The Oldsmobile was an immediate success in 1949 and 1950, and all the automobile manufacturers could not help noticing its higher sales of the Oldsmobile 88 to the buying public.

Although it was the popularity of the Oldsmobile division vehicles that prompted this change, declining sales of V8 engines would have made this change inevitable as all but the Chevrolet version of the 350-cubic-inch engine were eventually dropped.

In spite of Oldsmobile's critical successes since the mid-1990s, a reported shortfall in sales and overall profitability prompted General Motors to announce in December 2000 their plans to phase out the Oldsmobile brand.

In Canada, the HA was sold as the Vauxhall Viva by Pontiac / Buick dealers and also as the Envoy Epic by Chevrolet / Oldsmobile dealers, and was second in sales to the Volkswagen Beetle amongst imported compact cars.

The Sierra name was not used by Ford in the US ; the market had already seen the similar-sounding Oldsmobile Ciera, and the Sierra name was used and trademarked by General Motors Corporation from the 1970s as a trim level on its pickup trucks and because it would have interfered sales of the similarly-sized, American-made Ford Taurus.

Sometimes, Mercury was presented as a performance division of more mainstay Ford products, while at other times, it was meant to match sales with Detroit crosstown rivals Buick, Oldsmobile and Chrysler during the 1950s through 1980s.

After years of steadily declining sales, the Oldsmobile Toronado was discontinued after 1992, the Lincoln Mark series after 1998, the Buick Riviera after 1999, and the Cadillac Eldorado after 2002.

The Cutlass line superseded the full-sized Delta 88 as the best-selling Oldsmobile line for the first time ever in 1975 with the Cutlass Supreme coupe accounting for the majority of those sales, becoming the best-selling intermediate-sized car in America by overtaking the Chevrolet Chevelle and Ford Torino for the top spot.

DeLorean and other Pontiac planners decided to make the switch in light of declining sales of the full-sized Grand Prix in comparison to competition from unique personal cars in both the luxury and sporty car fields including the Ford Thunderbird, Buick Riviera and Oldsmobile Toronado at the luxury end, along with the emerging ponycars such as the Ford Mustang and Pontiac's own new-for-1967 Firebird.

Oldsmobile, whose larger and more expensive front-drive Toronado was a direct competitor to the Thunderbird, decided to further capitalize on strong sales of its intermediate Cutlass line by introducing a new Cutlass Supreme coupe with a formal roofline similar to the GPs but on the standard wheelbase used for two-door A-body intermediates and the same lower sheetmetal used on other Cutlass models.

Despite an economic recession that cut into new car sales industrywide, and especially affected the medium-priced car market that Olds competed in, Oldsmobile saw only a slight decline in sales for 1958 and even rose in industry standings to fourth-place behind the " Low-Priced Three " of Chevrolet, Ford and Plymouth, while surpassing a now-floundering sister division Buick on the sales charts for the first time in many years.

In mid-1987, Oldsmobile attempted to bolster sagging Toronado sales by introducing a sportier model called the Troféo, which boasted standard leather bucket seats, faux dual exhaust, more-aggressive styling, and a stiffer suspension ( the highly-regarded corporate FE3 package, with retuned shocks, struts and other components ).

1990 saw Oldsmobile literally and figuratively going to great lengths to revive Toronado and Troféo sales.

By the time the Aurora was released, Oldsmobile badly needed the Aurora, in hopes for a comeback of the marque ( Oldsmobile sales had plummeted from 1, 066, 122 in 1985, to just 389, 173 in 1992 ).

The Oldsmobile Silhouette and its sibling models, while more successful than the Astro / Safari duo in terms of market share, had significant perceived flaws, primarily centered around its unconventional styling that ultimately limited its appeal and sales.

Europe, which had grown accustomed to sleek minivans thanks to the Renault Espace, did not object to the futuristic styling, and sales were respectable, so the decision was made to retain the original shape on the European version which, from the 1994 model year onwards, was an Oldsmobile Silhouette, transformed into a Pontiac Trans Sport by the addition of Pontiac badging and wheels.

It was widely exported, though sales in the US ended after 1961 when Pontiac, Oldsmobile and Buick came up with home-grown compact models of their own.

The family father is Murray, a divorced 65-year-old who refuses to retire, working as an unsuccessful Oldsmobile salesman at a time when sales of small foreign cars such as Hondas and Toyotas are booming while those of large American vehicles are flat or falling.

This development was arguably in response to the sales success of the competing Oldsmobile " Rocket " and Cadillac OHV V8 engines introduced in their respective 1949 models as well as the need for larger and more powerful truck engines.

The soaring popularity of Oldsmobile vehicles resulted in a major issue in the late 1970s.

In the 1970s, the HUD was introduced to commercial aviation, and in 1988, the Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme became the first production car with a head-up display.

All Oldsmobile V8s received new Positive Valve Rotators for 1970s to increase engine valve life.

Origins of General Motors ' badge engineering dates back to the early 1970s when the Chevrolet Nova compact was rebadged by the upscale Buick Apollo ( Skylark after 1975 ), Oldsmobile ( Omega ), and Pontiac ( Ventura II and Phoenix ) divisions as entry-level cars.

After the tremendous success of the early 1980s, things changed quickly for Oldsmobile, and by 1990 the brand had lost its place in the market, squeezed between other GM divisions, and with competition from new upscale import makes such as Acura and Lexus.

Front-wheel drive became common in the United States only in the 1980s, though Citroën introduced the Traction Avant in 1934, Ford offered it in certain models of its German-built Taunus, and General Motors sold the front wheel drive Oldsmobile Toronado in 1966 and Cadillac Eldorado in 1967.

Oldsmobile has called second gear as the ' Super ' range — which was first used on their 4-speed Hydramatic transmissions although the use of the term continued until the early 1980s when GM's Turbo Hydramatic automatic transmissions were standardized by all of their divisions years after the 4-speed Hydramatic was discontinued.

By the 1980s, Oldsmobile was using the Cutlass as a sub-marque, with a number of different vehicle lines bearing the name simultaneously.

The Oldsmobile Cutlass became America's best selling car this year and would hold this title for most years into the 1980s.

Oldsmobile revived the name in the 1980s on the rear-wheel drive Cutlass Supreme and early 1990s as an option package for the new front-wheel drive Cutlass.

Since the 1980s GM had wanted a new car to bring new life to Oldsmobile, a car that was " not your father's Oldsmobile "; thus the Aurora was born, with several styling cues taken from the 1960s Oldsmobile Toronado.

Early design work on what would become the Aurora began as early as the late 1980s and manifested itself with a 1989 engineering concept known as the Oldsmobile Tube Car.

The 1980s H-body was a front-wheel drive full-size car platform, and was the basis for GM's second generation downsized full-size cars, such as the Buick LeSabre / Electra, Oldsmobile 88 / 98, and Pontiac Bonneville.

Early in his career, Force drove a Corvette, a Monza and then in the 1980s switched to an Oldsmobile Cutlass through the end of the 1993 season.

Oldsmobile developed three diesel engines for the 1980s: two V8s and a 263 CID ( 4. 3 L ) V6.

On the night of his murder, Tillery, a white man, was outside of a suspected crackhouse when he was approached by three black males, Darrell Gilbert, Blake Little, and Anthony Holmes, and offered a ride in their vehicle, an early 1980s model Oldsmobile Cutlass Tillery accepted, but an argument later developed over the gas money he agreed to pay.

By comparison, the Cole 30 and Colt Runabout were priced at US $ 1500, Kirk's Yale side-entrance US $ 1, 000, the high-volume Oldsmobile Runabout went for US $ 650, Western's Gale Model A was US $ 500, a Brush Runabout US $ 485, the Black started at $ 375, and the Success hit the amazingly low US $ 250.

Oldsmobile was a brand of American automobile produced for most of its existence by General Motors.

Oldsmobile became the top selling car company in the United States for a few years.

While Oldsmobile only sold 725 Limiteds in its three years of production, the car is best remembered for winning a race against the famed 20th Century Limited train, an event immortalized in the painting " Setting the Pace " by William Hardner Foster.

During World War II, Oldsmobile produced numerous kinds of material for the war effort, including large-caliber guns and shells.

Oldsmobile once again was a pioneer when, for the 1949 model, they introduced their Rocket engine, which used an overhead valve V8 design rather than the flathead " straight-8 " design which prevailed at the time.

Compounding the problem for Oldsmobile and Buick was a styling mistake which GM called the " Strato Roof.

* Oldsmobile Jetstar I ( 1964 – 1966 )-Life for the somewhat obscure Jetstar I started in 1964.

* Oldsmobile Delta 88 ( 1965 – 1989 ) While the " 88 " series of Oldsmobile's date back to the 1940s, and were offered in a variety of trim levels, the introduction of the Delta 88, which superseded the Super 88 line as Olds mid-level full-sized vehicles, was a watershed event for the division.

To pump life into the Dynamic 88 range, Oldsmobile renamed it the Delmont 88 for 1967.

It was during the 1977 model year that demand exceeded production capacity for the Oldsmobile V8, and as a result Oldsmobile began equipping most full size Delta 88 models ( those with Federal emissions specifications ) with the Chevrolet 350 engine instead.

GM continued to use Oldsmobile sporadically to showcase futuristic designs and as a " guinea pig " for testing new technology, with Oldsmobile offering the Toronado Trofeo, which included a visual instrument system with a calendar, datebook, and climate controls.

For 1995, Oldsmobile introduced the Aurora, which would be the inspiration for the design of its cars from the mid-1990s onward.

* Oldsmobile Aurora ( 1995 – 2003 )-full-size luxury / performance sedan ( redesigned for 2001 )

* Oldsmobile Bravada ( 1991 – 2004 )-mid-size premium SUV ( redesigned for 1996 and 2002 )

* Oldsmobile Eighty Eight ( 1949 – 1999 )-full-size premium sedan ( redesigned for 1992 )

* Oldsmobile Ninety-Eight ( 1941 – 1996 )-full-size luxury sedan ( redesigned for 1991 )

* Oldsmobile Silhouette ( 1990 – 2004 )-premium minivan ( redesigned for 1997 )

The announcement took place just two days after Oldsmobile unveiled what would be its last new model ever, the Bravada SUV-which became, somewhat ironically, another critical hit for the division.

The final production day for Oldsmobile was April 29, 2004.

In addition, he did some work for car commercials, most famously for Oldsmobile, and later on, Jeep.