GM’s First Luxury SUV Emerged During a Brave New World
The early 1990s were a terribly rough time in General Motors’ history. The most obvious place to look is at the top, when then-CEO Robert Stempel inherited a nightmare from his predecessor. Stempel seemingly wasn’t prepared for the equivalent of a Category 5 hurricane barreling towards at him, as his past experiences as a “car guy” and a GM lifer weren’t going to satisfy those owning large amounts of GM stock. An unnamed GM director interviewed by Time Magazine at that time once said:
“We don’t even have the luxury of thinking about a product strategy. We aren’t going to be thinking great thoughts. GM has a three-year mission to restore its financial soundness.”
Things were especially dire at Oldsmobile, where sales went from 1,066,122 units in 1985 to a paltry 402,936 vehicles just eight years later. But there was a savior afoot, as the burgeoning luxury SUV market proved itself profitable with releases like the leather-clad Jeep Wagoneer (XJ) Limited, the upscale versions of the Chevy Blazer (High Country) and Ford Bronco II (Eddie Bauer), and the March 1990 release of the 1991 Ford Explorer in Eddie Bauer livery.
General Motors could make one new SUV to both help the embattled Oldsmobile brand, and boost their bottom line by leveraging their proven GMT-330 platform. That platform was for the Chevrolet S-10 Blazer and GMC S-15 Jimmy, to which Oldsmobile most notably added Bilstein dampers and a “SmartTrak” electronic AWD system. The latter removed the extra lever found on “Instatrac” equipped GMCs and Chevrolets, as luxury SUV owners presumably prefer a computer to handle such distractions. But worthy functional upgrades aren’t necessarily the stuff of luxury SUV success, as it was a brave new world that needed an Olds with bravado. Add in strong promotional pitch from a Hemingway, and you might have a clear path to victory.
And this was the backdrop of how the Oldsmobile Bravada came to life in 1991, most recognizable by its unique set of bumpers, chunky alloy wheels, and aggressively ribbed side cladding worthy of Pontiac Excitement. There were also fog lights, tail lights with the rocket emblem, and the brand’s traditional split waterfall grille for onlookers curious to learn more about this not-Blazer in their field of vision. The monochrome look had some of the Detroit Euro flair that made the Pontiac 6000 STE so appealing to a niche audience, but sadly only 9,381 units were sold in the Bravada’s freshman year.
The next three years of this generation weren’t much better, with sales of 11,870, 9,671, and 17,681 Bravadas, respectively. But as we learned on the 25th Anniversary of the Cadillac Escalade, supply side constraints could have easily starved Oldsmobile dealers of a product they likely needed for survival.
As with the original Escalade, interior changes to the GMT-330 were limited. But less so than the copycat Caddy, as the Bravada’s aforementioned SmartTrak software opened up real estate for a floor console to possess two cigarette lighters, and a pop-out cup holder for two soda cans. The optional leather seat covers were modestly different from the hides found on older High Country Blazers, while the steering wheel was pulled from an Oldsmobile parts bin.
It’s unfortunate the Bravada’s impressive digital gauges weren’t fitted as standard equipment, and that they were still optional on its counterparts from Chevrolet and GMC. The more differentiation you can do for a luxury brand the better, just like how SmartTrak AWD was an Oldsmobile-exclusive. But GM was indeed operating as that quote above suggests: Product strategies need not apply when every hand on deck is bailing water out of a sinking ship.
Such a maritime analogy is not the ideal way to introduce a Retro Review from Motorweek, but it certainly contextualizes John Davis’ introduction in a fitting manner. Their assessment of this “gussied up Chevy S-10 Blazer” is justified, as was their statement about the level of attention this Oldsmobile got from streetside gawkers. They noted the off-road performance was impressive even with street-savvy tires, while the ride is smoother (presumably thanks to those Bilstein shocks).
Even without the expected leather interior and digital gauges in Motorweek’s tester, the original Bravada clearly behaved as the 1999 Cadillac Escalade of the early 1990s. Except not, because Oldsmobile benefited from significant technology and modest interior upgrades that Cadillac could not cherry pick for their first luxury SUV.
Too bad it was all for nothing, as sales never climbed higher than 30,202 units sold in 1998. The last Bravada rolled off the assembly line in January 2004, roughly three months before the storied Oldsmobile brand was put out to pasture. Looking back and seeing the parallels with the 1999 Cadillac Escalade makes the Bravada’s story one of a tragic hero, as it was better suited to overcome its fundamental flaws. But refinements under the skin and monochrome coachwork wasn’t enough to keep Oldsmobile on a sure footing. Perhaps there would have been a happier ending if this rig was sold as a Cadillac Bravada instead?
Olds bread and butter were the RWD 88 and RWD Cutlass. Both sold well and bother were killed for cooperate FWD platforms. Olds never recovered.
They tried the Bravada, they tried the Cutlass name on more than one car. They even tried the Aurora deal but it was too late.
Many don’t realize Pontiac was on the chopping block around 1980. The killed the Pontiac V8, the killed the Bonneville. More cuts were coming but Pontiac again embraced the Performance name. They had a new Firebird and Fiero that increased showroom traffic. They did a Grand Am that sold in great numbers.
This put the noose on Olds.
GM in this era was loosing money and going broke. That just did not happen later. GM divisions did not work well with each other often against each other.
Also most mfgs had two divisions. One volume one luxury. GM really did not need all these cars.
The Bravada as much as it was made better it was still a Blazer. The Chevy sold for much less and really was still pretty nice.
Times changed, GM did not change enough. Management refusing to make the needed changes and union deals and heritage cost other brands packed limited many actions.
While I am a GM guy I see the sins and hope they continue to learn from them. They have cleaned up much of the damaged culture but they still have more yo address in an ever righting market.
Had a last generation Bravada (2002) Loved it – great ride (air suspension) nice interior, good handling, and trouble free for FIFTEEN years. Also had a first generation Aurora, a great car that I also drove for a decade and a half. GM killed OLDs right at the time they were making relevant vehicles again.
Olds had the great-selling 70s into the 80s right-sized rwd Cutlasses. Then they didn’t.
Minivans and then SUV stole a huge chunk of the market Olds had been eating up. GM was late to those parties. GM also seemed distracted by the mid-80s. I remember a lot of Lumina hype for example for something that didn’t seem to excite anyone where I live. Good thing they had “Like a Rock” trucks…
Aurora and Alero were pretty good (fantastic survivors in my rust-belt area), but marketing seemed to be intent on Saturn and other diversions. And that whole “not your father’s Oldsmobile” foolish campaign was a hard thing to recover from.
Gm like other MFGs panicked and wanted to do all smaller FWD cars. The first wave was pretty mundane. The second was not much better.
Some one though putting the Cutlass name on three FWD cars would fix what was wrong but they missed again.
The Aurora was a step back to the right way but it was too little too late. The resto of the line up was still lagging. Also the Aurora was over shadowed by the Seville.
The truth is GM did not need Pontiac, Olds, Buick in the states and Saturn. Anything they could do could be done by Cadillac and Chevy.
The money used to make all these brands could have been used to make less but better models.
But the hang up was the unions deals were if they laid off anyone they would still collect most of their pay. They bad deals meant GM lost money but lost less if they built more Alero and Grand Am models for rental fleets.
I recall getting $10K off a GTP because GM needed to move these cars. It was a buyers market but they it did not help the company bottom line.
I am a Pontiac guy and even if Pontiac was not killed they would be just another CUV division today. Cool performance cars are not enough to save a company, We may see Dodge vanish since they are not bringing in the money needed and regulations have killed the cool cars.
As for the Fothers Olds. Well it was true. Dad had an Olds and it just was not my kind of car. They needed to make Olds you sons car. You can sell an old man a young mans car but not an young man an old mans car.
A long time I ago I read how much money GM spent to shut down the Olds brand, including buying out the dealer franchises. (which was the most expensive part of the deal)
I forgot that number, but I believe it was in the billions. Any chance you remember that, hyperv6?
They also assumed that when they shuttered Oldsmobile that Olds buyers would simply switch to Buick, since everyone knew they were basically the same. They were shocked to find that was not the case as the customers started shopping around. Many (most?) of them found Lexus instead of Buick!
I’ve never heard the reasons for that, but my guess is that once their local dealership was gone they reevaluated car brands, partly because of the feeling of betrayal a loyal Olds buyer would have for GM. That’s just a layman’s guess, though.
There were no Olds buyers to shift to Buick. Olds relied so much on their 70’s designed RWD Cutlass that it defined their brand As it aged and went away, they were left with nothing. Buick had China, but they also positioned themselves better in the 90’s and early 2000’s with well styled and reliable cars that appealed to traditional buyers. The Park Avenue and LeSabre were nicer designs than the 88 and 98. By the time Olds tried to reimagine the brand with Aurora and Intrigue it was too late.
And what GM did to Saab was criminal; that along with Cadillac and Chevrolet would have given them the reach they needed.
I loved my Saab, and would have purchased them the rest of my driving career.
Without GM Saab would have simply died an earlier death. Sure, they used their own chassis underneath, but all of Saab’s partners did that. The crime was that the 9-5 was too little, too late. From everything I’ve read it was a hell of a car!
Celebrity, 6000, Century, Cutlass Ciera. Wash rinse repeat.
Next up
Lumina, Grand Prix, Skylark, Cutlass Supreme.
Next up,,,,, see what they caused themselves.
GM competed itself to death.
I worked at Leo Burnett, Olds’ ad-agency during the decline and the “Not your father’s Olds campaign. Shop talk under the table was “If their cars were as good as our advertising there would be such problems.”
It was a half hearted effort. I remember them when they came out, nobody seemed to care.
GM worried too much about what magazine writers said and not enough about what customers bought. Magazines routinely shat upon anything with a solid rear axle, recirculating ball steering, rear drums, a seperate frame, pushrods. Olds, along with the other car divisions, were printing money with the B and G body cars. All they really needed was better suspensions and fuel injection and maybe turbos for quickness and four wheel discs for the flagships. Look at the Buick Intercooled Turbo Regals and the Impala SS cars. Instead, we got the ‘88 W bodies, the shrunken E body and a whole raft of wrong wheel drive flimsies that, despite different platforms, all looked, drove and held together the same (poorly). Had GM not given the leftover rear drivers their reprieves (Fleetwood Brougham, Caprice, Canuck import Parisienne and the refreshed B and C for the ‘90s, AND had such a good truck based SUV platform for the tow and go people), GM would have either died or begged for salvation like Chrysler did. Roger Smith killed Olds and damn near killed GM.
I have great memories of the 1997 Olds Bravada we had. It was almost at 200k when we sold it at the subdivision garage sale for $1600 in 2008. The body was still rust free!
Up to that point the only vehicle I had ever owned that never got stuck or even came unstuck from pavement in Michigan winters. Well except for the extended cab 1995 S-10 ZR-2 which was a snowmobile disguised as a truck! I used to take the Bravada out to snow cover parking lots to try to get it to do donuts. I couldn’t even get it to go sideways! Kudos to the folks at Olds for doing a great job on all wheel drive.
I also had a great experience with a two door Grand Am GT with a 5 Spd quad four HO. Coming home from Metro Airport on a Friday night I pulled up next to a 68-69 Corvette at a stop light by the Orion Plant. I gunned the engine and when the light changed we were off. Every time he granny shifted I pulled further ahead. By 5th gear he was headlights in my rear view mirror.
Sitting at the Silverbell/M-24 intersection waiting on the light he pulled up behind me and I held up 4 fingers to let him know what beat him.
All wheel drive, Quad Four HO, Buick GN, Bonneville SSE, Turbo and Supercharged 3.8 liter V-6, 89 Fiero GT, BOP, all gone in a environment that discouraged folks from speaking up about how broken GM was/is!
As we used to say in engineering; “Flogging will continue until morale improves!”
There were no Olds buyers to shift to Buick. Olds relied so much on their 70’s designed RWD Cutlass that it defined their brand As it aged and went away, they were left with nothing. Buick had China, but they also positioned themselves better in the 90’s and early 2000’s with well styled and reliable cars that appealed to traditional buyers. The Park Avenue and LeSabre were nicer designs than the 88 and 98. By the time Olds tried to reimagine the brand with Aurora and Intrigue it was too late.
My father-in-law had a Bravada and it was a fine vehicle: nice tan leather, quiet, decent mpg.