Mercury was originally created to offer Ford customers a premium vehicle. However, the popularity and corresponding sales of Ford-branded vehicles had left the Mercury brand weak, with many of its loyal customers electing to drive Ford models. Mercury's market share had been flat or declining for years prior to its discontinuation, and Ford Motor Company decided to focus its attention on the Ford brand and its personal luxury car unit, the Lincoln brand.
Lincoln is one of the top luxury brands in the United States. In February , General Motors Co. GM announced it would be phasing out its Hummer brand after an unsuccessful attempt to sell the brand to a Chinese manufacturer. The Hummer car is a civilian model of a popular military vehicle, called the Humvee, that is primarily used by the U.
Towards the end of its lifespan, the Hummer faced challenges as consumers became more conscious about vehicle gas mileage. As consumers pressed for more fuel-efficient vehicles, General Motors took criticism from environmental groups. On January 30, , General Motors released a series of short teaser videos, revealing the return of the Hummer model. Though Pontiac was at one time one of the top-selling brands in the United States, its leadership was unable to devise a strategy that would allow the Pontiac brand to continue.
In business since , Pontiac was discontinued in April General Motors halted production of its Saturn brand in October after a failed deal with the Penske Automotive Group. Saturn, with a vehicle line that included mostly small to mid-size cars, had been around since but was never profitable.
General Motors filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in and was the recipient of a bailout— specifically a U. Under scrutiny to pay back loans and become a sustainable corporation, General Motors has been forced to streamline its brands and focus on the lines that have the most growth potential.
Oldsmobile became a part of General Motors in The fifth-generation model introduced in is considered by many the greatest iteration of the nameplate. Although not as luxurious as its Cadillac Series 62 sibling, the fifth-gen 98 came with many premium features for the era. Standard equipment included exposed chrome roof bows, an early form of ambient lighting, electric windows, and power steering and brakes.
An air suspension system and a speed warning device were available as options. Although it shared most exterior features with the 88, the 98 was notably longer at Body styles included two- and four-door coupes and convertibles, all powered by a 6. But this car was loaded with more standard equipment than its siblings, including leather bucket seats, a center console with a rev counter, and a floor shifter for the Hydramatic suspension.
These features made the Starfire the most expensive Oldsmobile at the time, even more than the larger 98 models. Power came from a 6. Output was rated at horsepower in In , one year before the Starfire was discontinued, Oldsmobile introduced a larger, 7. The Starfire nameplate was replaced in with the Delta 88 Custom. The badge returned briefly from to as a subcompact hatchback. But while the Cutlass was available in a variety of body styles, the Jetfire was a pillarless hardtop with a more striking appearance.
It was called Turbo-Rocket and featured a Garrett turbocharger and a sidedraft, one-barrel, blow-through carburetor. This engine made the Jetfire the first-ever turbocharged production car, an honor it shares with the Chevrolet Corvair Monza Spyder.
The Turbo-Rocket engine was good for horsepower and pound-feet of torque, twice as much than a naturally aspirated engine that was twice its size. Both the Jetfire and the Turbo-Rocket engine were short-lived, mostly because the turbocharged V-8 suffered from reliability problems.
The engine was far ahead of its time in the absence of modern engine management systems and needed to work on a mixture of methanol and distilled water in order to handle the high compression in the combustion chamber. The nameplate was introduced in after Pontiac had unexpected success with the GTO, a high-performance version of the LeMans.
In response, Oldsmobile developed a high-performance version of the Cutlass and named it the Also related to the Chevy Chevelle, the first-generation was offered with a couple of V-8 engines, with the range-topping 6. The original also spawned the W30, a higher performance package that would return on other nameplates in the future. The second-gen , built from to , joined the big muscle car wars with even larger engines and power ratings that reached horses.
The remained in production until and then returned as a trim level on the Cutlass Supreme and Cutlass Calais The Toronado also featured innovations like the heavy-duty Turbo-Hydramatic three-speed automatic transmission, Rochester Quadrajet four-barrel carburetor, spherical exhaust manifold flange gaskets which prevented leaks and a draft-free ventilation system that reduced wind noise by eliminating the front-door triangular window vents.
The first-gen Toronado was originally launched with a 7. The Toronado lived on for four generations before being discontinued for good in Station wagons are pretty popular in the s, and Oldsmobile met demand with the Vista Cruiser.
The first-gen Vista Cruiser was offered with a 5. The wagon was redesigned in , and saw the addition of the big 7. With up to horsepower at its disposal, the Vista Cruiser was one of the most hardcore wagons on the market at the time. Despite its size and weight, the grocery getter needed around six seconds to charge from 0 to 60 mph.
Unfortunately, Oldsmobile sold just a few Vista Cruisers with the big 7. Of a middle-class Catholic background, Braun spent her time with Hitler out of public Live TV. This Day In History. History Vault. Great Britain. Black History. Sign Up. Westward Expansion. Art, Literature, and Film History. The Cutlass was the top trim of the Oldsmobile compact F car but later spun off into a distinct series of its own. The engine remained the Rocket V8, an aluminum 3. Thus the was born, named for the four-barrel carburetor, four-speed transmission, and the dual exhausts.
In alone, almost 3, of these cars were sold, with top speeds of mph and a mph run of 7. The power output jumped up to horses and took this car to 60 mph in just 6. The 7. The steering wheel was a bit unusual as well, with a slot-style speedometer clicking merrily as you sped up.
To loophole this rule, Oldsmobile partnered with George Hurst, the man behind the Hurst shifters, and claimed that the engines were not put in by Oldsmobile but by Hurst.
This allowed Oldsmobiles to sport monstrous 7. So, Oldsmobile ponied up and brought out the Rallye , with a 5. Only 3, of these were made, and they all came in a single color of Sebring Yellow, with yellow bumpers which some dealers replaced with chrome.
0コメント