Founded in 1897 by Ransom E. Olds, Oldsmobile is one of America’s oldest and most storied automotive brands. Known for its technological innovation, Oldsmobile was the first to offer a fully automatic transmission and helped pave the way for mass automobile production, as well as offering a series of iconic models over the years.
Acquired by GM in 1908, Oldsmobile built a reputation for blending performance and comfort, with standout models like the 442 and Cutlass Supreme. Despite its legacy, the brand struggled to maintain relevance in the modern market and was ultimately discontinued in 2004 after more than a century of production. Unfortunately, it looks like the brand won’t be making a comeback, despite a recent trademark filing.
According to the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), GM filed to trademark the Oldsmobile name on April 28th, 2025. The trademark filing was tagged with U.S. serial number 99158733.
Although some would like to see this trademark filing as a sign that GM is eyeing a return for the brand, the filing is in fact primarily to ensure that Oldsmobile remains under the purview of General Motors. According to the “Goods and Services” listed by the USPTO, the trademark filing is primarily for vehicle hub caps, license plate frames, and other related items. Essentially, GM doesn’t want any other company to profit from using the Oldsmobile name with some random unlicensed product.
A similar filing was made for the Pontiac name, as GM Authority covered late last month. Like the Oldsmobile filing listed above, the Pontiac filing covers things like vehicle hub caps, license plate frames, and horns for vehicles, indicating that the brand is indeed dead and buried, at least as far as new vehicles are concerned.
Nevertheless, that won’t stop fans from daydreaming about what a new 442 might look like. Indeed, some folks would undoubtedly love to see the return of this GM icon. How about you?
Comments
If the people at the helm of GM were dreamers who had an inkling of inspiration, some of these names would come back. Oldsmobile would of been a cool mark for the autonomous vehicles to avoid tarnishing Chevy, and Saturn would be cool to try some of these flying car concepts. But the current head of the company hasn’t dreamed since 1993.
And they could bring back Viking for GM defense.
Olds was the classy parent’s hotrod in it’s heyday.
GM will self-defeat without the effort, and miss out again.
A young generation is growing to be more hard-minded than if Red Forman birthed himself from Ron Burgundy’s vag!na.
Sadly, Oldsmobile and Pontiac are never coming back as full fledged divisions of GM that manufacture cars like the old days. However, GM should leverage both strong brand names as upscale trim packages or special edition versions of Chevrolets or Buicks. Oh wait, I forgot GM doesn’t build cars anymore. They build five different sizes of the same boring crossover mom-mobile and trucks.
Barra/Mark Ruess made a mistake not offering a Trans Am or Firebird trim for Camaro.
These were always badge engendered vehicles w/unique appearance packages. A unique power train wasn’t needed but special tuning would have been sweet.
I expected Olds to become part of Opel/Vauxhall around the Aurora period circa 1999. Opel was still healthy, Olds could have shared flagship sedans with Europe increasing factory utilization.
Saturn, then Buick because the captive importer, but not enough effort was made. Saturn should have become Opel with a global brand built. People worry about brand cannibalization but Hyandai and Kia prove this is unwarented
GM made in far past beautiful cars, today is all T r a s h
After putting a battery under a seat, as in the aurora, oldsmobile deserved to die.
LOL the battery in my daughter’s 2016 Chevrolet Traverse is under the back seat. It sounds bad but I will say that the 9 year old factory looked like brand new and as clean as the new one I was installing. The last one I changed that wasn’t under the hood was in my dad’s 1931 Ford Model A which was under the floorboards. And also in a 69 Boss 429 Mustang, the battery was in the trunk.
Olds could return as the Aurora Brand offering various sedans, coupes, convertibles that we want and be successful. Leave the SUV/ CUV to Chevy and Buick. Give us a choice. There is a market for these types of vehicles. Oh, just one more thing, ICE only please. Don’t ruin with the EV’s that nobody cares about. Joint build exciting platforms that could also be used with Cadillac to spread the costs.
But those don’t sell, there is a reason ALL brands have been selling less and less sedans (let along coupes), they don’t sell. Maybe in 40-50 years it will circle back and be desired again. But you are lying to yourself and everyone else when you say they can sell only, sedans, coupes and convertibles and be successful. No, it will be an epic flop in record time. Even the sport car brands and selling SUV’s, what does that tell you? They didn’t go with a sedan (cough Lamborghini & Ferrari cough). If anything, an EV is the only thing that would sell if it has design and style. Look at Cadillac, their EV’s are getting rave reviews and sales are up ticking, not to the extent some ICE holdouts thinks, but increasing none the less. Get with the times, EV’s are slowly taking over, sedans are dying, coupes are pretty much dead and hybrids are the current way to go for a few decades while engines downsize even further and get battery assist. Being a car guy I love as much as the next an attractive sedan, excellent handling coupe or unique off roader like a two door Tahoe, but those types of vehicles can kill brands/companies and aren’t selling now. Maybe down the road they can test the waters, but not today and in this climate.