Oldsmobile

Oldsmobile began when Ransom E. Olds founded the Olds Motor Vehicle Company in Lansing, Michigan, on August 21, 1897, pioneering the first high-volume gasoline automobile with the Curved Dash model in 1901 and laying groundwork for the modern assembly line. Over the decades, Oldsmobile became synonymous with innovation, introducing in 1940 the Hydramatic, the first fully automatic transmission offered by any automaker. By the 1980s Oldsmobile’s annual sales peaked above one million units, but rising competition in the 1990s eroded its market position and led General Motors to phase out the division. The final Oldsmobile rolled off the line on April 29, 2004, marking the end of America’s oldest surviving auto brand and cementing its legacy within GM’s midrange portfolio.