Olds O4 Concept = Epsilion Alero

[Guest YellowJacket894]

Thought this was an interesting bit of info.

A preview of the planned replacement for the Alero was seen in 2001 with the unveiling of the Oldsmobile O4 concept, designed by Bertone. The car was an open top 4-seater with European styling but some Oldsmobile traits, and powered by the latest Ecotec I4 engine. The name had multiple meanings, including "Oldsmobile 4-Seater" as well as implying the year 2004 as a planned date for production.

Unfortunately, the O4 concept was unveiled a few weeks after General Motors announced that they would be phasing out the Oldsmobile brand, meaning that production possibilities of the O4 would never see reality. Because of this, a second generation Alero was never built and the car was phased out in 2004.

Anyone care to do a little Photoshop?

[CSpec]

From the A-Pillar forward this looks like the Civic Coupe.

[Intrepidation]

From the A-Pillar forward this looks like the Civic Coupe.

It does!

[intrigued]

I think that the Olds Profile concept was epsilon based also. It had the exact proportions of a malibu MAXX, though it supported AWD. AWD was stil lsomething being tinkered with for epsilon at that point though. It also had a 3.5 liter engine making 250 hp and 260 ftlbs. Most people thought it was an uprated shortstar. I found it was only an 18 valve engine though. Could this have been an LX9 like in the malibu but with the 3 valve per cylinder heads? The Pofile was a much better concept of Old's future than the O4 I think...

[Intrepidation]

Very handsome concept.

[Guest YellowJacket894]

If GM wants to know how to make a nice Lambda minivan, they should look no further than the Profile concept for a benchmark. If GM made something like that for Saturn or Chevy, I think the Odyssey would be forgotten about overnight.

[Ravenfreak13]

Very handsome concept.

reminds me of some sort of mazda

[Duncan]

reminds me of some sort of mazda

Smoother, though. Mazdas have a much more aggressive fascia and stance - I would almost expect any Oldsmobile to hide the aggression under the hood.

At least, any GOOD Oldsmobile - much like the one pictured.

Looking twice at the Pontiac G6, though, one wonders how much the Pontiac studio "borrowed" from what Olds was working on after the fall...

[Flybrian]

From the beginning, I always thought the G6 had an overall design much more in tune with latter-day Oldsmobile concepts than contemporary Pontiac models.