Why did they kill the OCC?

I was thinking about the odd choices of GM and realized I don't recall hearing a good explanation for why Oldsmobile dropped its wagon. Sales weren't far off from the other 91-92 wagons. Differences were minimal and they were still making the Buick and Chevy, so there wasn't much cost to keeping it around. So, why ax it?

I would bet my lunch money on sales:

https://gmlongroof.4umer.com/t836-wagon-production-number-table-completed

look at the 1992 numbers on the above link.   Sure Chevy sold almost as many as Buick every year (aside from 96 when it was left over 95 parts), but in 92 Olds fell in the toilet.   As there were additional costs on the OCC (cladding, cloth 3rd row, different cluster and bumper covers), an in between variant with lagging sales isn't good business.

Honestly, I think its the best looking of the three and miss mine, but the extra 100 ponies on my 95 Caprice is pretty sweet.   I prefer the 92 with the CHevy side glass over the 91 but they are hard to come by with only about 4k built (I've had 3 -91s and 1 -92 for about a week as it was a rotted pile of doo doo).

I owned the blue one in the pic at the top of the page (91) but it wasn't mine when the pic was taken...

I just bought a blue on blue cloth 92 last Friday. It needs a fuel pump and a right grab handle lens. The heater fan is doing the card on the bicycle spoke trick. It had the heads rebuilt recently. It is a Florida car that has never been far from home.

This brings my total to 3 OCCs a 91, and 2 92s. I might be willing to part with the blue one for the right price.

I totally loved my '92, and it's somewhat wild that GM changed so much from the 91 to the 92 cars, to only then kill the OCC after 92.   The cladding attachments, window pillar trim, and many other items are different from 91-92, plus in '92 the Olds got the 5.7 350 as well.    

But yes, it's sales.   I think the Olds is a beautiful car, very smooth, and love the grill design.   BUT I think a lot of more-traditional Olds buyers switched over to Buick and even Chevy because they WANTED the woodgrain option.   I remember my Dad griping that the Olds looked "plain" without the wood when these cars came out in late 1990.    

Remember this was the time that Olds was trying to re-invent themselves as the "not your father's Oldsmobile" brand...an idea that did more harm than good in not attracting the new younger buyers Olds wanted, and also alienated past loyal Olds customers.    The brand wanted cars that looked more modern, less traditional, with less chrome, less wood, and a more "European" style. Magazine reviewers loved the Olds, but wagon buyers, after the initial "newness and novelty" of the design wore off, moved back to the more traditional Chevy and Buick offerings.

SO, as noted, the sales bombed in 1992 on the OCC.  

I was glad to see GM quickly pulled the "That's Not a Buick" ad campaign last year...as all I could think was YOU'RE RIGHT, that's NOT a Buick....and it totally reminded me of that long-gone Olds campaign.  

-Michael

Mike wrote: "Remember this was the time that Olds was trying to re-invent themselves as the "not your father's Oldsmobile" brand...an idea that did more harm than good in not attracting the new younger buyers Olds wanted, and also alienated past loyal Olds customers.    The brand wanted cars that looked more modern, less traditional, with less chrome, less wood, and a more "European" style. Magazine reviewers loved the Olds, but wagon buyers, after the initial "newness and novelty" of the design wore off, moved back to the more traditional Chevy and Buick offerings."

This rings true. Olds had a big identity crisis and sinking sales in this period (really at least their last 15 years). I think it's true that loyal long time Olds customers would have preferred woodgrain. Those looking for a plain look would be more likely Chevy customers, and even many of them wanted the wood. In seeking a new customer base, Olds was willing to alienate their traditional base, even on their most traditional model.

Funny that I think they offered wood on the Cutlass Ciera all the way through 96.

I think it makes sense. Consider what Olds was doing at the time. Cars like the Aurora (a great looking car to this day) were very sleek and contemporary compared to Buick.

If I had to guess, it probably cleaned up the assembly lines to make a few more RMW and Caprice Wagon's on the line. Consider too the SS was probably going to need space on the same line, so from an efficiency point, something had to probably go.

Best looking wagons ever. Has anyone done an lt1 swap?

No, but I did a 454 swap.

Have to keep in mind that Oldsmobile was dying by the 90's and was focused on front drive cars. The Custom Cruiser was the ONLY rear drive vehicle they had in 91/92. The production numbers make it pretty obvious that not many people wanted them. It also had no sedan counterpart to help sales numbers.

The powers that be made the decision to kill it before they spent any money on the LT1 refresh that was coming to the other B Bodies. I'm sure that the writing was on the wall for the other models as well but they were still selling better than the Olds.

By the early 90s, Oldsmobiles were mostly sold in Buick, Olds, Pontiac, Cadillac and GMC dealers (or some variation of this combination)…….. Looking at the numbers, there were less than 12k OCCs sold during the 2 years they were produced..... 12k cars divided by 24 months =500 per month, divided by 50 states = 10 cars per state per month...…. Does anybody remember ever seeing an OCC sitting unsold on an Olds dealer's lot? (I don't!)
It's my contention that most buyers were never made aware of the availability of the OCC by their local Buick/Olds dealer because they had plenty of RMWs on the lot that they could sell TODAY at a higher price.....My suspicion is that 95% of OCCs were "ordered" by informed buyers that knew what they wanted and were willing to wait..... I believe that given equal "flooring" alongside the RMW, the OCC would have easily outsold it.... I think GM management decided to make availability of the OCC scarce....

kind of the same thing with the Pontiac Safari at least in 87 I have a sales book for the 87 Pontiac lineup, there are only two pages in the book that refer to the Safari wagons, one pages is half picture and half text while the second page is a full picture of two Pontiac wagons but neither one looks like the full size Safari, they also have pages devoted to wheels and engines for 87 and in these sections there's no mention of the 307, or the locking wire spoke hubcaps, the Safari wagon in 87 was already becoming nothing more it seems then a side note.

Pontiac though was also trying hard to get back into more sporty cars which Olds tried to follow later on.

Strictly sales. GM's funny that way. OCC was a bit of a bastard child. No sedan only wagon. Something you Americans may not know is the were not sold in Canada. Last Olds wagon in Canada was 1990. Mine is a 92 I brought in from California. I wanted a OCC because it is the rarest of the 3 wagons and I think the best looking. Has the Roadmaster dash with gauges not the Chevy one. Mine has probably every option available except door remote and I have a Roadmaster I can take that out of.
Not a fan of the LT1 engine although I have 2 95 sedans and a 96 SS. Bit of a bastard engine only used for 5 years with a problematic optispark. Yeah I'm down on horsepower but I am replacing the engine with a GM 330 hp crate motor.

Actually the 96 Caprice wagon is the rarest wagon with just over 600 produced. The 92 OCC is a combination of the RMW, and Caprice wagon. It has the roof of the RM, and the windows and doors of the Caprice. The cluster, rear brake lights, bumper covers, and cladding are what set it apart.

Considering That Oldsmobile no longer exists, It was a sign of bad things to come.

As for "not your fathers oldsmobile" campaign, I remember the same ad campaign promoting Olds muscle cars from the late 60's or early 70's. Seemed to work somewhat then.