and one woman were tasked with the responsibility of plotting multi-brand strategy for General Motors as well as to discuss concept cars that would make it off of design team drawing boards and onto production lines.

Suddenly, a red faced, balding middle aged man got up and left the group, and walked at a clipped pace through the crowded restaurant and out onto the front sidewalk. The remaining group was stunned, but the silence was soon broken by the leading EVP who announced what everyone already knew: the Oldsmobile name would be abandoned and Saturn would take its place in the GM line up.

This scenario is, of course, fiction but it is representative of some of the behind the scenes jockeying that took place leading up to the decision for General Motors to lay the venerable Oldsmobile name to rest. Dealer buy outs, model shifting, and brand reassessment were all...