Oldsmobile Aurora

Oldsmobile entered the luxury segment when it introduced the 1995 Aurora, a car designed to compete with European and Japanese imports and attract their younger, more affluent buyers to the Oldsmobile fold. The Aurora has a long list of standard features and a very short list of options, and its specifications match cars of similar size from Lexus and Infiniti, but at a much lower price. In 1997 Aurora wore an Oldsmobile nameplate for the first time. That nameplate had been conspicuously missing since the car's introduction, a decision made by Oldsmobile marketing executives aimed at giving the new car "breathing space" as it entered the fray against its European and Japanese competitors.